From what I have read -
So, between 2014-2019, Zomato was struggling. They were expanding haphazardly, into countries they had no presence being, weren't able to control burn and were almost out of cash. They had a logistics company come in and beat them to a pulp (yes swiggy) and they were left waiting. What was Deepinder doing in that time - Giving interviews, lots of them, saying outrageous statements in the media - We will be this. We will be bigger than Meituan and that one.
What did he do since 2019 - focussed on execution. No fluff. Yes, covid definitely helped and he was able to get an IPO done at the right time.
Then share price soared, he again went off the hooks - Interviews, Not paying attention to public shareholders, no concall, random investments in startups - Stock went to 40.
Acquired Blinkit, built it up from scratch, again execution focus, no fluff, no interviews for a year
Results are for everyone to see
Now he's again increased frequency of doing interviews, but now the machine is built right - It's a three year old public company - They have learnt their lessons.
They key takeaway from Deepinder's success is not that you be delulu, do interviews, say stupid shit and that's how you build a $30bn company
It's that as a founder, your key muscle is execution. Yes, you have to be a little visionary and a little delulu - and it definitely helps in fundraising, but the real value is in execution and that's where you will build large outcomes.
And doing this stupid shit when you don't need capital and ar not fundraising is just stoopid.
@Elon_Musk you are the CEO of many companies, how do you stay motivated during tough times and ask for funding?
You gotta believe in your vision bruh. Because the ones crazy enough to think they can make a difference, they can change the world are the ones who actually do. And that helps you develop a self motivation feedback loop that keeps you pushing forward. And funding well that's complicated. Some invest in the potential profit, some invest in the dream but most importantly they bet on you to get things done. You are the race horse on which they are betting on in the end, you gotta prove that you have what it takes to win. Highly simplified but that's the gist of it.
If you are a founder, talk about your ambitions to your employees & investors, not the media. Nobody is doubting zepto could grow even more. Do it in silence among your team and let your work do that talking.
Zomato's CEO never went ahead and compared with other similar services. He and his team worked in silence and now the media is doing the talking for them.
Back when I worked at Meesho, they shut down their operations in Indonesia and the founders said they will focus all efforts in India and become one among the top 3 ecommerce players. They didn't announce it in media. The founders said to employees and investors. That's it. 4 years later, they've reached there. After Amazon, Flipkart, they are selling more products. They worked in silence and now their work does the talking.
I genuinely want Zepto to succeed in quick commerce. These guys seem to have the knowledge and determination. I just don't want to see another Ola Bhavesh, who's just all talk and no quality consumer products.
Yesss! Sounds funny but if you aren't a little delulu, you aren't gonna grow
Sharing something I saw on X.
https://x.com/smb_attorney/status/1745609324544536778?s=46&t=75M9ooHyv6ZxcnXYHYGynw
I thought she asked the right questions and that Cloudflare team actually were just throwing corporate doublespeak.
