1. Success doesn’t require endless hours of troll - It demands focused effort.
2. As he surveyed the chaotic room, above his study table, a large poster caught Harbans’ eye. Boldly printed, it declared: ‘I was born to lead, not to be ruled.’
3. It was Deepinder’s decisive attitude that stood out the most to him.
4. One night, Sagar noticed that his restaurant’s menu on Foodiebay was outdated. Frustrated, he shot off an email to the Foodiebay team, urging them to address the issue. Moments later, a reply came back: 5 minutes. Confused, he stared at the screen. Then, five minutes later, Deepinder himself walked into Yumz. The restaurant was near his home and rather than sending an automated reply, he had shown up in person to fix the issue. That late-night interaction turned into a long-standing relationship.
5. If the team estimated a feature or product would take a week, he urged them to ship it in a day. He was constantly pushing the boundaries. This relentless attitude wasn’t just about speed, it was about reshaping the team’s understanding of what was possible.
6. Another ritual included Deepinder personally tracking which employees didn’t show up at work exactly by 8.30 a.m. Regardless of what time you’d logged off the night before, a missed morning meant waking up to a scorching email from the CEO, demanding an explanation. ‘It was brutal,’ one employee shared. ‘You’d feel guilty leaving the office while he was still there. It became a sort of unspoken standard, if Deepi was around, you stayed.’
7. Lots of people work hard. Deepinder however considers himself lucky. To him, luck isn’t random. To him, luck is a demanding and unpredictable friend. One that shows up only in the presence of ambition, sincerity and a growth mindset. He believes that only by sticking around and staying resilient, luck shows up to lend a helping hand. Usually at the last possible minute, but always before one throws in the towel.
8. Finally, Deepinder agreed to meet at the Zomato office at 9 a.m. on 16 October 2014. When Tamas and Vamsi arrived early, they were pleasantly surprised to see employees already at their desks, fully engaged in their work. It was a sign of a strong work culture and it made an impression.
9. Tamas told Vamsi when they left that Deepinder’s obsession with product and consumer reminded him of Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. In the following days, a few other key insights stood out for Vy Capital. Zomato showcased good governance and sound financial practices despite being a relatively new company by establishing a practice of auditing their financials quarterly from an early stage. Vamsi credited Info Edge for this. He knew that Info Edge was renowned for its strong governance practices, and even commanded a premium valuation for it.
10. Looming over Deepinder’s workstation was an unmissable cue, a giant poster that read: Only the Paranoid Survive.
11. Card two: Dream without action is hallucination.
12. Finally, he flipped to the third card: For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost.
13. Deepinder was tackling two things at once at Zomato—lagging profitability and slowing growth. He couldn’t choose one over the other. As James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras argue in Built to Last (1994), visionary companies reject the ‘Tyranny of the OR’ and embrace the ‘Genius of the AND’. It challenges the traditional belief that companies must choose between two opposing goals. Rather than settling for balance or compromise, they pursue both goals to the extreme.
14. ‘He sets goals that feel impossible to hit, but he never penalizes anyone for missing them,’ said a senior team member who worked closely with Deepinder for over two years. ‘In his mind, these stretch goals aren’t about pressure. They’re a tool to force exponential thinking. Something, he believes, realistic goals rarely provoke.’
15. When studied closely, it becomes clear that the real engine is its culture that’s defined by urgency, precision and high personal ownership. Execution wasn’t just expected; it was engineered. The system rewarded speed, demanded clarity and consistently produced unusually strong operators.