Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal’s advice to Swiggy: ‘Competent people can’t recognise they are complacent, don’t…’

Swiggy, a direct competitor to Zomato and one of India's leading food delivery aggregators made its highly anticipated stock market debut on November 13. The IPO not only marked a significant milestone for the company but also elevated nearly 500 of its employees to ‘crorepati’ status, thanks to their holdings now worth crores of rupees. 

Interestingly, just weeks before Swiggy's IPO, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had some advice for Swiggy's employees, reflecting on his company's own experience of going public in 2021, the Times of India reported.

Speaking at the ET Startup Awards in October, Goyal shared lessons from Zomato's listing journey and highlighted some of the “unintended consequences” that emerged when many employees suddenly became “crorepatis.” 

‘Experienced Complacency, Innovation Slowed’

Sharing the experience, Goyal said that IPO and business was good post-listing, but “a lot of people made a lot of money for the first time in their lives.”

“These are competent people. Competent people can't recognise that they are actually being complacent. They don’t seek progress anymore,” he added.

Goyal added, “They are tuned in that way, but they are not letting any progress happen. That’s what we had come down to. There was no work happening inside the organisation for a while. I had to literally clear out pretty much everybody who had lost that drive and then reboot the organisation.” 

While positive about wealthy employees, Goyal stressed the need to remain ambitious and seek continuous growth despite financial success.

'Expect food delivery business to grow 30% annually'

Further, in an interview with Reuters, Zomato's food delivery CEO, Rakesh Ranjan, said the company expects the business to grow at 30 per cent annually over the next five years. He also lauded Swiggy's IPO for boosting the space.

"The food delivery sector is still in its nascent stages in the country and more competition will only foster innovation and growth, which will benefit the sector overall," Ranjan said on November 18.

Zomato holds 58 per cent of the food delivery market, while Swiggy holds 34 per cent share.

As of March 2024, Zomato's app had an average monthly active restaurant partner count of around 2,47,000, 18 per cent higher than a year earlier.

(With inputs from Reuters)