‘Jaanta hai tera baap kaun hai,’ recalls Zomato CEO about his father’s initial reaction to his startup idea
‘Jaanta hai tera baap kaun hai,’ recalls Zomato CEO about his father’s initial reaction to his startup idea
Deepinder Goyal speaking at the Vishesh Sampark event hosted by Hardeep Singh Puri and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
"When I started up, my dad asked janta hain tera baap kaun hain?… Over the past 16 years, especially 7-10 yeras, the government has kept itself out of the way of startups… hope it continues," says #Zomato chief Deepinder Goyal
— Deepsekhar Choudhury (@deepsekharc) May 20, 2024
Via @moneycontrolcom @chandrarsrikant pic.twitter.com/CcPll6TORP
Zomato’s CEO, Deepinder Goyal, recently shared an interesting story about his father’s reaction when he first thought of starting his company almost 20 years ago. He discussed this during the Vishesh Sampark event, organized by Hardeep Singh Puri, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.
A video of Goyal’s speech quickly became popular on social media. In the video, he recalls his father’s reaction and talks about the changing startup environment in India. “I started Zomato 16 years ago in 2008. My dad told me, ‘Janta hai tera baap kaun hai?’ meaning ‘Do you know who your father is?’ His point was, ‘You can’t do a startup.’ I come from a small town in Punjab. That’s my background,” Goyal said. He also mentioned how the perception of startups has improved in recent years, thanks to government support.
The event, held on May 20 at Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s residence, brought together innovators, intellectuals, startup leaders and IT professionals to discuss India’s digital transformation and future under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Other notable attendees included Abhiraj Singh Bhal, founder of Urban Company; Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of Peak XV Partners; Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of the Indian Cellular Association; YouTuber Gaurav Chaudhary (Technical Guruji); Rohan Verma, CEO of MapMyIndia; and Varun Alagh, co-founder of Honest Consumer.
Deepinder Goyal, born in 1983 in Muktsar, Punjab, shared that his parents were teachers and that he was an average student. His father once had to ask a teacher to let him pass Class 5. However, in Class 8, with a teacher’s help, he turned his life around and became one of the top students. “When the exam results were declared, I was in the top three of my class,” he said, calling it a turning point in his life.
Earlier this year, Goyal married former model Grecia Munoz and appeared as a judge on the third season of the reality show Shark Tank India.
