'Hurt People Consciously': Deepinder Goyal Reveals Harsh Truths Behind Zomato’s Performance Culture

Eternal Chief Executive Officer Deepinder Goyal, while speaking at a podcast, claimed that he "consciously hurts" his most potential lot as an act of care.

Goyal was addressing the subject of why so many Zomato co-founders have left the company, and talked about a strategy he likes to call 'rock bottom'.

"I hurt people and put them to rock bottom, their self-confidence goes for a toss," he said at Raj Shamani's 'Figuring out' podcast. He added that he practices this with people who hold huge amounts of potential.

"I do this with people who have insane potential, not with those who I think do not have potential. They have insane potential but something in their head is coming in their way, that's when I would make them hit rock bottom", the Eternal CEO said.

Goyal also said four out of five of these people bounce back "superbly great", but he carries the guilt of the one that does not come out of it at all.

In the last few years, Zomato has seen several higher-ups, including co-founders and CEOs resigning. These include Pankaj Chaddah, Gaurav Gupta, Mohit Gupta, and Gunjan Patidar.

Goyal expanded why they decided to part ways from the company and said, "Everybody has their energy cycle. Life happens, priorities change... But the organisation's priority cannot change for a person."

He also explained how he needs a founder's mindset in the organisation. He clarified that when co-founders left it was not because they lacked ability. 

"They were co-founders because they were really good and had that mindset," he underscored. "But when they left, other things came into the picture. It had nothing to do with them being founders."

Though, he also admitted to "losing his cool" in certain exit conversations and kicking people up on the corporate ladder out.

Goyal said that there were certain exits that could have been handled more gracefully, but he ended up losing his cool. Goyal recalled an incident with a senior product leader who publicly dismissed his ideas after privately agreeing in a meeting, and said that he was "lying to his face".

Goyal told Shamani that he told the person in question that he didn't belong there and should "get out".

However, the Zomato founder tried to bring the ball back to his court by underlining, "Over Zomato's lifetime, more than 100 people have left and come back."

In a remark related to gig workers, Goyal said Zomato expels nearly 5,000 delivery partners every month due to fraud, while around 1.5 to 2 lakh workers leave voluntarily.