In UK you don't leave a spoon in a teacup, says Zomato's Deepinder Goyal

Success Quotient is a weekly feature that appears every Friday on Firstpost, which looks at the pains and joys en route to success for a head honcho - whether a CEO, MD or an entrepreneur. The column looks at the ideas that helped launch a company, its highs and lows and future plans. Want to order food or eat out? Chances are that you will search for an option on Zomato, the largest online and mobile restaurant search service that provides reviews for over 300,000 restaurants across 20 countries. Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, credits the success of the company to its workforce, which he believes, is as committed to the company’s vision as its management. Excerpts from an interview with Mr Goyal: What did you want to do after finishing your studies at IIT-Delhi in 2005? Did you ever plan to start your own venture? I have always been passionate about technology and when I finished at IIT I knew that I wanted to start my own entrepreneurial venture. When I was growing up, I looked up to companies like Apple and Microsoft. Way back then, I too wanted to utilise technology someday to change the way people communicated and lived their lives. I was working with a leading management consulting firm Bain & Company for four years before working full-time on building Zomato. What was your experience as an employee at Bain & Co? My last role at Bain was that of Senior Associate Consultant. Coming from an engineering background, working at Bain was an excellent opportunity to learn the business side of things, which has helped us a great deal in building Zomato. Working there, I understood the importance of investing time in people and their growth. [caption id=“attachment_2027553” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Deepinder Goyal says he likes to try out new restaurants to relax.[/caption] What did you have in mind when you decided to start Zomato? Was there a benchmark you had set for yourself? While Pankaj (Chaddah) and I were working at Bain, we started scanning menu cards and uploading it online for our colleagues to help them discover places to order in from during lunch. Soon after creating the intranet website for Bain employees, we noticed a significant number of hits and it quickly became clear that a viable business could be built out of it. We saw a gap in the market for a product and platform like ours and the response we have received since then has been fantastic. We are present in 20 countries with many more in the pipeline this year (2015). One of our early goals was to disrupt the restaurant industry through product innovation and six years later, we continue to do that. What is the high water mark for you at Zomato? I have always believed that it’s extremely important to be passionate and aim for a niche and then build from there. We have been lucky with our team. An organisation is only as good as the people who work in it. When we started Zomato we found it challenging to find the right people for the job. With your experience at Zomato, what kind of food/dining trends have you noticed? Dining trends and customs differ from city to city. In the UK for example, one should never leave a spoon in a teacup. In the UAE and Qatar, touching food with the left hand is considered inappropriate. The dining scene is exploding the world over. In India, there is a growing demand for global cuisines. There is a willingness to try out new flavours and chefs and customers alike are experimenting more so today. Eating out has become a recreational activity just like shopping or watching a movie. In the coming year we can expect to see people experimenting with cuisines like Lebanese, Vietnamese and Korean and a lot of fusion delicacies as well. In Delhi, pizzas, North Indian and Chinese cuisines are extremely popular among Zomato users. In Bangalore, the most searched for cuisine is Chinese. Also, there are 33 percent more vegetarian searches in Bangalore as compared to Mumbai. In terms of the nightlife scenario, Mumbai has 47 percent more people searching for a place to drink as compared to Bangalore. What traits, according to you, create a successful entrepreneur? It’s important to have a larger vision for your company when you start out beyond just wanting to make money. Then it’s really about the kind of culture you are creating and the kind of people you have on board. It’s only then that you end up building something where everyone is moving in the same direction and is working towards a collective goal. Why do you think most startups fail? I think a great idea, solid execution, the right timing, and a little bit of luck is what makes a startup successful. You need to have a sound plan and understanding of what people want from your technological innovation. It is very important to know the problem you have set out to solve. You are famous for being a workaholic. How do you recharge? Spending time with family and friends; reading - I read quite a bit actually; and trying out new restaurants are my ways of relaxation. I am very passionate about what I do and I also look forward to coming home and putting my child to bed. What are your plans for Zomato for 2015? In 2015 we are focused on making an even bigger push on the product side and taking our mobile app to the next level. Today, more than 50 percent of Zomato’s 35 million monthly visits come from our mobile apps across the globe, a testimony to the fact that local search is moving to mobile very quickly. We will focus on mobile and international expansion.