Zepto CEO was laughed at when he suggested 10-minute deliveries

When I started last year, firstly people said you are totally nuts. They said you are just silly and wasting our time: Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha

Grocery delivery platform Zepto’s 20-year-old CEO Aadit Palicha was “laughed out” of investor meetings when he pitched his quick commerce idea for 10-minute deliveries but the growth of the sector has now turned the tables for him. The growth in quick commerce has now made he 10-minute idea not only seem extremely possible but also profitable.

“When I started last year, firstly people said you are totally nuts. They said you are just silly and wasting our time,” he told The Economic Times.

“This was the first phase, before we launched. After we launched, we were still early and not doing millions of orders and people said nobody wants this stuff. I am willing to wait a couple hours or next day. That was the second phase."

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Then he said that the idea just took off and the consumer demand in the sector grew suddenly.

“But then we and everybody else in the industry grew instantly. It became the fastest growing industry in consumer internet by far. Now millions of people use out service and our retention rates are through the roof. Now people are like, is it possible? Yes. Do people want it? Yes,” he said.

With several parts of Bengaluru facing severe flooding and waterlogging due to heavy rain, delivery and especially quick commerce took a hit and so did the “10-minute delivery” promise. He said deliveries were impacted in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru due to the weather and recovery was expected in four to six weeks.

Palicha has already set a goal to make Zepto, a $900 million company which just missed the unicorn tag, profitable before going public. “We are a year old but we are going to build a large public company. And we are not going to file for an IPO as a loss-making company, that I can tell you for sure.”