Imagine ordering groceries and having them show up at your doorstep in just 10 minutes. That’s the promise of Zepto, the fastest growing e-commerce company in India. In this episode of How To Build The Future, Garry sits down with Aadit Palicha, the co-founder and CEO of Zepto, to discuss how they got started in a Whatsapp group, what it’s like going up against incumbents like Amazon and Zomato and how the future of e-commerce is changing in the age of intelligence. Apply to Y Combinator: https://ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https:/workatastartup.com Chapters (Powered by https://chapterme.co/) - 00:00 - Intro 01:33 - Customer Backward 03:02 - Jared Friedman 06:03 - Kirana 08:58 - Do Things That Don't Scale 11:05 - Dark Store 14:51 - Bumps 19:36 - Other Options 21:38 - Product Market Fit 24:06 - Is Zepto A Success? 27:58 - Unique Advantages 29:53 - Vision 33:43 - AI 37:02 - Advice
Aadit Palicha is the co-founder and CEO of Zepto, one of India's largest quick-commerce grocery platforms. What began as a WhatsApp group delivering groceries to neighbors in Mumbai during COVID has grown into a company employing over 200,000 people, processing millions of deliveries per day and operating one of India's largest fruits and vegetables supply chains — all built around a 10-minute delivery model powered by a network of dark stores. At Startup School India, Aadit sat down with YC's Jared Friedman to talk about the scrappy origins of Zepto, the pivot from a doorstep delivery model to owning their own dark store infrastructure and how the company is now using AI and robotics to drive supply chain efficiency and grow a fast-scaling advertising business. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 00:17 – How Zepto Got Started 03:12 – Stanford or Startup? 04:46 – Competing in a Crowded Market 07:03 – The Pivot: Dark Stores & Zepto Is Born 10:30 – The 10-Minute Delivery Vision 12:04 – Obsessing Over 100 Customers 15:07 – The Hidden Supply Chain 18:11 – Scale & What Zepto Is Today 20:05 – The Long-Term Vision for Zepto 22:44 – How Zepto Uses AI 25:35 – The Engineering Team 26:12 – How Aadit Kept Leveling Up Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs