Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Lao Tzu

Ten years ago, Pankaj and I started something which is now bigger than we had ever imagined it to be. It’s been a spectacular journey with crazy ups and downs, and I wouldn’t trade all the learnings and camaraderie for anything else in life. It gives us incredible pride to see millions of people across the world use Zomato to discover great meals, while building a community and helping each other in the process.

Most amount of growth at Zomato has happened in the last 5 years – the first 5 years were spent finding our feet, and building a solid cultural DNA which still thrives at Zomato, without any large scale HR process being a part of our daily lives. I am also very proud to say, that today, we have 75 people who have spent more than 5 years at Zomato. Thank you everyone who have spent a part of their life building Zomato. Time is the greatest gift you can give someone, and I am grateful to everyone from the past and present of Zomato for choosing to spend their time at Zomato, as opposed all the other opportunities life threw their way..

At Zomato, we have always looked forward and perhaps why a milestone like being around for 10 years has snuck up on us so quickly. Over all these years, our mission has also evolved to something much much more than being a restaurant reviews and food delivery platform. We are already taking baby steps towards being the biggest farm to table food company in the world, and there is so much to do for all of us. So much so, that today, it still feels like Day 1, and a whole lot of us walk into Zomato with the same level of childish enthusiasm we wore when we had just started.

We are working towards the idea of a world wherein most people should have access to safe and nutritious meals at the same price or cheaper than the cost of preparing them at home. We want to solve for the need to have to cook vs eat out/ order, and see cooking as something that people should want to do because it’s a joyous activity instead of being a chore.

This mission impacts consumers by exposing them to a variety of high quality meal options that are – accessible to them, affordable, safe, nutritious and healthy; while also helping the restaurant industry grow sustainably – by allowing a transparent flow of feedback, fostering entrepreneurship, educating the restaurant fraternity and upholding higher standards for the industry to follow.

To all our users, our restaurant partners, our friends and our critics – thank you for being part of our journey, we wouldn’t be here without you. You make us who we are, and continue to inspire us to do better than yesterday, every single day.

A very special thanks to our investors who have been with us through thick and thin. No company can hope for a better group of people backing it, than what you have been to us. You are more friends and mentors to us, than investors, and we do not take that privilege lightly. Thank you, again.

This time, on our 10th anniversary, unlike most of July 10ths in the last 10 years, we are not going to have a party to celebrate the occasion. This year, to make our landmark birthday on 10th July more special, we will be celebrating it in line with our vision – better food for more people – by distributing 250,000 good and hygienic meals to the homeless and underprivileged. There won’t be any party or booze – only spreading smiles all around us. Thanks, everyone, especially Sequoia Capital, all our other investors, and Robin Hood Army for contributing directly and indirectly to helping us make these 250,000 smiles happen.

Lastly, we continue to believe in the ‘1% done’ philosophy. We might have completed 3652 days as a company, but we wish to make even more progress everyday. And that thought makes us happy about the journey we’ve chosen for ourselves.

Here’s to many, many more years ahead.