Back in 2005, fresh out of IIT, I started working on a foodie startup with some good friends. Our families and friends were the security blanket for us. And we worked tirelessly to make the startup work. It didn’t. I realized that we weren’t quite sure what we wanted to be as a firm, nor did we surround ourselves with the talent that could help us figure out a path to this uncertain destination.

In 2008, when Pankaj and I gave the idea another shot, we focused on creating a product that we would want. Luckily, a few hundred thousand other people wanted it too. It worked. In some time, we started doing well with a 4 member team that included 2 interns. A year later, Pankaj and I quit our jobs to do this full time and we haven’t regretted a minute of it. We love what we do and that’s the reason why we can do it for 14 hours a day, 365 days a year. Along the way, we have been joined by over a 100 people who are as passionate about Zomato as we are.

All of us here at Zomato, believe that the only way to grow this organization is by adding people who are better than us. We look for people who have the passion of Don Quixote with the mental strength to serve in the Indian Army. We look for people who can drive change. People who have a point to prove – to themselves rather than others. People who have never been part of the rat race. Or the ones who want to pull out of the race. Because that race is not anyways the one they want to win.

Timeout. You are probably wondering why we need such people to run a ‘review website’. This needs explanation. Zomato was never started as a ‘review website’. It was a guide with information required to decide where to order food from. We spruced it up by having practically all menus in any given geographical area. Based on feedback, we brought in pictures, maps and other relevant information. We created some smart filters on the website to help people make their searches relevant. We went few steps ahead by splitting the search results by delivery and dine-out. More relevance. A large number of users gave us feedback to create a review section and we did that. The focus was always, and will always be, to create a food guide, not just a ‘review website’. In fact, we were the first brand in India to bring the power of food search to the mobile via our smartphones apps.

While we were creating and improving our products, we naturally got advertisers on board. That is the simplest way in which an aggregator like us makes money. Restaurant clients however, came to us with a variety of issues and sought help. None of us belonged to the hospitality industry and were clearly not qualified to help them. But we more than made up for it with logic and common sense – something that we still look for while getting people on board. We analyzed food search behavior and had hordes of data to validate our recommendations. Here’s the long and short of it – sitting behind the curtain of a ‘review website’ are people who are problem solvers for the restaurant business. We offer a gamut of services which helps restaurants not only market themselves better, but also run their operations smoothly. We are business drivers. We charge a bomb for what we do – we value our intellect. This is clearly where we go much beyond any ‘review website’. We are not Zomato ‘dot com’, we are ‘Zomato’.

Right now, Zomato is growing super fast and we need people who can grow faster than the organization. People who can figure out stuff by themselves and get things done. People who dream of running a company one day and want to get their hands dirty at running one right now.

If you think this is what you are made of, you should be here at Zomato. Here, there is always something fun, meaningful and i-m-possible to do. We are three years old and we are building things which will change the face of our industry. If you want to be a part of the change, and drive it, write in your motivation to me at deepinder@zomato.com; please do not send your CVs – we don’t look at them. Moreover, once you join Zomato, you will probably never need one again.