'We got carried away.' Co-founder of GoMechanic, which sacked 70% staff, introspects, here's how LinkedIn reacted

In this start-up winter, it was the turn of GoMechanic cofounder Amit Bhasin to hit introspection mode on Wednesday. A lengthy post on LinkedIn from Bhasin tried to give his version of the story: that of having to let go of roughly 70% of the workforce and the reasons that led to its trigger.

"As entrepreneurs, we identify problems, come up with solutions, and explore every opportunity to grow those solutions to meet unmet needs. But in this instance, we got carried away," Bhasin wrote in in a LinkedIn post shared from his account on Wednesday morning.

Mentioning that the aim of the start-up founded in 2016 was to "bridge the gap between process-oriented authorized service centers and cost-effective local workshops for people who were looking for a better car repair experience", the IIM-Ahmedabad alumnus reiterated that in a short span of time, GoMechanic managed to provide a "network of technology-enabled car service centers, offering its services at the convenience of just a tap."


Bhasin, in his note, while introspecting on the debacle, emphasised that it was the firm's "conscious commitment to facilitate a convenient, affordable, and reliable experience that helped us win the trust and hearts of our customers."

Retracing the journey, "from starting out with a few hundred customers to expanding our business exponentially to serving more than 7 Lac customers," he wrote that GoMechanic was fortunate to get support from a large number of investors in this journey.

"Our passion to survive the intrinsic challenges of this sector and manage capital, took the better of us and we made grave errors in judgment as we followed growth at all costs, particularly in regard to financial reporting, which we deeply regret," Bhasin added, saying that it will seek "capital solutions.".

GoMechanic was in talks to raise $75-80 million in a funding round led by SoftBank, but the deal was called off due to accounting irregularities, according to people with knowledge of the matter. SoftBank was in talks to invest about $35 million in the company through its vision fund, with participation from Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional.

Bhasin's post owning up the errors made by the brand saw him get not just hate, but also some love on LinkedIn. While some commented on the act as a "fraud", many others tried to be sympathetic.

From auto dealers in Rajasthan and the NCR, there were a few who expressed interest in hiring those given the pink slip by GoMechanic. A few former employees also had a few good things to say, reminiscing how Bhasin had "given 100% to make GoMechanic.in one of the best #startup to fill the gap between process-oriented authorized service centres and cost-effective local workshops for people like us."

Besides Bhasin, Kushal Karwa, Nitin Rana and Rishabh Karwa are the other cofounders of GoMechanic.