When InMobi's Naveen Tiwari asked Foodpanda’s Saurabh Kochhar, 'Where’s the oomph'?

Foodpanda’s Saurabh Kochhar on the time he was served food for thought.

Foodpanda’s co-founder & CEO, Saurabh Kochhar, was pushed into a rethink by an eclectic bunch of mentors. He considers himself fortunate to have met the right ones at the right time. And they have always offered fresh perspectives.

Like the time Naveen Tewari, founder & CEO of InMobi asked him where was the oomph in his business plan. Like Kochhar, Tewari is an alumnus of consultancy firm, McKinsey.


Saurabh Kochhar

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"I told Naveen what I had in mind for my earlier venture Printvenue (an online printing portal). He heard me out and said, ‘All this is good. But where’s the oomph?’" Kochhar says. And that stuck.

Kochhar took in the feedback. "It was such a personalised category. How do you bring the colour out and put the emotions across?" Kochhar says.

Post his conversation with Tewari, he started wearing Printvenue "inside to outside". "I even said in my pitch that I’m wearing Printvenue underwear. I’m not sure if you want to see it," he says.


Naveen Tewari

The oomph factor must have worked out. Kochhar managed to raise money for Printvenue just six weeks after his conversation with Tewari.

Another mentor, who stepped in with advice at the time of Printvenue, was his IIM-Kolkata senior and Jabong’s co-founder & MD, Praveen Sinha. Kochhar approached him about putting together a business plan. Sinha’s advice was "epic", recalls Kochhar. Sinha suggested that after creating a business plan, scale it down by 20 per cent. Consider it "God’s share," for hoping that things go well, added Sinha.


Praveen Sinha