'I want you back': Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal invites former employees to rejoin company

In an unusually candid public note, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal on Tuesday, January 3, reached out to former employees, including those who were asked to leave -- inviting them to return to the company’s parent organisation, Eternal.

Goyal acknowledged that Zomato may not have offered the “environment” or “leadership” many employees needed at the time they left. “But I know for sure, that you loved being at Zomato, and it is quite possible that you never felt like home anywhere else since you left,” he wrote.

The message comes as Eternal, the umbrella group that houses Zomato, Blinkit Quick-Commerce, Blinkit Ambulances, District, Hyperpure, Nugget, and Feeding India, continues to expand across business verticals.

According to Goyal, more than 400 employees are currently working at Eternal in their “second or third stints,” with many doing the “best work” of their careers. “Maybe because they've grown, but also because the company has grown. We are more organised, a little less chaotic, and hopefully, I've learned a few things along the way too.”

In a direct appeal, he told former employees not to hesitate if they fear that “the door is closed.” Goyal added, “If you haven't reached out because you think I’m holding onto the past, I’m not. I want you back.”

Addressing concerns that Eternal may feel different now that he is no longer CEO, Goyal dismissed the idea that titles mattered at the company. “I am still very much here, and I'd love for you to be a part of this next phase of Eternal,” he wrote.

Goyal urged anyone who feels they have “unfinished business” at the organisation to get in touch at [e-mail]. Signing off with characteristic humour, he added, “The Gurgaon pollution is still a bug, but being at Eternal is the feature.”