6/12/2015

InterviewwithSaiPriyaMahajan,CoFounderEatlo|CrazyEngineers

InterviewwithSaiPriyaMahajan,CoFounderEatlo

Discussionin'FoundersCircuitTheVentureCaptureSeries'startedbyGuneetKaurKhanuja,Apr17,2015.

byGuneetKaurKhanuja,Apr17,2015at9:21AM

Recommend

142 Tweet

EatloisanewfoodstartupcompanycofoundedbySaiPriyaMahajanandRahul
Harkisankaintheyear2014.SaicompletedherdualdegreeinElectricalEngineering
fromIndianInstituteofTechnologyBombayintheyear2011.Afterworkingforabout
fouryearsinvariouscompanieslikeUrbanTouchandMyGola,SaistartedupwithEatlo.
CheckoutthefollowinginterviewtoknowmoreaboutEatlo,thesourceofinspiration
behindthisstartupthekindofactivitiesSaiwasinvolvedinatIITBombay,theirhiring
strategies,opportunitiesforbuddingengineersandalotmore!Readon!

RahulHarkisankaandSaiPriyaMahajan
1.HelloSai.CouldyougiveourreadersabriefoverviewofEatlo?
Sai:AtEatlo,we'rebuildingthemosthasslefreeandconvenientfoodserviceever.
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22titleBar%22%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2010px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B

1/5

6/12/2015

InterviewwithSaiPriyaMahajan,CoFounderEatlo|CrazyEngineers

Eatloislikeyourgotobrandforfooddelivery.Sowheneveryou'rehungry,youopen
ourapp,choosefrom45optionssuitableforthetimeoftheday,orderin20seconds
andgetyourfoodin20mins.Ourmenuchangesdailysoyoudon'tgetboredofhaving
thesamethingdayindayout.Anyitemonthemenuisnotrepeatedfor1520days
andevenafterthatitisnotofferedinthesamecombination,soit'snotlikearotating
menu.YoucanchoosefromourvegornonvegoptionsintheHealthy,Homelyor
Interestingcategories.Ourfoodisbothtastyandfillingbutalsoguiltfreeandnon
restaurantishonmostoccasions,sothatyoucanorderdailyfromus.
Rightnowwe'redoinglunchesin7areasinBangalore.Butwewanttobeabletoserve
food,ondemand,throughoutthedaybreakfast,lunch,snacks,dinnerandovernight
deliverieswhichiswhenwe'llbecometheonestopsolutionforallfoodneedsofa
customer.
2.Youhaveaworkexperienceofclosetofouryearspriortostartingupwith
Eatlo.Whatwasthesourceofinspirationforyou?
Sai:IwantedtodosomethingexcitingaftercompletingmygraduationfromIITB.Ihad
ajobofferofaSoftwareEngineerfromafirminTexas,Austinbutwantedtodo
somethingthatwasmoredynamicandonthegroundsoIjoinedthisstartup
Urbantouch.com.ThatIthinkwasaturningpointforme.Hadwantedtostartupsince
then,justcouldn'tfixmymindtoanideabeforethis.
3.Couldyoutellusmoreaboutyoureducationalbackground?Whatkindof
activitieswereyouinvolvedinatIITBombay?
Sai:IcompletedaDualdegree(Mtech+Btech)fromIITBinMicroelectronics(Electrical
Engineering)in2011.Iwasprettyseriousaboutacademicsandwouldtrytounderstand
concepts.ButIwasalsoextensivelyinvolvedinalotofextracurricularactivities.Wasin
theinterIITbasketballteam,usedtosingandperformregularlyeverysemandalsogot
involvedintheplacementteam,sportscouncil&ourdeptmentorprogram.
4.HowbigistheteamatEatlo?
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22titleBar%22%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2010px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B

2/5

6/12/2015

InterviewwithSaiPriyaMahajan,CoFounderEatlo|CrazyEngineers

Sai:We'renowaround40peopleincludingthecoreandexecutiveteams.

TeamEatlo
5.Whatareyourhiringstrategies?Anyopportunitiesforbuddingengineers?
Sai:Ourstrategyistohirerockstarswhowethinkhavethepotentialtogetthingsdone
andbuildscalablesystems.Attheseniorlevel,wemostlyhirethroughreferences.But
wealsospeakwithpeoplewhoapproachusandthentrytofindareferencewhocan
giveussomefeedback.Havingaverageperformersontheteamnegativelyaffectsthe
moraleofhighperformers.Sowethinkit'sreallyimportanttohiretherightpeopleasit
reallyaffectsthecultureandultimatelywhatyourteamstandsfor.
Absolutely!We'regrowingveryfastandtherearelotofopenpositionscurrentlyfor
peoplewho'vebeenactivelyshippingproducts.

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22titleBar%22%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2010px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B

3/5

6/12/2015

InterviewwithSaiPriyaMahajan,CoFounderEatlo|CrazyEngineers

6.Universityorlifeexperience,whichdoyoufeelbestpreparesyouforlife?
Sai:
Bothandnone.Whilethesetwogiveyouexposuretoalotofthingsyoucanneverbepreparedenough
foralotoflifeexperiences.

7.Haveyoubeeninafailedstartupbefore?Ifyes,whydiditfail?
Sai:I'vebeenat2startupsbeforethis,asateammemberthoughnotasafounder.
See,therearefailuresandwinseveryotherday.Sometimesyouaresuccessfulinwhat
you'redoingandatothertimesyou'renot.Instartupsespeciallyyouneedtotryto
solveaproblemviamanydifferentapproaches.Youdo3040thingsandperhapsonly
510ofthosewouldwork.Theimportantthingistokeepimplementingandnotslow
downbecausesomethingdidnotgowell.Andalsotonotoveroptimizeoroverthink.
Implementingatspeediskeytodoingwell.
8.Whatwouldyoudodifferentlyifgivenachance?
Sai:I'ddomoreandworrylessaboutoptimization.
9.Whyshouldcustomerschooseyouoveryourcompetitors?
Sai:We'dliketohearthatfromourcustomers.

Atourend,weensurewedowhatis

bestforthecustomer.We'retryingtobuildthemosthasslefreeandconvenientfood
serviceeverforcustomersandallourdecisionsandstrategyshapeupfromthis
thought.Wedon'tsaywe'rebuildingamarketplaceofchefsoraninternetfirst
restaurant,becausehonestlywedon'tcareaboutthesefancyterms.Whatwereally
careaboutandaretryingtosolveeverydayishowtomakegettingfoodforour
customerssupereasyandconvenient.
10.Thankyouforthetimeyouhavespentwithus.Anymessageforour
readers?

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22titleBar%22%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2010px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B

4/5

6/12/2015

InterviewwithSaiPriyaMahajan,CoFounderEatlo|CrazyEngineers

Sai:Ifyou'relookingtojoinafastpaced,highgrowthstartup,shootusanemail
athello@eatloapp.com.Anddotryusateatloapp.comifyou'reinBangalore.Thanks
Likex2
Apr17,2015

#1

data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22titleBar%22%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%2010px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B

5/5