Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal shared a heartfelt reflection on X on Friday about his evolving relationship with Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal, crediting the entrepreneur with life-changing guidance that began with a curt rejection. In a post dated November 1, 2025, Munjal recounted emailing Goyal in 2015 as a 25-year-old startup founder, only to receive the dismissive reply, "Kyon milna hai yaar. Dhandha banao" – roughly translating to "Why meet, dude? Just build your business."

Undeterred, Munjal persisted with weekly follow-ups until Goyal agreed to a 15-minute meeting, which was cut short to 10 minutes due to the Zomato chief's foul mood. Despite the brevity, Goyal imparted a pivotal piece of advice: "Just grow 1% every day. Everything else is secondary." Munjal described this as the start of a mentorship that has profoundly influenced his leadership at Unacademy, an edtech platform he launched in 2015 after transforming a YouTube channel into a full-fledged startup valued at over $3 billion at its peak.

Over the years, Munjal's interactions with Goyal deepened, evolving from sporadic advice sessions into a formal advisory role when Goyal joined Unacademy's board in 2021 following a $440 million funding round. Munjal, who stepped down as CEO in May 2025 to focus on Unacademy's AI-powered language learning app AirLearn while retaining a 3.4% stake, highlighted Goyal's role in navigating challenges like the edtech funding winter. He urged followers to read "Unseen: The Untold Story of Deepinder Goyal and the Making of Zomato", a biography by former Zomato VP Megha Vishwanath released on October 31, 2025, which chronicles Goyal's journey from a stuttering Punjab boy to helming a consumer-tech giant through 300-plus interviews and insider accounts. The book delves into Zomato's pivots, including its 2022 acquisition of quick-commerce platform Blinkit for ₹4,477 crore, underscoring Goyal's resilience amid cash crunches and market scepticism. Munjal wrote that the stories and counsel from Goyal "changed my life," positioning the narrative as inspirational for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Goyal's response was characteristically understated: a simple heart emoji in the comments, a gesture that resonated with Munjal's audience and amplified the post's reach. Social media reactions were largely positive, with users praising the power of persistence and incremental growth – one commenter noted, "Grow 1% every day – sounds small, compounds big," while another hailed, "Persistence for the win." Admirers lauded Goyal as an underrecognised young entrepreneur deserving "nothing but respect", and one post quipped, "Inspiration crosses inspiration."

However, not all feedback was glowing; a critic remarked that Munjal should have avoided meeting someone showing "attitude for no reason", emphasising mutual respect in professional interactions. The exchange highlights the mentorship culture in India's startup ecosystem, where founders like Munjal openly credit peers for breakthroughs amid a sector facing valuation resets and profitability pressures.

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The anecdote arrives as both leaders boast substantial fortunes, with Goyal's net worth estimated at $1.9 billion as of July 2025, bolstered by a recent Zomato stock rally that added ₹2,000 crore to his wealth in 48 hours, per Forbes real-time rankings. Munjal's wealth stands at around $1.2 billion, derived primarily from his Unacademy equity and angel investments in 44 ventures, though reports vary, with some pegging it lower at ₹300-400 crore post his CEO transition.

Goyal, an IIT Delhi alumnus who started Zomato in 2008 as a restaurant discovery tool, has mentored figures beyond Munjal, including through Shark Tank India, while Munjal's pivot to AirLearn signals edtech's shift toward specialised AI tools. As India's startup landscape matures – with Zomato eyeing top-five valuation status by 2035, per Munjal's earlier prediction – such stories of grit and guidance underscore the human element driving billion-dollar empires.

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