There is nothing 'quick' about Majety, the co-founder, managing director and group chief executive officer of Swiggy, which was started in 2014. It took Majety a decade—thanks to its IPO in November—to come out from his self-imposed media exile and talk about the company
Sriharsha Majety, Co-founder and group CEO, Swiggy
Image: Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India
If Swiggy has morphed from a noun to a verb over the last decade, the man responsible for starting quick commerce in India is an oxymoron. There is nothing ‘quick’ about Sriharsha Majety, co-founder, managing director and group chief executive officer of Swiggy, which was started in 2014. It took Majety a decade—thanks to its IPO in November—to come out from his self-imposed media exile and talk about the company.
“I have never been uncomfortable with speaking. It’s just that there are moments when you come out and talk about your story,” he says in an exclusive interview with Forbes India.
If India has seen a fair share of high-octane startup founders who are flamboyant, brash, animated, and have inadvertently made their company infamous for harbouring toxic culture, Majety again happens to be an exception and oxymoron. He embraces Zen-like calmness, his company is light years away from the word ‘toxic’, and the group CEO has created a different playbook grounded in humility.
“Words like one-upmanship, zero-sum game, and brinksmanship…these are not games that we naturally understand. They are not native to us,” he reckons. “I never built this (Swiggy) to be a public figure. Never. I don’t worry about individual status,” he underlines.
If playing a short-term game has been the guiding principle for a dominant share of founders, Majety again breaks the mould. He is defined by his long-term vision, bets and perspective. If a section of entrepreneurs loves to flaunt their swagger by hitting back at critics, Majety prefers to listen, and not react. “We are here, and we are in a very strong place, which proves that you can build a large startup without just worrying about what everyone is saying about you,” he says. What the consumers are talking about you, he underlines, is what matters the most. Excerpts:
(This story appears in the 24 January, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)