In Photos: India’s big founder exits

Very few entrepreneurs see the companies they build reach the IPO finish line. For many, stepping aside at the right moment is what allows the business to scale and endure

Jan 22, 2026, 18:31 IST5 min

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Deepinder Goyal (Eternal, formerly Zomato) | Deepinder Goyal stepped down as group CEO of Eternal on January 21, with his resignation taking effect from February 1, marking a rare instance of a founder voluntarily exiting the top executive role at a listed internet company. In a statement to shareholders, Goyal said he wanted to pursue higher risk ideas better explored outside the discipline of a public company. He is set to remain on the board as vice chairman, subject to shareholder approval, while operational leadership has been passed to Blinkit founder Albinder Dhindsa. The move reflected a conscious separation between founder experimentation and the predictable execution demanded of public market leadership. Photo by Madhu Kapparath

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Mayank Kumar (upGrad) | Mayank Kumar, co founder and managing director of upGrad, moved away from day to day operations in late 2024 to start a new venture, BorderPlus, focussed on cross border talent mobility. While giving up his executive responsibilities, Kumar retained his position as a co founder, director and shareholder, continuing to influence upGrad’s long term strategy at the board level. Operational leadership at the edtech firm shifted to co founder Ronnie Screwvala as upGrad moved closer to public market readiness. Photo by Bajirao Pawar for Forbes India

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Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini & Hemesh Singh (Unacademy) | Unacademy saw a staggered founder step back between 2024 and 2025 as the edtech firm underwent a prolonged reset. Hemesh Singh, the earliest to disengage, stepped down as chief technology officer in June 2024, moving into an advisory role as Unacademy began scaling back acquisitions and restructuring its tech stack. This was followed by Gaurav Munjal, co founder and CEO, stepping down from the CEO role in May 2025, alongside Roman Saini, who also exited active operations. Sumit Jain, board member and founder of Graphy (acquired by Unacademy), took charge as CEO, marking the end of founder led day to day control at the company. Photo by Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Forbes India

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Aman Gupta & Sameer Mehta (boAt) | Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta built boAt from a challenger brand into India’s dominant player in audio wearables, steering the company through scale, profitability and mass market appeal. As the company began preparing for public markets, the founders gradually stepped back from day to day execution, shifting to board level and strategic roles. boAt is now run by professional CEO Gaurav Nayyar, who was elevated from chief operating officer to lead the company’s operations and next phase of growth. While Gupta and Mehta remain influential shareholders and directors, operational control has moved to an institutional leadership structure, reflecting a deliberate choice to prioritise governance, predictability and scale over founder led management as the company matured. Photo by Amit Verma

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Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) | Girish Mathrubootham’s phased exit from Freshworks fits the classic post IPO transition playbook. After taking the SaaS (software as a service firm) public on Nasdaq in 2021, he moved out of the CEO role in 2024, handing day to day control to veteran operator Dennis Woodside. In September 2025, he said he would step down as executive chairman by December 1 to devote full time to Together, the venture fund he co founded, and to longer horizon AI strategy. The company installed lead independent director Roxanne Austin as chair, further institutionalising governance. It’s an archetype of founder charisma giving way to professional stewardship in the public markets phase.

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Siddharth Shah, Dhawal Shah & Harindar Singh (PharmEasy) | PharmEasy’s founders stepped back amid a turbulent reset triggered by pandemic era overexpansion, mounting losses and a shelved IPO. Debt pressure following the Thyrocare acquisition and a tighter funding climate forced a restructuring, with investors prioritising stability over founder led growth. Between 2023 and 2024, Siddharth Shah, Dhawal Shah and Harindar Singh exited executive roles as professional leadership took charge. Rahul Guha, managing director and CEO of Thyrocare, was appointed CEO of API Holdings, PharmEasy’s parent, to lead the turnaround. The shift reflected a broader 2025 pattern: Founders making way as boards push for profitability, governance and operational discipline in a tougher market. Photo by Mexy Xavier

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Nitin Agarwal (GlobalBees) | Nitin Agarwal, co founder and CEO of GlobalBees, stepped down in 2025, citing personal reasons, with sources also pointing to health considerations. GlobalBees is a FirstCry backed ecommerce platform that follows an acquisition led strategy, buying and scaling digital first consumer brands across categories such as home, lifestyle and personal care. Agarwal’s exit was followed by the appointment of Anuj Jain, formerly chief business officer for FirstCry’s preschool segment, as CEO. The leadership change came amid stress in the consumer brand acquisition space, alongside other senior exits and the subsequent resignation of investor appointed directors from the board, partly attributed to compliance and governance requirements during a broader restructuring phase.

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Mithun Sacheti (CaratLane) | Mithun Sacheti’s step back from CaratLane unfolded gradually after the Tata Group became controlling shareholder, reflecting a classic founder to corporate transition. As integration with Titan/CaratLane deepened, Sacheti reduced day to day responsibilities and eventually moved out of executive control, focusing on personal priorities and new pursuits. Unlike fraught post acquisition exits, this was orderly and low drama, consistent with a negotiated evolution inside a large conglomerate. The case illustrates how strategic buyers absorb founder led brands: Professional systems and governance expand while entrepreneurial zeal is preserved where valuable, and the founder shifts to a looser, long term role as the platform institutionalises operations. Photo by Mexy Xavier

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Sachin & Binny Bansal (Flipkart) | Sachin and Binny Bansal’s departures ended Flipkart’s transition from India’s defining startup to a professionally run multinational subsidiary. Post the Walmart acquisition in 2018, Sachin exited to launch new ventures (notably Navi), while Binny had earlier stepped down following an internal probe into alleged misconduct, which he denied. Operational leadership consolidated under professional executives such as Kalyan Krishnamurthy, an early symbol of investor driven discipline. The Bansals’ exits became a template for founder separation in large mergers and acquisitions: Value creation for shareholders, governance recalibration for the acquirer and fresh entrepreneurial innings for the founders—resetting expectations for post deal roles in Indian tech. Photo by Hemant Mishra/Mint via Getty Images

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Greg Moran (Zoomcar) | Greg Moran, co founder and long time CEO of self drive car rental platform Zoomcar, was terminated as CEO in June 2024, ending a 12 year run leading the Bengaluru headquartered startup. Following the termination, Moran was also required to resign from Zoomcar’s board, making it a clean and complete founder exit. The decision came amid regulatory scrutiny after Zoomcar’s Nasdaq listing via SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) and concerns over missed revenue projections. Hiroshi Nishijima, Zoomcar’s chief operating officer, was appointed interim CEO in June to steer the company through the transition and ongoing governance challenges. Photo by Nishant Ratnakar for Forbes India