Dear Food Tech Unicorn Founders including but not restricted to Deepinder Goyal | Albinder Dhindsa | Saurabh Kumar | Sriharsha Majety | Hari Menon | Aadit Palicha | Kalviya Vohra among others from Zomato | Swiggy |Zepto | Blinkit | Big Basket etc:
FAST. FURIOUS. FATAL?– A Love Letter to Our Unicorns on Two Wheels
You brilliant minds who’ve revolutionized how India eats and shops – I’m in awe of your business acumen. Truly. And I’m grateful. The convenience economy you’ve built has transformed our lives in ways we couldn’t imagine a decade ago.
We see them everywhere. Those colorful troops of delivery warriors zigzagging through traffic like their smartphones contain the nuclear codes? I have. Daily. And let me tell you – it’s not just food they’re delivering; it’s a masterclass in creative traffic violations!
Yesterday, as I stood at a signal, I witnessed what can only be described as the “Delivery Olympics” – a Zomato rider slaloming between cars, a Swiggy compatriot treating the footpath as his personal expressway, and a Blinkit superhero who apparently believed red lights were merely festive decorations. The prize? A few minutes saved. The potential cost? Immeasurable.
But here’s my question, served hot and straight from the heart: Does the future of convenience need to be written in traffic violations and emergency room visits?
When your riders zip through neighborhoods without helmets, when they treat one-ways as suggestions rather than rules, when they view pedestrians as mobile obstacles in their delivery video game – we have to ask if the 10-minute delivery promise is worth its human cost.
We’ve become a society that can’t wait 15 minutes for food that took 30 minutes to prepare. We need our groceries NOW. We want our coffee YESTERDAY. And in this race to satisfy our impatience, your riders are being pushed to perform delivery miracles.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: There are no miracles in traffic. There are only physics, vulnerability, and consequences.
When your rider zips past my car on the wrong side of the road, helmet-less with one hand on the handlebar and eyes on the GPS, I don’t see efficiency. I see someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s provider – taking risks that no meal or grocery delivery justifies. Does convenience have to come with collateral damage?
I am sure we can all see the irony of Customer First. You obsess over NPS, retention, and “delight metrics.” But what about the Safety NPS? The “please don’t die for my biryani“ metric?
Fact Is: A rider’s life > a 4.9-star delivery rating.
Some obvious red flags to look at here(both literally & figuratively):-
–No Helmets? Bro, even Tom Cruise wears one in Top Gun. Your riders aren’t Maverick—they’re humans with families.
–Jumping Signals? If red = green, maybe we should just let traffic lights “pivot“ into disco balls.
–Footpath Grand Prix? Pedestrians didn’t sign up for obstacle racing.
–Wrong-Side Driving? Newton’s third law: Every wrong-side rider will meet an angry biker head-on.
We love your apps. We love the dopamine hit of Maggi in 10 minutes. We love the convenience of hot food, cold beer, ice cream, condoms, and cornflakes—delivered faster than you can say “30 under 30.”
But here’s what we don’t love: Your delivery warriors—bless their hustle—riding like Vin Diesel in Fast & the Flouting Laws, part 97.
Red light? Just a suggestion.
Helmet? Optional fashion accessory.
Wrong side? Shortcut to productivity.
Footpath? Who needs pedestrians when you have a target to meet?
Every order comes with a free topping of adrenaline and a side of chaos. Are we trying to beat time, or beat death?
Let’s call it out: This is not “disruption.” This is destruction, dressed in algorithmic urgency.
Unicorns, here’s a thought.
You’ve built some of the most scalable, investable, headline-worthy businesses in the country.
But when did safety stop being part of the business model?
No OKR, no VC deck, no tech stack justifies a 19-year-old risking his spinal cord so I can get my chai latte before my Zoom call.
This is not logistics. It’s live-sticks—and they’re breaking.
Now don’t get me wrong—I’m not here to cancel convenience. I’m not the president of the “Bring Back the Dabbawalas” association. I’m just asking for a version update to your mission statements.
One that reads:
“Delighting Customers. Not Endangering Riders. And Other Lives”.
Imagine this:
–Helmets that are non-negotiable, not photo-ops.
-Delivery timelines that are realistic, not romanticised in pitch decks.
-Riders trained not just in swiping QR codes but also in respecting lanes and lives.
How about turning “10-minute delivery” into “10/10 empathy”? Can we be fast without being fatal?
To all the unicorn owners reading this—and I hope you are, if your LinkedIn filters include the word “impact”—you have the power to redefine hustle.
Because here’s the inconvenient truth: We are building the future of convenience on the broken bones of gig workers.
Let’s pivot. Let’s disrupt the idea that danger = delight.
After all, what’s the point of delivering biryani in 9 minutes if one can’t deliver basic human decency at all?
Let’s unbundle the madness.
Let’s decelerate the damage.
Let’s build unicorns that don’t leave behind hoof prints on highways.
And hey, we can do it with humor, grace, and better APIs.
I’ll still order from your apps.
And to us, the consumers feeding this beast with our impatience – perhaps we need to ask ourselves some questions too if we can make a strategic retreat from being a consumer to being a human:
-Is it worth risking someone’s life to get our paneer tikka 5 minutes faster?
-Can we bear to wait 20 minutes instead of 10 for our groceries if it means safer roads for everyone?
-What responsibility do we bear in this ecosystem of urgency?
Our convenience shouldn’t come at the cost of someone else’s safety. And unicorns: You didn’t just build companies—you built habits, expectations, and an entire ecosystem of urgency. Now, it’s time to build safety into the algorithm.
And if you permit me a bit of a stretch, here are some thoughts(say masala) for your next boardroom discussion:-
–Tech That Cares: GPS alerts for wrong-side riding, speed governors, mandatory helmet selfies.
–Incentivize Safety: Reward riders for safe deliveries, not just fast ones.
–Traffic Rule Bootcamps: Because knowing the difference between “No Entry” and “Challenge Accepted“ matters.
–Customer Education: Maybe a pop-up—“Your pizza can wait. Your rider’s life can’t”.
This isn’t a rant—it’s a reluctant love letter. I admire what you’ve built. But greatness isn’t just about valuation; it’s about values.
So, dear founders, here’s the challenge: Can you disrupt safety like you disrupted hunger?
Because right now, the only thing moving faster than your deliveries is the risk riding pillion.
I’m not suggesting we dismantle the beautiful convenience economy you’ve built. I’m simply asking for a recalibration – one that values human life above delivery metrics.
And no biryani, no matter how fragrant, no groceries, no matter how essential, are worth a life.
Stay Hungry. Stay Safe. Stay Awesome.
P.S. If this post saves one life, my job is done. If it gets me free Zomato Gold, well… that’s just karma.