'If learning becomes the prerequisite…': Deepinder Goyal's Chief of Staff role reveals why he quit

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“On December 25, 2024, I walked into Deepinder Goyal’s farmhouse for what I thought would be a conversation about a Chief of Staff role at Zomato. An hour later, he offered me a job building something that did not yet have a company, a team or even a fixed idea,” he wrote.

The decision came quickly. “Two minutes after leaving his farmhouse, I sent in my resignation from my job in Toronto,” he added.

The opportunity stemmed from Goyal’s controversial Chief of Staff job post in November 2024, which required candidates to forgo a salary in the first year and contribute ₹20 lakh for the opportunity. While the proposal was criticised online as elitist and exploitative, Mulchandani said he saw it differently.

“The moment I read the post, I knew I had to apply,” he wrote, adding that instead of submitting a polished resume, he sent an honest 200-word note about his journey from taking over his late father’s textile business at the age of 13 to studying at the University of Toronto and building a career platform for students.

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At LAT Aerospace, he said there was no predefined roadmap. “We didn’t even have a stable answer to the most basic question: What exactly are we building?” he recalled. The team eventually grew from around five people to nearly 55, spending months speaking with engineers, pilots and manufacturers before shaping the company’s vision. He credited Goyal with encouraging rapid experimentation, saying the founder urged the team to “stop overthinking, behave more like a toy company and get something flying.”

Explaining his decision to leave, Mulchandani said staying at LAT would have been the safer option, but his ambition to build something of his own became stronger. “If learning becomes the prerequisite for beginning, the beginning can be postponed indefinitely,” he wrote.