In 2021, as Zomato rang the bell at the stock exchange, it wasn’t just another company going public. It was India’s first consumer-tech unicorn to list, a milestone celebrated across boardrooms and living rooms. Yet for its founder, Deepinder Goyal, it didn’t feel like an arrival. Success, for him, was never a finish line but a shifting horizon.
Unseen, written by Megha Vishwanath, Vice President at Zomato and former business journalist, captures that paradox with raw, cinematic intensity. Instead of a linear startup success story, Vishwanath reconstructs the Zomato journey not in milestones, but in moments. Over three years of shadowing its founder, she captures the pulse of a company constantly rebuilding itself in real time.
Based on hundreds of interviews with colleagues, friends, and family, Unseen pulls readers behind the curtain into the chaos, contradictions, and courage that shaped Zomato’s destiny.
From the greasy stack of takeout menus in an office cafeteria that sparked Foodiebay.com, to a midnight phone call during the pandemic when Deepinder scrambled to raise $5 million just to keep the lights on, Unseen reveals the invisible work behind India’s most-watched company.
From the first cash crunch crisis that forced the team to learn the discipline of staying small, to the pre-IPO years that tested conviction and culture, Unseen traces the tightrope between survival and scale. Vishwanath’s insider vantage point also reveals the defining turning points: the high-stakes Uber Eats India acquisition, and the rollercoaster Blinkit deal marked by drawn-out negotiations, investor doubts, and leadership pushback.
At its heart, this is not just the story of Zomato but of its founder. A stuttering boy from small-town Punjab, who became the reluctant face of one of India’s most influential brands. A man who built, broke, and rebuilt his company and himself, in public view, yet remained curiously private in spirit.
Unseen is not a celebration of success but an excavation of cost. It is a layered portrait of not just a company or its founder, but of the band of believers who wagered everything on an idea that kept evolving faster than they could catch it. It is a reflection of what it takes to become Eternal and to build something that outlives its makers.
Editor’s Note:
In Unseen, Megha has captured the soul of Zomato and the man who has made it his life’s mission to make the company eternal. It has been a privilege to see Megha’s commitment to bringing this story to life–painstakingly interviewing scores of people, unraveling the timeline of a unicorn, marrying numbers with anecdotes, and telling the tale as honestly as she could while staying true to her craft.
Radhika Marwah
About the Author
Megha Vishwanath is a former journalist and longtime storyteller at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and culture. At CNBC-TV18, she spent nearly a decade tracking the rise of India’s startup ecosystem and interviewing some of its most defining voices. Later, at a London- based consumer tech company, Nothing, she helped shape the brand’s global story through the lens of product marketing. Now vice president at Zomato, she is channeling those experiences into her debut book, Unseen.
Imprint: Penguin Business
Published: 30th Oct/2025
ISBN: 9780143420385
MRP : ₹799.00
