In 2015 - pre-Jio and pre-India’s e-commerce explosion - I stumbled upon a website called Meesho and emailed my colleague to reach out to them. That email led to a meeting with Vidit and Sanjeev soon after. But it took another 18 months - two pivots and many conversations - before we finally became partners.

I didn’t know then that this would become one of the most defining partnerships of my career.

Ten years later, Meesho - despite being a late entrant - has redefined what e-commerce should look like in India. Staying true to its mission of democratising internet commerce for everyone, Meesho has grown into one of India's largest marketplaces.

As Meesho lists today, it feels like the right moment to reflect on what truly powered this journey: clarity, courage, and stellar execution.

The North Star

Even in 2017- before we invested - Meesho’s “why” was crystal clear: democratise internet commerce in India, and bring the next 500 million shoppers online. A slide from their 2017 deck captured this ambition clearly.

What stood out just as much was that Vidit and Sanjeev had thought through the implications. Serving value-conscious India would require unconventional choices - and the biggest one was zero commission. The logic was simple: if you want the lowest prices sustainably, the platform itself has to be built to be extremely efficient. A zero-commission model forces that discipline.

In the following couple of years, Meesho had to step away from this ideal because the market - and Meesho’s own scale - weren’t ready. But they treated it as a temporary compromise, not a change in belief.

A few years later, once the business had the scale to sustain it, Meesho returned to its original principle of zero commission and has stayed with it since.

In hindsight, what stands out is how early the ethos was set: think long-term, design for the mission, make clear calls - and stay the course even when it’s unconventional.

Clarity: Seeing The Shift Early

Late 2020. Post-COVID. We're in one of the most intense board meetings I've experienced in my career.

The pandemic accelerated e-commerce adoption dramatically. Consumers in tier 2 and 3 cities who'd never shopped online were trying it for the first time. They were coming to Meesho, even though the platform was built for resellers, not end consumers.

Many founders would have celebrated this organic growth. Vidit saw something different: an existential threat.

He recognised that the roles micro-entrepreneurs played - curation, trust, and local presence - would shrink over time as more consumers got comfortable buying directly online. The question wasn’t if that would happen, but when.

I remember a framework shared by Zhang Lei, founder of Hillhouse, at one of our events: The most important question for any business is whether time is your friend or an enemy.

It took real courage to answer honestly: for Meesho's reseller-led model, time was an enemy.

What made this extraordinary was the timing. We had just raised a large round based on the reseller thesis. This was the first board meeting after that investment. And we were discussing a fundamental pivot - from reseller-first to consumer-first.

Vidit was clear: this wasn't a choice. It was existential! And if we got it right, we had the opportunity to build a true marketplace that could serve hundreds of millions of consumers. But only if we went all in.

That meeting captured Meesho at its best: seeing the world clearly before it becomes obvious, taking the hard call early, and committing fully.

Courage: Taking On Insanely Audacious Goals

The Meesho team has always had a reputation for taking on BHAGs - Big Hairy Audacious Goals. But ambition without follow-through is just theatre. Meesho’s ambition has always come with execution.

It was mid-2022, and fundraising was getting tougher across the board. Meesho was burning tens of millions of dollars a month to aggressively capture market share. Competition was spending at extraordinary levels - close to a billion dollars a year.

In that environment, the team set a goal to become profitable by the end of 2023.

And then they did it. In mid-2023, several months ahead of plan, Meesho became the first horizontal e-commerce platform (and to date the only one) to turn profitable.

It wasn’t just a financial milestone. It was a proof point: that Meesho could serve value-conscious customers at scale while being profitable.

Execution: Scale, Built Differently

To support Meesho’s growth and ambitions, they needed their own logistics. The conventional answer would have been to build an asset-heavy network - warehouses, fleets, the whole stack - much like traditional 3PLs or large e-commerce players.

Meesho chose a harder path.

Valmo, Meesho’s logistics network, was built as a tech-led platform - partnering with thousands of logistics entrepreneurs across the country, rather than owning warehouses and trucks.

Why take that route? Because it’s far more efficient at scale, and because the efficiency ultimately shows up where it matters most: in lower prices for consumers.

Fast forward to today: in a little over two years, Valmo has become India’s largest e-commerce logistics platform, handling a significant share of Meesho’s deliveries and creating livelihoods for over 100,000 people.

That's courage - to build differently even when building conventionally would be easier. The courage to stay true to your philosophy - choose the customer first, then challenge constraints - even when it's the harder path.

The Architects

Vidit and Sanjeev have been at the centre of this journey.

Vidit is one of those very rare founders who, on the one hand, can be very strategic and hold a long-term vision, and on the other hand, be equally comfortable going deep into the trenches and getting into the operational nitty-gritty.

He has an uncanny ability to see where the world is heading, and more importantly, the courage to act on it, even if it means making very difficult choices.

Whether pivoting from a reseller-focused to a consumer-focused business or deciding to build our own logistics network in a completely asset-light manner, he didn't wait for consensus. He did what was right.

Vidit’s journey reminds me of this episode from Ramayana. When Hanuman stands before the ocean, uncertain if he can leap. And then he gets reminded of his powers, realizes what he's truly capable of, and makes the seemingly impossible leap. I have had the privilege of seeing Vidit undergo a similar transformation as a leader, and that has been one of the most rewarding and inspiring parts of my own journey.

Alongside him, Sanjeev has been the quiet backbone.

From a young engineer figuring out how to keep things running to today, leading one of India's strongest engineering teams of a few hundred people. Meesho's scale makes it one of the largest globally, and thanks to Sanjeev and the amazing engineering team, everything works like clockwork. No surprise that Meesho's engineering team and culture are now something other Indian tech companies look up to.

What is most admirable is that despite all the success and limelight, both of them have stayed humble and grounded.

And together, they have built an exceptional team that is equally capable, bold, and deeply committed to the mission.

The Mission Is Just Getting Started

The e-commerce market in India is still in chapter one. Over the next decade, this market has the potential to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. But that’s not a given. It will be created by companies that can bring new users online, make products more affordable, and build trust at scale.

That is Meesho’s opportunity, and in many ways, its obligation.

And it's not just about scale. It's about what that scale enables.

By making products accessible and affordable, Meesho will help hundreds of millions of consumers improve their quality of life.

By enabling distribution, it can help hundreds of thousands of suppliers reach customers across the country.

And by building a large, reliable delivery ecosystem, it can help millions of delivery partners earn livelihoods with dignity.

This isn’t just commerce - it’s aspiration and empowerment playing out at scale.

So when I look at Meesho today, I see something truly rare:

• A market that is massive and still just unfolding
• Founders who are growing stronger with every chapter
• And a team that has proven—time and again—that it can execute the improbable

I have no doubt that Meesho will be one of the defining Indian companies of the next decade.

As Meesho steps into the public markets, I hope the team takes a moment to feel proud of the impact that they have had, and also the ethos that made it possible: listening harder than everyone else, making the tough calls early, and building with the customer at the center.

Congratulations to Vidit, Sanjeev, and every Meesho team member - past and present.

And thank you for the partnership; it has been a privilege.

This IPO is a landmark. But knowing this team, it will be treated the way they treat every milestone: celebrated briefly… and then used as fuel to go back to the mission!