Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha Recalls Near Shutdown During the Silicon Valley Bank Crisis

New Delhi | 19 April 2025 — In a straight-up conversation that offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at a startup’s survival story, Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha reflected on the turbulent years of 2022 and 2023, a period that he described as nearly fatal for the quick-commerce company.

Speaking with Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, Aadit Palicha admitted, “We almost died,” referring to the twin challenges of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse and a series of critical hiring missteps that nearly derailed the company’s operations.

Aadit Palicha Reveals How Zepto Regained Its Footing After SVB

Aadit Palicha acknowledged that one of the biggest mistakes during Zepto’s early scaling phase was hiring the wrong people. While building out essential teams across finance, operations, marketing, and category management, the startup struggled with execution due to weak internal capabilities. These misjudgments, he noted, became glaringly evident when the external funding environment tightened during the global tech downturn.

“The biggest mistakes I made were wrong hires,” he said, calling the consequences “very costly.” According to Palicha, these early team errors hampered Zepto’s ability to respond to market pressure and internal challenges, setting the stage for a precarious period of survival.

Caught in the SVB Meltdown

What pushed Zepto to the brink was the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023. Like many other Y Combinator-backed startups, Zepto had operational funds deposited in SVB, which abruptly shut down due to a liquidity crisis. The bank’s failure sent shockwaves across the global startup ecosystem, freezing access to funds and throwing operations into uncertainty.

For Zepto, the timing could not have been worse. Still recovering from internal misalignments and a challenging hiring phase, the startup suddenly found itself without access to key funds. A WhatsApp poll, cited by The Economic Times, revealed that at least 40 Indian startups backed by Y Combinator had between $250,000 and $1 million stuck in SVB, while over 20 had deposits exceeding $1 million. Zepto was among those dangerously exposed to the fallout.

Aadit Palicha called it a psychologically brutal period. “It was existential for us,” he told Garry Tan. “Those mistakes compounded at a time when every decision mattered.”

The Role of Y Combinator

Despite the turbulence, Aadit Palicha credited Zepto’s recovery in large part to the backing of Y Combinator. In a recent LinkedIn post, he acknowledged that Zepto’s initial momentum and survival through its darkest phase would not have been possible without the accelerator’s support.

“Y Combinator was a crucial part of our foundation. We may not have even gotten off the ground without them,” he wrote.

The structured guidance and founder network offered by YC, Palicha added, were instrumental in helping the company navigate the chaos triggered by the SVB collapse.

Zepto’s Turnaround: From Near Collapse to $4 Billion GOV

Fast forward to 2025, and Zepto appears to have flipped its script entirely. According to a recent ET report, the company’s annualised gross order value (GOV) is now nearing $4 billion, representing a 300% surge year-on-year. In FY24, Zepto clocked ₹4,454 crore in operating revenue, marking a 120% growth over the previous year.

This remarkable turnaround, Aadit Palicha says, is rooted in one core shift: a renewed focus on “execution intelligence.”

The New Hiring Philosophy

Coming out of the crisis, Aadit Palicha said the company has radically changed its approach to talent acquisition. “The most fundamental input to our company is execution excellence, and the biggest driver of that is high-quality people,” he noted.

This means Zepto now places a premium on candidates who not only have strong credentials but can also deliver operational results. Execution intelligence, as he describes it, is now central to how the company builds its teams and scales its services.

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