'I stand with Deepinder. I worked as a Zomato delivery boy to pay college fees, support team': Assessli CEO

Assessli founder and CEO Suraj Biswas has publicly backed Deepinder Goyal and Zomato, saying his own experience as a delivery partner highlights the role gig platforms play in creating economic opportunity.

In a detailed post on LinkedIn, Biswas said he worked as a Zomato delivery partner in Bengaluru in 2020-21, before starting Assessli and before his college education “really took off.”

He described the work as a source of independence rather than sympathy, saying it helped him pay college fees, support his early team and remain financially independent.

Biswas said he earned about Rs 40,000 a month consistently during that period and personally knew delivery partners earning Rs 80,000 to Rs 90,000 a month. He added that many riders worked across two or three platforms simultaneously, underlining what he described as the flexibility-driven nature of gig work rather than exclusivity or full-time employment.

He also said he benefited from insurance coverage provided through Zomato’s partner arrangements and recalled facing safety risks on the job, adding that the company coordinated with police when incidents occurred.

“I used medical insurance (Acko) provided by Zomato. I faced food snatching and life-threatening moments. And when things went wrong, Zomato coordinated with police and supported me,” he wrote.

Those experiences, Biswas said, shaped his belief in the importance of technology-driven systems at scale.

“That’s when I truly understood the power of well-built tech + systems. This is also where my obsession with building impactful technology came from,” Biswas expressed.

Reacting on the outrage around quick commerce and 10-minute delivery models, Biswas said gig work should not be equated with forced labor and warned that converting such roles into fixed-salary, exclusive jobs could undermine the system’s sustainability. He argued that platforms like Zomato have enabled students, migrants and first-time workers to earn on their own terms.

“This was independent gig work, not forced labour Most delivery partners are NOT full-time more than 50%+ riders work on 2-3 platforms simultaneously (I’ve seen it, lived it)...Loyalty in gig work is flexibility-driven, not contract-driven,” he noted.

“Now ask yourself honestly: If Zomato made it a fixed-salary, full-time job with exclusivity… how many riders would actually stay?”

“The uncomfortable truth: The system would collapse. And then? Another protest Another demand Another “this is not enough” That’s not sustainability. That’s a cycle,” he said.

What genuinely addresses unemployment, Biswas argued, is not bans, outrage, or unrealistic expectations, but the creation of more tech-enabled platforms like Zomato. Such systems expand access to work for people without formal education and offer scalable paths to income.

Zomato, he said, did more than deliver food, it enabled economic mobility at scale by building systems that allowed students to earn, migrants to survive in cities, and millions to work on their own terms.

Biswas further said he opposes banning fast-delivery models or romanticizing protests without understanding ground realities, and instead supports tech-led job creation, flexible income models and scalable solutions to unemployment.

He said he would not be where he is today without that phase of his life, reiterating his support for Zomato, Goyal and what he described as systems that create opportunity rather than entitlement.

“So yes, unapologetically—I stand with Zomato. I stand with Deepinder. And I stand for systems that create opportunity, not entitlement. If you’ve lived this life, you’ll understand. If you haven’t, maybe listen to those who have,” he added.