Org Chart: Inside BigBasket’s C-Suite shuffles and tweaks for a quick commerce era

On the eighth floor of Fairfax Business Park in the Embassy Golf Links, home to some of India’s biggest startups, BigBasket CEO Hari Menon’s corner office has a wall dominated by a tree sketch. Its roots carry phrases such as ‘respect for people’, ‘humility’, ‘transparency’, and ‘integrity’; its branches spell out maniacal ‘focus on customers’, ‘freedom with responsibility’, ‘urgency and speed’, and ‘ownership in everything we do’.

Menon and his four cofounders first etched these values back in 2014. More than a decade, with three cofounders having exited, the CEO told The CapTable that BigBasket still abides by the values, even as its dominance in online grocery has been upended by India’s biggest retail disruption: quick commerce.

“These aren’t just words to hang in a reception,” Menon said, describing the values and culture as being “very dear” and “personal” to him. “We try to ingrain them into the organisation and its people as much as possible. It’s driven top-down by me. We conduct workshops, and every value has a meaning for how the company is run.”