ABOUT DEEPAK
Entrepreneur. CXO. Advisor.
I am Deepak Hariharan, an Advisor for Profitable Scale.
My perspective comes from nearly two decades across stages, industries and business models - from pre-revenue entrepreneurship to CXO leadership at scale.
Across that journey, I have worked on growth, customer value, retention, business economics, operations and organization - and seen first-hand what changes as businesses move from proving an idea to scaling an institution
I now bring that experience to CEOs navigating the difficult intersection of growth, profitability and organizational scale.
The journey so far
1. Consultant
Lead Consultant / Senior Advisor, Feedback Infra
I began my career in management consulting after studying at IIM Calcutta. Consulting taught me to structure unfamiliar problems, work across industries, recognize patterns and isolate the underlying business question behind the visible issues. In the process, I co-built the realty advisory practice at Feedback Infra.
2. Entrepreneur
Founder & CEO, MentorYes
Building MentorYes from zero - and ultimately failing - gave me first-hand experience of customer discovery, proposition design, founder challenges, resource constraints and what not to do.
3. CXO & Business Leader
Chief Business Officer, LEAD Group | Head - Regional Businesses and Offline Channels, Tata 1mg | AVP - Restaurant and Customer Excellence, Zomato
At Zomato, the challenge was hypergrowth. At Tata 1mg, value-led growth and stronger economics. At LEAD, the mandate evolved towards bringing together customer outcomes, retention, efficient growth and profitability - while building the systems required to sustain scale.
I have worked across the key levers of Profitable Scale across B2B, B2C and B2B2C businesses: Growth • GTM • Retention • Unit Economics • Profitability • Operations • Organization Building. Each stage required a different kind of leadership. What works at 0→1 rarely survives unchanged at 1→10; and what creates rapid growth at 1→10 can become the constraint at 10→100.
4. Advisor
Advisor for Profitable Scale
I now work with CEOs and business leaders on the critical growth and profitability constraints that emerge as businesses scale. My role is to bring an independent, first-principles perspective - helping identify the real constraint, sharpen the choices that matter and translate them into a practical path forward.
Select highlights
10x restaurant-base expansion, 12x revenue scale-up at Zomato
2.4x GMV at Tata 1mg while improving unit economics
50% reduction in CAC at LEAD
40% improvement in retention at LEAD
7x EBITDA growth at LEAD during my final year as CBO
What I bring
Cross-stage pattern recognition
I have experienced venture creation, rapid expansion and institutional scale. That makes it easier to recognize when a business is not scaling right for its life-stage.
An operator’s experience with outcomes
I have worked inside the consequences of decisions - targets, economics, customers, teams and execution - not merely strategized from outside. That keeps the conversation grounded in what can actually work and deliver.
Understanding of the leadership role
As a founder and CXO, I understand the ambiguity and conflicts leaders face: incomplete information, competing priorities, limited resources and the responsibility of making decisions when it matters. My understanding of leadership complexities and challenges is real and lived through.
Patterns, but not generic
Working across sectors and business models creates useful comparisons, but every diagnosis must still begin with the specific company, context and stage. Pattern recognition should sharpen the questions—not replace judgment.
How I work
I work best in direct, thoughtful relationships with CEOs and leadership teams.
I listen before forming a view, ask the questions that help clarify the real issue, and prefer depth on a few important priorities over activity across a long list. I am comfortable challenging an assumption, but the objective is never provocation for its own sake. It is better judgment and stronger action.
I stay close enough to understand whether the strategy is surviving contact with reality, without taking over the leadership team’s role. The company owns execution. I help create clarity, sharpen decisions, review progress and support course correction.
Three lenses guide how I work
1 - Future backwards — Start with where the business needs to be, then work backwards to the milestones, choices and capabilities needed.
2 - First principles — Start with customer pain, the solution and whether the promised value is actually being delivered before optimizing for scale.
3 - Second order — Make choices and build capabilities that solve today’s needs while remaining adaptable for future scale.
My Principles
1 - Diagnose before prescribing
2 - Focus on the few decisions that matter
3 - Stay close without taking over
4 - Be direct, calm and evidence-led
Outside work
On a personal note, I remain an enthusiastic lifelong learner.
I am currently learning to play the guitar and tennis, and returning to long-distance running after a decade-long break.
I live in Delhi with my family.