Did you have a “founder clashes with a stand-up comedian” on your 2024 bingo card? Because, in October 2024, you can cross that off your list.
With Internet and smartphone penetration in India, there’s stronger communication that can be facilitated between companies and their consumers and that could mean companies could have real-time exchanges with folks on the Internet. But, that could, also, mean that social media platforms could bolster public feuds that could quickly spiral out of control. As boxer Michael Tyson once said, social media has made people way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.
So, what happened in October 2024?
Bhavish Aggarwal is the co-founder and CEO of Ola Consumer & the founder of Ola Electric, while Kunal Kamra is a standup comedian. Ola Electric seems to be aggressively positioning itself as a leader in India’s EV revolution. Yet, according to the National Consumer Helpline, there were close to 11,000 complaints against Ola e-scooters in 1 year, which range from service delays to unfulfilled promised services to delays in the delivery of new vehicles. Plus, in March 2022, there were reports of an Ola electric scooter catching fire.
The feud began when Kunal raised concerns about the standards of service with Ola Electric scooters, who seemed to be critiquing the operational efficiencies at Ola. He, also, outlined that daily-wage earners were relying on these scooters for their livelihoods. The implication may have been that there’s some degree of systemic failure of corporates in India, when it comes to safeguarding consumer needs.
So, is there some kind of gap between what corporates promise or disseminate vs the actual consumer experience?
Bhavish fired back with a caustic retort accusing Kunal of being paid to post the tweet. He, then, mocked Kunal’s career as a comedian, telling him to sit quietly and allow Ola to fix issues for real customers. Bhavish added that his team is expanding their service network fast and backlogs would be cleared soon. He, also, sarcastically added that since Kunal cares so much, he could come help them out & offered to pay Kunal more than what he gets from “his failed comedy career”.
Thus began the start of a public mudslinging match with ad hominem insults.
But, while this spat was taking place, could it be that Bhavish was focused on belittling Kunal’s career, as opposed to sufficiently addressing concerns about Ola’s service centres?
On one hand, Bhavish’s response could be seen as arrogant, defensive and a bit out of touch with the frustrations of Ola’s customer base. On the other hand, could this be seen as the passion of an entrepreneur vehemently defending his company? Could more have been done by Bhavish to de-escalate the feud and assuage the concerns of Ola consumers?
India’s electric scooter market is considered nascent, compared to Western countries. In FY24, the total sales of electric two-wheelers were said to hit close to 950,000 units. Yet, there may be a high premium placed on service quality and after-sales support by consumers, as there probably should be. Does a feud like this detract from the core issues that consumers are facing? Is this just window dressing? At what point is an empathetic and customer-centric leader needed & when is a defensive and combative founder required?
Bhavish, also, has an AI startup called Krutrim. Could this be a sign of things to come? Is this expansion at the cost of service quality? What do you think about how Bhavish responded to Kunal’s tweet?
And as an entrepreneur, how would you deal with a situation like this?
