'I need to take a flight from where I stay to airport': Zepto CEO calls Bengaluru traffic 'painful'
It’s a sentiment thousands of Bengaluru commuters share daily, as the city’s clogged roads and slow infrastructure development continue to frustrate residents and tech leaders alike.
- Oct 15, 2025,
- Updated Oct 15, 2025 9:07 AM IST
Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha has joined the long line of Bengaluru residents calling out the city’s notorious traffic — branding his commute to the airport as “the most painful thing” in his life right now.
Speaking on the Exploring Minds podcast hosted by Shivank Joshi, Palicha was asked what problem he’d pay to solve immediately. “The biggest problem that I have in my life is the commute whenever I need to take a flight from where I stay in Bangalore to the airport,” he said. “That’s like the most painful thing that I have to do one or two times a month.”
It’s a sentiment thousands of Bengaluru commuters share daily, as the city’s clogged roads and slow infrastructure development continue to frustrate residents and tech leaders alike.
Podcast host Joshi noted that several companies are working on easing the airport commute, suggesting a solution may be in place by 2026 or 2027. Palicha laughed and replied, “I’ll be very happy if that happens.”
The Zepto founder didn’t stop there. He also aired his frustration with the chaos of multi-platform communication. “I’ve got email, Slack, WhatsApp, LinkedIn… and on the first three especially, a lot of important conversations happen, so everything gets mixed up,” he said. “I’d rather have one interface where all that is happening.”
Joshi called it “a real founder’s problem,” to which Palicha agreed, adding that while some startups like Beeper had tried to tackle the issue, few had succeeded in making it work at scale.
Palicha also wished for richer reading summaries and access to university-style lecture repositories. “JSTOR has research material, but imagine access to great lectures in one place,” he said.
Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha has joined the long line of Bengaluru residents calling out the city’s notorious traffic — branding his commute to the airport as “the most painful thing” in his life right now.
Speaking on the Exploring Minds podcast hosted by Shivank Joshi, Palicha was asked what problem he’d pay to solve immediately. “The biggest problem that I have in my life is the commute whenever I need to take a flight from where I stay in Bangalore to the airport,” he said. “That’s like the most painful thing that I have to do one or two times a month.”
It’s a sentiment thousands of Bengaluru commuters share daily, as the city’s clogged roads and slow infrastructure development continue to frustrate residents and tech leaders alike.
Podcast host Joshi noted that several companies are working on easing the airport commute, suggesting a solution may be in place by 2026 or 2027. Palicha laughed and replied, “I’ll be very happy if that happens.”
The Zepto founder didn’t stop there. He also aired his frustration with the chaos of multi-platform communication. “I’ve got email, Slack, WhatsApp, LinkedIn… and on the first three especially, a lot of important conversations happen, so everything gets mixed up,” he said. “I’d rather have one interface where all that is happening.”
Joshi called it “a real founder’s problem,” to which Palicha agreed, adding that while some startups like Beeper had tried to tackle the issue, few had succeeded in making it work at scale.
Palicha also wished for richer reading summaries and access to university-style lecture repositories. “JSTOR has research material, but imagine access to great lectures in one place,” he said.