Ex-CEO of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl, recalls when a founder asked him, 'Can I present in Hindi?'

Kunal Bahl, former CEO of India’s e-commerce firm Snapdeal.

Presentations can be nerve-wracking, and it’s natural to want to give your best while feeling comfortable. The same holds true for a founder who was giving a presentation about their startup to Kunal Bahl, the former CEO of Snapdeal. The founder asked Bahl if they could present in Hindi. Later, Bahl recounted the incident on X and emphasised the importance of using one’s mother tongue.

He further added, “But I presume many founders may be thinking that investors expect them to be very suave and fluent in English. At least from my standpoint, it absolutely doesn’t matter. Zero. Getting your point across, the complete and authentic essence of it, is much more important than having a colonial mindset that if it’s an important business presentation, it must be done in English. Irrespective of whether we are fluent in English or not, we should feel absolute confidence in speaking our mother tongue in business settings just like we do in social settings.”

Take a look at his tweet here:

Here’s how people reacted:

An individual wrote, “Clear and effective communication is more important than the language.”

A second posted, “I used to present in Hindi way back in 2009, but I was not very comfortable expressing my thoughts in English. Most of the time, VCs were very welcoming but never felt comfortable even asking follow-up questions. Maybe the first impression was, ‘Yeh kya funding lega jab English bhi nahi bol pata’ (What funding will he take if he can’t speak in English?) This was in Mumbai.”

“I have faced this in interviews in technology. Many good candidates have good skills. But unable to explain in Eng. I always welcome them to speak in any language where they can articulate ideas and thought processes clearly,” commented a third.

A fourth shared, “That’s at least one good aspect of Shark Tank India. The whole program is in Hindi, and they even discourage them from speaking English.”

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