No bigger validation

Rajesh Chokani, founder & CEO, Sweetcouch:

We did expect to meet some important people from Apple but I was taken aback when Tim Cook walked in. But he had no airs and rather, his casual and hands-on attitude made us feel very comfortable. I was probably wrong in assuming the CEO of Apple to be otherwise.

I gave him a demonstration of how my platform works. Two years ago, our mobile app was recognised as one of the best Indian iOS apps by Apple. He wanted to know about the in-house messaging feature developed by our engineers, which was customised for the purpose of shopping and asked why we did not go for a third-party messaging platform. I had to convince him that while there were numerous third-party apps, they did not meet our requirements. The obsession with product and user experience, which probably stems from the culture of Apple, was clearly evident from his curiosity about the technology deployed by us. He was also very pumped up about India.

The two most defining qualities of Cook, according to me, is his non-judgmental attitude and that he's so approachable. I could actually brainstorm and push through an idea with him. For me, there can't be any bigger validation than Tim Cook finding my startup interesting.