Zomato Founder Deepinder Goyal's unconventional health-tech startup "Temple" continued to create headlines as it drew a mixed bag of opinions. While his "Temple" received severe criticism from the medical fraternity, some people from the technology sector saw it as a future technology which may reshape the health sector.
In the last couple of days, Goyal has been defensive as he aims to push his product globally, saying, urging people to support next-gen technology.
We Don’t Need Nationalist Support: Goyal
"Please do not support us because we are an Indian startup. We want to compete globally. We don’t need/want nationalist support. Support us if you want to support early innovation, which could help you live a better life, and will continue to add more proof to its science over the years," Goyal said in his latest note on X.
Goyal Responds To Criticism Over Price Of Temple
Responding to his critics on its price, he said Temple was not made for India, and he did not expect more than 1 per cent of sales in the country. The Temple is priced at Rs 85,000 for the first batch, which includes a lifetime app subscription.
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"Thank you for your criticism, your support and your time over the last two days. Gives me much-needed clarity on what we need to explain better: 1. Temple is not made for India. It’s made for the world. Please check pricing. We don’t expect any more than 1% of Temples being sold in India. 2. If you are upset that the pricing is too high, I am sorry. There’s a lot of work that went into Temple, and we priced it at what we think it’s worth. If you think its overpriced, you can wait for user reviews to decide if its worth your money," his post read.
"Please do not support us because we are an Indian startup. We want to compete globally. We don’t need/want nationalist support. Support us if you want to support early innovation, which could help you live a better life, and will continue to add more proof to its science over the years," his post read.
Goyal Hits Out At Social Media
Hitting out at the criticism on social media, he said social media is not the regulator for Temple, and wherever they need regulatory clearances, they would have them before they make any claim.
Goyal Apologises To Doctors After Criticising Them
Goyal adopted a love-and-hate strategy for doctors as they raised concerns over his health device. Addressing concerned Indian doctors, Goyal said he saw their rage against Temple on X.
"First and foremost, a business lesson: if Temple were a scam, and any of what we said weren't true, people would know it in just a few days of using Temple. We have 14-day, no-questions-asked returns (which even Apple doesn't offer in India). If the product doesn't work, it fails out of the gate and the company dies before recovering a tenth of its R&D," he said.
I Spent My USD 20 Million: Goyal
He asserted that his company already spent USD 30 million building Temple, USD 20 million out of which is his own money. "Selling a few thousand devices recovers a small fraction of this investment. A scam that pays nothing is not a scam anyone would run," he added.
Goyal asserted that he had left the Eternal CEO role to chase purpose with Temple. "This is not about money. I have enough of it to last for generations," he asseted.
The next day, Gayal wrote an apology on his X handle, saying apologies were due. "Apologies where they are due: last night, I should not have bucketed all Indian doctors into one single box. We work with so many of them. Even my elder brother is one of them. All my emotion last night was directed at a few influencer doctors, who are more influencers than doctors.
What Is Temple Device And How It Works?
Temple Device is a brain-monitoring and health wearable device, developed by Goyal. The device uses an optical sensor placed on the side of the head near the temporal artery to track blood flow signals and calculate a proprietary wellness score called "Entropy". According to temple.com, Entropy measures how hard your body is working to shed heat, read from your temple. At rest, it shows the load your body is carrying across many systems: thermal, immune, digestive, cognitive, emotional, pharmacological, postural, reproductive, and recovery, the site stated.
Goyal claimed that the main point of Temple is not brain flow, adding that that’s what they just started Temple for, and studies on brain flow are the first ones getting out.