Snapdeal co-founder shares his reaction when a pitcher asked him: 'Can I present in Hindi?'

Former Snapdeal boss Kunal Bahl added that the language does not matter in pitches as long as the message is being conveyed effectively.

Snapdeal co-founder and former CEO Kunal Bahl on Monday highlighted that during business presentations, what matters is how startup founders get their point across instead of the language in which they choose to do so. Bahl also recollected a time when a founder asked him if he could present in Hindi.

"I was surprised when a startup founder sheepishly asked me a few days ago whether he can walk me through his startup's presentation in Hindi because he would be more comfortable," the Snapdeal co-founder wrote on X. "Obviously I replied with a resounding "Yes, of course!'. It seemed strange that two people, who understand and speak the same native language fluently, are having to discuss whether they can have a business presentation in their own language, which they know best ."

Bahl added that 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. "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," he said.

Kunal Bahl's post appeared to strike a chord with other entrepreneurs, one of whom shared that he might have lost out on a possible opportunity because he was asked to present his pitch in English -- a language he was not comfortable with.

"We lost an opportunity for the same reasons," wrote Pritesh Lakhani (@priteshlakhani) co-founder of Pneucons, an industrial marketplace. "After multiple calls with analysts over months, today on a partner call I fumbled and choked the flow because I was asked to present in English. PS: The call lasted 16 minutes."

Another X user added, "I used to present in Hindi way back in 2009, was not very comfortable expressing my thoughts in English. Most of the time VCs were very welcoming but never felt comfortable asking follow-up questions. Maybe the first impression was 'yeh kya funding lega jab english bhi nahi bol pata'. This was in Mumbai."