App-etite for Destruction

When the race for a unicorn valuation costs everything...

Arjun Malhotra has one goal: transform his food delivery startup, FoodFast, into India's next billion-dollar unicorn. In Bangalore's cutthroat startup ecosystem, he's willing to do whatever it takes—manipulate algorithms, undercut competitors, and launch dark cloud kitchens with razor-thin margins and even thinner safety standards.

The strategy works. Orders surge. Investors circle. The IPO beckons.

But success comes with a price.

As quality deteriorates and complaints pile up, Arjun buries the evidence under fake reviews and generous coupons. Restaurant owners who built Bangalore's food culture for decades watch helplessly as his ₹90 biryanis drive them out of business. His son grows up ordering dinner from an app because both parents are always working.

Then one evening, everything Arjun built collapses in the most devastating way possible.

App-etite for Destruction is a razor-sharp thriller about the dark side of India's startup boom—a cautionary tale of ambition, optimization, and the human cost of disruption. Set against Bangalore's glittering tech scene, this fast-paced novella asks: When does innovation become exploitation? When does growth become greed? And what happens when the app economy optimizes humanity out of the equation?

Perfect for readers who loved Bad Blood, The Everything Store, and Super Pumped, this is a story about what we sacrifice on the altar of success—and whether any valuation is worth the price.

A chilling reminder that behind every unicorn, there are casualties we choose not to count.