bullet Is Dinesh Chugtai the Next Mark Zuckerberg?

By: C.J. Cantwell

Dinesh Chugtai has barely launched PiperChat, and the startup is already looking like the Valley’s newest unicorn. The ingenious video chat continues to have strong user numbers with over 140,000 daily active users, high quality video across even weak cell connections, and an impressive interface designed by the CEO himself. The company has clearly benefitted from Chugtai’s decision to part ways with its predecessor Pied Piper, which also meant a separation from fraught Pied Piper CEO, Richard Hendricks.

I spoke with the masterful Chugtai, who agreed the change in leadership is partially responsible for his new company’s success: “As I told Emily Chang, we were going into the toilet. Like a big, stinky, overflowing one.” The CEO continued, “Did you see me on Bloomberg? I’ll send you the link.”

Pulling inspiration from mediocre utility HooliChat, the proactive Chugtai incubated his own internal chat tool, which would later blossom into the video chat we now see taking over the space. What’s next for Chugtai is yet to be seen, but with his current success, his future could be truly Zuckerbergian. Just as long as he avoids the toilet.

Edit: Since posting, Chugtai followed up with several emails to confirm I got his email with the Bloomberg video. For reference, you can view the video below: