Sanjeev Barnwal

Sanjeev Barnwal is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Meesho. He has led the technology organisation through the company’s changes from local fashion discovery to social commerce and then a large consumer marketplace.

Journey

Barnwal earned a B.Tech in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2012. He then joined Sony in Japan as a software engineer, working on imaging and mobile technology. The role gave him experience in developing consumer products within a large engineering organisation.

In 2015, he left Sony and started Fashnear with IIT Delhi batchmate Vidit Aatrey. The product tried to connect consumers with fashion stores in their neighbourhood, but the model did not attract enough demand. Conversations with retailers showed that small sellers were already conducting business through WhatsApp and Facebook. The founders used that learning to build Meesho, a platform that helped resellers share catalogues and take orders without holding inventory.

As the market changed, Meesho moved from a reseller-led model to a direct consumer marketplace. Barnwal’s responsibilities expanded from writing much of the early product himself to building the engineering organisation, marketplace systems, data infrastructure and tools required to serve users and sellers across India. He also supported the company’s logistics and cost-efficiency initiatives as it prepared for and completed its public listing in 2025.

Working approach

Barnwal has said that managing people became harder than building software. His leadership comments emphasise understanding the individuality of team members, hiring and developing talent, and remaining comfortable with unsolved problems.

Assessment

Barnwal’s strength is adapting the technology organisation through several business-model changes. His continuing task is to keep Meesho’s systems stable and cost-efficient while introducing AI, logistics and other services for a very large, price-sensitive customer base.