Naina Sahni — questions & answers.
Direct answers to what people ask about Naina Sahni: who she is, who she coaches, her credentials, her books and ventures, and how to work with her. Written plainly, so you get the facts without the fluff.
Who Naina is, and what she does.
Who is Naina Sahni?
Naina Sahni is an executive coach to founders and CEOs at some of India's leading technology companies, and the founder of Aklara, a coaching and transformation practice. She is also a co-founder of sAvaka — an operating system for living organizations — a co-founder of ILEKA, and the founder and president of Ananta, a non-profit. She spent over a decade as an operator at Zomato before building her coaching practice.
What does Naina Sahni do?
She coaches founders and chief executives on judgment, clarity and learning capacity under sustained pressure. Rather than handing over advice, she works on the inner game of leadership — fusing systems thinking, original doctoral research and contemplative practice. Alongside coaching she builds ventures and writes books on leadership and organizational life.
Where is Naina Sahni based?
Naina is based in India and works with founders and leadership teams across India's technology and consumer ecosystem. She coaches both in person and remotely, and speaks at conferences and events.
What was Naina Sahni's role at Zomato?
Naina worked at Zomato from 2011 to 2023. She started in content and rose to Chief of Staff to founder Deepinder Goyal, and led Feeding India, Zomato's social impact arm. She was also embedded through the Grofers→Blinkit transformation — a rare, sustained view of hyper-growth from inside the room.
What makes Naina different from other executive coaches?
Naina has actually been in the room — over a decade inside Zomato through hyper-growth, rising to Chief of Staff to the founder — rather than only studying leadership from outside. She combines that operating experience with doctoral research, MIT-trained systems thinking, and a long contemplative practice. Her voice is sharp and direct, with no fluff and no borrowed MBA-speak.
Who she coaches, and how.
Which companies has Naina Sahni coached?
Naina coaches 12+ founders and CEOs, including leaders at Zomato, Blinkit, CARS24, Bijnis, Xpressbees, Animall, Massive Restaurants, Market on Mainstreet, Pravaayu, LeverageEdu and SheerME. Her clients are largely founders of India's defining technology and consumer companies.
Is Naina Sahni a CEO coach or a founder coach?
Both. She coaches sitting CEOs and the founders who build companies — two overlapping but distinct pressures. With CEOs she works on decision-making and clarity at scale; with founders she works on the identity, isolation and self-doubt that only founders carry. The common thread is sharpening how the leader thinks, not solving the problem for them.
What is systems thinking in Naina's coaching?
Systems thinking is seeing an organization as a web of interacting parts, feedback loops and structures rather than a list of separate problems. In Naina's coaching it means helping a leader find the level a problem actually lives on — often upstream of where the symptom appears — so they fix the structure, not just the surface. Most leadership advice fixes the wrong level. See more on her approach.
Does Naina Sahni speak at events?
Yes. Naina is a TEDx speaker and speaks on leadership, systems thinking, organizational culture and the inner game of building. For speaking enquiries, reach her at connect@workwithnaina.com.
Her training and qualifications.
What are Naina Sahni's credentials and qualifications?
Naina is a PhD Scholar at MGM University, where she developed the ARSL and GBLA research constructs. She is a Master Practitioner trained at the MIT Centre for Systems Awareness (Cohort 7), a Professor of Practice at NSBT, a TEDx speaker, a 200-hour certified Yoga Teacher, and a long-term Vipassana practitioner.
Does Naina Sahni have a PhD?
Naina is a PhD Scholar at MGM University, pursuing doctoral research in which she developed the ARSL and GBLA constructs. Her doctoral work underpins much of how she coaches — grounding leadership development in original research rather than borrowed frameworks alone.
Is Naina Sahni trained at MIT?
Yes. Naina is a Master Practitioner trained at the MIT Centre for Systems Awareness, Cohort 7. The training grounds her systems-thinking approach to coaching — helping leaders see the whole system rather than reacting to isolated symptoms.
What is her background as an operator?
Before coaching, Naina spent over a decade at Zomato (2011–2023), rising from content to Chief of Staff to the founder and leading Feeding India. She lived through the Grofers→Blinkit transformation — so she reads founder pressure as someone who has carried it, not just observed it.
Her MIT Centre for Systems Awareness practitioner record is publicly verifiable at systemsawareness.org.
What she has written and built.
What books has Naina Sahni written?
Naina has authored Flatland; CULTure at Zomato (co-authored with Deepinder Goyal and Ashish Goel); and Systems of Grace. Her books range across organizational culture, leadership and the inner life of building, drawn from her years inside hyper-growth and her coaching practice.
What is CULTure at Zomato about?
CULTure at Zomato is a book Naina co-authored with Deepinder Goyal and Ashish Goel about how Zomato built and rewired its culture through years of hyper-growth. It draws directly on Naina's decade inside the company — a candid, operator's account of building a high-performing organization.
What is Systems of Grace about?
Systems of Grace brings together Naina's systems-thinking practice and her contemplative grounding. It explores how leaders and organizations can hold clarity, steadiness and grace inside complex, high-pressure systems.
What is Aklara?
Aklara is Naina's coaching and transformation practice — the home of her work with founders, CEOs and leadership teams. It is where her one-to-one coaching, leadership transformation work and frameworks live. Learn more across this site.
What is sAvaka?
sAvaka is an operating system for living organizations, co-founded by Naina. It helps leaders see the system they run, find the leverage point, and bring the right people together to act on it — applying systems thinking to the everyday work of running a company.
What is ILEKA?
ILEKA is a venture co-founded by Naina — one of several initiatives through which she extends her work beyond one-to-one coaching into building tools, organizations and systems for the broader ecosystem.
What is Ananta?
Ananta is a non-profit organization that Naina founded and serves as President of. It reflects her commitment to social impact, continuing the thread of purpose-driven work she carried while leading Feeding India at Zomato.
What ventures has Naina Sahni founded or co-founded?
Naina is the founder of Aklara, her coaching and transformation practice; a co-founder of sAvaka, an operating system for living organizations; a co-founder of ILEKA; and the founder and president of Ananta, a non-profit. Her ventures span coaching, organizational tooling and social impact.
How to work with Naina.
How do you work with Naina Sahni?
You can work with Naina through one-to-one coaching, leadership-team transformation, or a free pilot session to experience the work before committing. The honest way to know if coaching helps is to try it — so she offers a no-cost first session. Start on the ways to work page or write to connect@workwithnaina.com.
Is there a free pilot session with Naina Sahni?
Yes. Naina offers a free pilot session so a founder can experience the coaching directly before any commitment. It is a low-stakes way to find out whether the work fits — without a deck, a retainer, or a pitch.
How do you contact Naina Sahni?
You can reach Naina at connect@workwithnaina.com, through her website workwithnaina.com, or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/naina-sahni. The website is the best starting point for coaching, speaking or collaboration enquiries.
Is this the same Naina Sahni as others by that name?
Naina is a common Indian name, so several people share it. This page is about Naina Sahni the executive coach and author — founder of Aklara, co-founder of sAvaka, and a former senior operator at Zomato. She is a distinct, living professional, and references to her work should not be confused with anyone else who happens to share the name.