If you want to build the future of brain-tech with Deepinder Goyal, you may first need to check your body fat percentage.

The Zomato founder and Eternal vice chairman set off a wave of online reactions on Friday after announcing that his health-tech startup Temple is hiring engineers, but with a condition.

Applicants must have less than 16 per cent body fat for men and 26 per cent for women, or commit to reaching that mark within three months.

Goyal, who stepped down as managing director and group CEO of Eternal last month to pursue what he called “new ideas that involve significantly higher-risk exploration and experimentation”, is now assembling the engineering team for Temple, a wearable device in the research prototype phase.

In a post on X, Goyal announced that Temple is hiring across engineering disciplines ranging from machine learning specialists to neural decoding researchers for what he called the “ultimate wearable for elite performance athletes”.

“Important – we are building for people who push their bodies to the edge. We want to be those people, not just serve them. So only people who take fitness seriously, and have body fat <16% (men) and 26% (women) should apply. If you're not there yet but will commit to getting there in three months, you can apply too; but you'll be on probation until you are,” Goyal stated.

Temple, according to him, is designed to test whether long-term changes in brain blood flow could be a meaningful upstream driver or accelerator of ageing. He has previously called it an “experimental device to measure brain flow precisely, in real time, and continuously”.

Goyal said the idea for Temple emerged from his experiments with health optimisation, which over the years included tracking blood markers, fasting, meditation, hyperbaric chamber routines, supplements, and other longevity-focused practices.

Some people on the internet are questioning the relevance of physical fitness metrics to product development roles.

One user commented, “fun fact- to get under 16% body fat for men, they need to quit using the zomato app”.

Another wrote, “Genuine question: What does body fat % have to do with building great products? Some of the best sports tech was built by engineers and designers who weren't elite athletes themselves. Empathy and craft > personal fitness metrics”.

Others expressed scepticism about the feasibility of meeting the criteria in the engineering community.

“I don't think there exists an Embedded Systems Engineer with less than 16 per cent body fat tbh,” said one user, while another added: “We really got body fat as a hiring criteria before GTA 6.”

Another commented: “Big vision. I like the obsession with quality and performance. Just one honest thought, hiring based on body fat percentage may not be the best filter. Some great engineers who love fitness and train seriously may not fit that number, but they can still build amazing products.”

PTI sent an email query to a Zomato spokesperson seeking responses on Goyal's post.

However, there was no comment till the time of publishing.