Deepinder Goyal Introduces New Hiring Criteria at Temple

In India’s startup ecosystem, hiring has traditionally rewarded technical skill, experience, and cultural fit. Deepinder Goyal is now stretching that definition at his new venture, Temple.

Temple, which is building a high-precision wearable for elite performance athletes, has opened recruitment with an unusual condition: applicants must meet defined body fat benchmarks alongside technical requirements. Men are expected to be under 16% body fat; women, under 26%. Candidates who do not meet the criteria can still apply, but only with a commitment to reach the threshold within three months, during a probation period.

The logic, as outlined by Goyal, is simple. A team building tools for athletes who push their bodies to the edge should share the same level of physical discipline. Fitness, in this setup, is not a lifestyle choice but a measure of alignment with the product itself.

We're recruiting at @temple.

At Temple, we are building the ultimate wearable for elite performance athletes. A device that measures what no other wearable in the world measures, with a level of precision that doesn't exist yet.

To build it, we need people who are obsessive… pic.twitter.com/iCHaMUwdEw

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) February 27, 2026

What the Roles Reveal About Temple’s Ambition

Beyond the headline-grabbing fitness requirement, Temple’s hiring list points to a far more ambitious technical roadmap. The startup is recruiting across neural decoding, computational neuroscience, brain–computer interfaces, embedded systems, advanced materials, and physiological AI. Product managers are expected to work hands-on in design tools, with minimal layers between idea and execution.

This mix suggests Temple is not chasing mass-market wearables. Instead, it is positioning itself as a performance-focused lab working at the intersection of body signals, brain data and machine intelligence. The emphasis is on precision, not scale, on measuring signals current devices struggle to capture.

In that context, Goyal’s insistence on engineers who “wear what they build” reads less like a provocation and more like a product strategy. The company wants builders who experience the limits of the technology firsthand.

How the Hiring Approach Is Being Received

Temple’s recruitment criteria have prompted a mixed response within the startup and technology community. Some see the move as an attempt to closely align the team with the end user, particularly in a company focused on elite athletic performance. Others have raised concerns about whether physical benchmarks should form part of a hiring process at all.

What is clear is that Temple has made its expectations explicit. By linking fitness to recruitment, the company has removed some of the ambiguity that often surrounds “culture fit” in startups. Applicants know upfront what is expected, both professionally and personally.

As Temple moves from experimentation towards product development, its hiring approach will likely continue to draw attention. Whether it becomes a one-off founder choice or a broader signal of how performance-driven startups recruit remains an open question.