Profile of a start-up

Instructor: Prof. Anil Gupta

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the course

Understanding Creativity, Innovation, Knowledge Networks and Entrepreneurship

By

Ruchir Gupta

PGP-13285

On

18th February 2015

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, AHMEDABAD

About Housing.comHousing.com is a Mumbai-based real estate search online portal which allows customers to

search for flats and apartments based on geography, number of rooms, and various other filters.

The company has 6,000 brokers and serves 25 cities in India, including Mumbai, Bangalore and

Delhi. A team of twelve students from IIT Bombay founded the company in June 2012, post their

graduation. I have chosen this start-up for the study because I myself happen to be a graduate

from IIT Bombay, and most of the founders were only a year senior to me.

Housing.com lists properties submitted by users, either brokers or owners, on an interactive

map. One of the key USPs of the portal, and one that separates it from other portals that also put

up listings, is the fact that nearly all listings are verified by Housing representatives who go

door-to-door to check properties. Listings also have details on the facilities available, say

microwave and beds, as well as information on close by amenities like schools and hospitals.

Search results are filtered by available rooms, lifestyle ratings, child friendliness index (CFI),

and area-based pricing.

In December 2013, the company launched a new option for users to search for paying guest

rentals (PGs) in cities. In February 2014 the company introduced a feature called Housing New

Projects, which showcases 3D models of buildings superimposed on Google maps. The feature

incorporates interactive aerial views and floor plans of upcoming project sites.

The company has mapped approximately 150,000 houses in India. Below is a screenshot of the

product with a search for apartments in the Goregaon (E) region in Mumbai, with filters set on

the number of bedrooms and the rent budget.

Housing.com has raised four rounds of funding since its founding in 2012. The company raised

$2.5 million in Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners in June 2013. The company used

the funds to create its Data Science Lab and to expand to four cities:  Bangalore, Gurgaon, Pune,

Hyderabad. The company raised another $19M in venture funding, led by Helion Venture

Partners, in April 2014. Softbank have led a $90 million investment in Housing.com along with

Falconedge and other investors in December 2014. Housing.com closed two undisclosed rounds

of funding in February and March 2013. The rounds were led by Network18 CEO,  and Zishaan

Hayath, the co-founder of Chaupaati Bazaar.

The passion to start-upAdvitya Sharma, a 2012 graduate from IIT Bombay and one of the co-founders, currently leads

Housing.com. According to Advitya, one of his key inspirations in life has been his grandfather.

Advitya’s granddad was one of the most passionate persons he knew. A writer and poet, he was

unlike most people. He built a room for himself a bit separate from the home, and used to spend

days and days locked up inside working on literature. No one could see what he was doing or

how much effort he was putting in, but when he finally came out with sheets of paper, they were

nothing but gems. Most of his work would end up as published poetry, become a play, or be

aired on radio.

The sudden bursts of passion that his granddad displayed, and which helped him become so

extremely good at what he did, was what inspired Advitya to do what he loved, and love what he

did.

Inspired by parentsParents are always a key influence on us as children, especially during the early years. Advitya’s

father happened to be a neurosurgeon. His job demanded that he constantly be on the call, be

involved in long and tedious surgery procedures, and yet continually keep himself up to date

with happenings in the world of medicine. Advitya saw his father toil like no one else, and saw

that his father had a larger purpose in mind. He was eager to constantly use his skills and

knowledge to bring a difference to the people around him, and for that he was eager to put in his

heart and soul in what he did.

Advitya claims that his father was a major inspiration to him, because he learnt to look at

problems from a simple person’s perspective, and work on building a solution that can make life

easier for the person, rather than trying to build a profitable business. If you’re solving a

fundamental problem, profits will flow in.

Job v/s Starting-upGraduating from IIT Bombay, Advitya and the other co-founders had a multitude of career

options available with them. However, they also realized that this is the perfect time for them to

start-up. They already had the IIT tag with them, and had little to loose in terms of lost career

opportunities. IIT Bombay has quite a name in the starting up space, and it was quite easy for

them to get in touch with venture capitalists and angel investors.

The biggest inspiration to start-up for the team, however, was simply the fact that this was a

large, unsolved problem that faced them. When they found jobs and started looking for places to

live, the found it simply impossible to do so easily. It was this dissent that ultimately sparked off

their interest in doing something to solve the real estate problem through an online portal with

verified information.

How many co-founders?Every start-up invariably goes through multiple challenges and faces difficult scenarios. In

Housing’s case, it had to do with the fact that there were quite a few founders – 12 to be precise!

As the organization grew, decisions became more and more complex, a larger organizational

structure came into place, and conflicts started to happen between the founders. Three of the

founders sold their stake and left Housing when they were able to reconcile their differences.

Lessons and inspiration

Given I know personally the people who began Housing, and that it’s become such a well-known

name in India today, the start-up is a huge inspiration to me. It’s a perfect example of how a

simple idea born out of a problem everyone faces but no one bothers to try and tackle, can pave

the way to a large and successful business. I do hope that one day I’ll find the courage and

inspiration to innovate and make an impact in a similar way!

Referenceshttp://yourstory.com/2014/09/housing-advitiya-sharma/http://www.nextbigwhat.com/housing-domain-297/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing.comhttps://housing.com/about