The backers – SoftBank, Helion Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, and Qualcomm Ventures – wanted to salvage what they could of their investment.
Damage control
Jason’s first task was damage control. “The reputation was at rock-bottom,” he told Tech in Asia in an exclusive interview. “I went to every business head, every investor, and journalists, to just talk to them. Re-building relationships was crucial to bring back lost reputation,” Jason says.
But Housing needed much more than PR to get out of its swamp.
Here’s how much cash it was burning: at the end of March 2015, the startup reported losses of over $40 million, on a revenue of just around $2 million. Employee cost at the end of March 2015 had jumped four-fold to $13 million, and annual marketing costs had increased almost 10-fold to $18 million. The investors objected, Rahul responded with animosity, and eventually he was sacked by July.
Dressed up for a sale
The solution was shutting the rentals business, and to focus all resources on buying and selling property. Rentals accounted for almost 80 percent of Housing’s business.
Later, Jason Kothari quit Housing to join e-commerce site Snapdeal.
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