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No rules, having fun-that is what Rahul Yadav, the controversial chief executive officer (CEO) of Housing.com, would have us believe his life is all about. In a tell-all AMA (ask me anything) session at social networking site Reddit on Tuesday, 26-year-old Yadav spoke about issues ranging from inhuman venture capitalists to not having read any book other than course-material, from dropping out of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to assessing the sense of humour of his counterparts in other start-ups.
Replying to a query on Sequoia Capital, Yadav said, "To cut it short, I think they're culturally a very cut-throat venture capitalist (VC) and sometimes I think that's why they're more successful than others. But I still condemn their practices because I feel they're inhuman and for me, people are the 'why' for everything I do."
Read more from our special coverage on "RAHUL YADAV"
In March, a spat broke out between Yadav and Sequoia Capital India chief Shailendra Singh. Yadav accused Singh of poaching staff and said the firm did not let him have 'enough say' in the operations of the company. The controversy did not stop there, resulting in a flip flop over Yadav's resignation.
Yadav's reply also pointed at the root of the controversy. "We decided a slided deal between 10 per cent and 15 per cent (depending on performance) for $1 million. After two months of due diligence, when they realised we were running out of money, they said they want to do a flat equity deal. I said 'Okay. Let's do it at 12.5 per cent. They said 14.75 per cent'. When I requested more, they said 'Let's not waste each others' time'. We were left with no option. I came to know they have done it with a lot of other ventures (TaxiForSure, Ola, Dexetra, LetsBuy)," he said.
The most recent controversy triggered by Yadav was when he went asking Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal and Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal to allot half of their shares to their employees. This issue came up at the AMA session as well.
Were such moves a distraction to the employees? Yadav's response was, "Yes, it is distracting. But it's actually fun if it's only for a few weeks. Beyond that, it's really distracting and does not help."
So, what was the rationale behind asking Aggarwal and Goyal to allot half of their shares to their employees? "Success of a venture is team work. Although all start-ups give ESOPs (employee stock option plans) to their employees, the problem is it's not proportional to value creation. Value is being created at X rate and is being given to the employees at Y rate. X not being equal/proportional to Y is the real issue. So, these two names came up in my mind and I just nominated them"
To another question on whether he was harming young entrepreneurs through the gimmicky moves, he said, "The market should wait before passing a judgment on whether I am helpful or harmful for young entrepreneurs." On his brash tone in his resignation email, he said, "I think whatever issues I have raised are very important for the Indian start-up ecosystem. The way boundaries between emails and chats are fading, I see professional diplomacy and frank conversations merging together. That's the future of conversation: quick and efficient. "
During the two-and-a-half-hour session, Yadav named Flipkart, Uber and Twitter as start-ups he has a lot of respect for.
AMA SESSION AT REDDIT
Do you think it's required to be mean to make a start-up successful?
There are no rules! I play by the situation.
If you are given a chance to redo Ola, what will you do?
I will never do Ola because that problem was already solved by Uber and in a brilliant way. I'll never do a me-too thing and waste my life.
What is your opinion about Deepinder Goyal and Zomato?
A company scanning menus from last seven years and doing no innovation. And the CEO says 'Aww. So cute'.
Why did you decide to drop out of IIT-B in your final year?
I think I mentally dropped out of IIT in 2nd year. Physically in my 4th year. And on papers, I think, I'm still an IIT-B student.
Your arrogance and attitude show that you are the only saviour left in the world and without you the world of housing was dying…
Even the US market players (Zillow, Trulia etc) have not really solved the problem. Yes, we do think that we are the best bet to solve this problem. Arrogance and attitude comes when people poke and distract us from solving this problem.
What are your priorities in life-money or work?
For me, fun is more important than anything else!
