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He is one of the quirkiest chief executive officers (CEOs) in India. Rahul Yadav, 26, co-founder and CEO of Housing.com, has been making headlines for doing things differently and sparking controversies.
In an interview with Digbijay Mishra, he talks about how business has grown almost 6x in the past two months and the new technology office in Bengaluru can become larger than its Mumbai headquarters. Edited excerpts:
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What is the rationale behind setting up a new tech centre in Bengaluru?
It’s going to be quite significant for us. I think that’s one place where we need to tap the talent and scale of our business is growing quite fast. The centre in Bengaluru can become even larger than our Mumbai headquarters. We are already over 200-strong in the tech team but looking at higher numbers for tech hiring specifically for the Bengaluru centre. We are already the biggest tech company in Mumbai and technology being an important aspect, I need greater presence in Bengaluru.
How has the business shaped over the past few months, given the marketing blitz you have had?
Real estate is growing and that’s how it will be over the next 15 years also. In the past two months, we have grown six times and for the whole year, we are looking at growing 10 times. In terms of number of visits, we are at 14 million, from two-three million 60 days earlier, while major competitors are still in the range of three-six million only.
You have forayed into 101 cities. How does that shape your business in the long run?
We were doing 1,000-1,500 apartments per day and that rate now is about 5,000. Non-metro cities and tier IV–V towns have equally good potential. With presence in 101 cities, we will start getting the rural dividends in sometime because real estate is one segment where everyone is investing and doing transactions. A lot of it would also come from mobile apps, from the hinterlands.
How do you see the revenue stream strengthening?
I am not concerned about revenue because I have the next 15 years for that. I will focus on building the scale because India doesn’t have adequate infrastructure and that’s an indication of the growth we will witness over the years.
With the scale of the business you are looking at, you will need fresh funds. What are you doing on that front?
I don’t waste time raising funds. We have adequate capital for the next two months. I am confident that whenever we would need fresh funds, we can get it in almost no time.
What makes you so confident of closing funds in no time?
Again, it’s the business model and the value proposition we have got. We are well capitalised now and I am not looking actively to raise fresh funds.
What was the trigger of asking fellow entrepreneurs Bhavish Aggarwal and Deepinder Goyal to allot half their shares to their employees?
I have been getting a lot of queries about it and that’s why I am doing that Redit AMA (ask me anything) session tomorrow (on Tuesday). I will say everything there on these aspects and people are free to ask me whatever they want to.
