As part of our constant endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from the startup ecosystem, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur Pratik Gaur for an interview with us to understand more about his exciting entrepreneurial journey so far. Pratik is the Co-Founder and CEO of Homezy. Let’s learn more about his journey, way forward and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Pratik:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
Dushyant Singh and I belong to a family of discipline as we are sons of ex-servicemen of the Indian Air Force.
We are childhood friends and know each other through our families. Though we grew up together we lost contact eventually as we moved to different colleges. Years later, we reunited in Bangalore. I have 7 years of Supply Chain management experience and Dushyant carries 4+ years of experience in the IT sector.
Due to my profession, I had to move to various cities in India and faced a lot of issues as a tenant such as rent payments methods, genuine owners, rent agreements and so on. This motivated me to team up with Dushyant to build a tool for owners and tenants. A tool that would help everyone experience a better living situation. Thus, we created “Homezy”.
We started planning our product in the month of December 2019 and started putting our ideas to sail in the month of February-2020. Once we achieved the basic design we registered our company as “HOMEZY PROPERTY SOLUTIONS PVT LTD” in the month of June 2020.
We are planning to launch our product in mid-November this year.
We are pre-equipped with 400 properties as a pre-launch subscription, which are ready for letting.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
Family and friends. We think family plays an important role in one’s life. We both are lucky enough to have a strong family as a part of our lives. They have been our strength as they help us to think and work to the best of our capabilities and always keep us motivated.
They push us to be better and to lead. I believe that they keep us going as they find happiness in our achievements.
They genuinely believe in our work. Not to forget, the people around us that we are working with, their trust and faith is an integral part of our success.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
I belong to a Marwadi family, where I grew up around people who had their own business. Fascinated by their work and involvement in business led me to start something of my own where I can work with on my own terms. Thus after gaining several years of experience, I decided to start my own business of Sheesham Furniture Manufacture ‘MURLILILA’ in Jodhpur Rajasthan.
Homezy is my second startup, as a Co-Founder.
Dushyant being the CTO of Homezy, we work together for success.
Dushyant (Left) and Pratik (Right)
You are the Co-Founder And CEO of ‘Homezy’ that has such a unique name. Our audience would love to know more about it and what kind of problem are you solving through your startup?
Well yes, the name itself resembles our moto ‘HOM-EZY’, making living easy. Our main motive is to bridge the gap between the owners and tenants. We give a platform to the owners to solve their rental housing problems such as listings of their properties, tenant management and many more. With Homezy they can have a tool which will help them work efficiently and effectively and help their own tenants as well.
Not only this, we offer the tenants multiple benefits with our app such as an easy method to pay rent on time, find genuine and good owners, properties, and intimating the owner about any issues.
It is a well-developed medium for both owners and tenants, which will help them to have better coordination in the longer run.
What are your future goals?
We believe that ambition and goals are key to achieving success and keeps you motivated. Currently, we are aiming to on-board 5 lac properties onto our tool in the next 4 years.
We are hoping for the best.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Due to this pandemic of covid 19, we had to pause the launch of the application which was scheduled in the month of August, but it was absolutely our call of wisdom. Due to Covid, we wanted everyone to be protected and stay healthy hence we stopped recruiting, though the existing team was working from home.
We intended to protect at least the people associated with HOMEZY.
Proper sanitization has been taken care of individuals to maintain the flow of work as we resumed working.
As we postponed the launch, we focused more on the technical part which need improvisation. With that being said, we are now ready to launch the clear developed product soon.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
‘Work until you succeed’ is what I believe and follow.
I personally feel that any work you agreed upon to do is bound to have challenges which are unavoidable. So it’s better to have a foresight of challenges or at minimum the mental strength to deal with them. Moreover, it is the ambition of life that drives me to chase, act, and finish.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
A leader should always be aware of the environment one is working in. There are a lot of factors that take precedence, but for me adapting to changes and acceptance of the change is important. To compete with the market the leader should always know when to incorporate relevant changes and act accordingly.
A leader should be aware of finance limits and think promptly, as not everything goes according to plan. One should be prepared for the rough paths too. Nothing has to be overlooked or highly estimated. Let things flow easily. Whatever happens, a leader should remember their roots and be down to earth.
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
For us, the design and the structure after implementation of the application is what showed us we were on the right part. Not to forget the well-coordinated support from each other.
For any idea to thrive, a good support team is important and that support helped us implement ideas that eventually scooped out the end results.
In your opinion – what is more necessary: Idea or a good team for a successful startup?
Both aspects carry equal weightage. Idea does play an important role to start with, nevertheless, the Idea has to be translated into a real-time scenario, for that good team support is also essential. These two aspects are like the two sides of the coin, equally important for a successful startup.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
The advice I definitely would like to give is that, in the fast-paced world, always believe in yourself and that is what matters the most in the end.
Always start execution of your plan as per your financial limits. You can expand later, but always focus on what you have first. Don’t chase the unattainable, settle down for what works out at the moment and eventually you will be in the lead.
Ideas can be unique, irrelevant or similar to others’ ideas. The one that works best is the one that gives the best output benefiting others and you equally. Hence, focus on the most important factor- the output.
Every aspiring entrepreneur should abide by the ethics for success.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
