As part of our constant endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from the ecosystem, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur Sachin Joshi for an interview with BrilliantRead Media. He is a proven Leader, Entrepreneur and the Co-Founder of YourOwnRoom – One of India’s Leading Proptech Venture. Let’s learn more about his background, his journey and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Sachin:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I and Prabhat both come with Technology background with 20 and 25 years of experience working for different customers globally solving their business challenges and setting up key businesses. We kicked off YourOwnRoom in 2016 with an ambition to provide the Residential Real Estate in India a product which was very much required in our country keeping in my mind the growing economy and human capital movements.
When we kicked off we spent a lot of time with our customers Real Estate Asset Owners and Tenants who were using this accommodation. There were some obvious findings which we could see during our interaction but what we could clearly carve out was ‘Trust’ was very low in the rental accommodation transactions in India.”
It was unlike buying and selling a property where a name/brand stand to hold value and promise for a customer. Tenancy in India was struggling big time in India for a Trust partner.YourOwnRoom picked this gap very quickly and between 2016-2020 we rolled out our Prop Tech Platform in two cities Onboarding multiply properties and solving living problems for millennial tenants.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
Our customers give us more strength and positivity. What excites both of the founders is solving problems for our customers (Owners and Tenants). Making an impact on millennial lives keep us going.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
A corporate career is a Learning University which hand holds you for multiple years to learn de learn and learn skills. The large enterprise nature of a corporate job gives you a lot of opportunities to take a faster and risk-averse decision.
What we always loved about our job was being valued to our customer at large scale but what we did not like was the rules of the game were set and disruption & innovation aligned to market conditions was less. Entrepreneurship gives you an opportunity to work on ideas and action which are ahead of the curve you may be deciding the future of consumer behaviour with your idea and action which is very exciting for us.
You are the co-Founder of ‘YourOwnROOM’ such a unique name. Our audience wants to know what kind of problem are you solving with the help of your startup?
YourOwnRoom is a Prop Tech platform which manages the Residential Real Estate Assets of different categories on behalf of homeowners/investors/developers.
These assets are further transformed and unlocked as Co-Living or Family Homes for Millennial.
Millennials today in the Urban city have three top challenges to solve:
1 – A good gated safe accommodation
2 – Hassle-Free Living with no intervention of the owner
3 – Rent Spend control
YourOwnRoom solve this for them. Our tenants subscribe to these properties using our platform and live in a hassle-free fashion. There are multiple advantages to our platform for tenants which can be read more on our site – www.yourownroom.com
Owners with their Apartments/Houses/Buildings get the benefit of hassle-free renting and management of their investment by a professional company like us.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
We at YourOwnRoom have been closely working to reduce disruption through COVID.
Our first focus was on the safety of our tenants which we quickly established in the first few weeks of lockdown.
COVID has created few fault lines in the economy for sure and these have made a clear impact to Demand and Supply of Real Estate renting in India.
YourOwnRoom has been closely observing the market demand signals to understand in new world what customers are really looking for.
With more and more folks working from home either they went back to their home towns or who were still holding the fort went for better accommodations.
Our business picked up very quickly the new demand signals and configured supply of our asset types based on what millennials are looking, for now, i.e is Larger Houses, More personal Spaces and of course Hassle-Free Living!
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Managing yourself is an art and science. Science from the fact you always remain fact and data-based which saves time and increases your productivity. Art:- carve out clear time for your customers and team to ensure you are listening to them.
The spirit of our team keeps us going. We all are/have been disrupting the Real Estate in India which cannot happen without a fantastic team on the ground.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
Leadership traits are very personal to an individual I and you may react very differently for a changing world.
I play with the principle of always remain fact-based and move fast with decision making by clearly accounting for risks.”
A changing world is easy to be perceived if you are very close to your customers. Customers and teams send you very early signals of market
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
We will be completing our 5 years very soon and if we reflect back we have come a long way since our first storyboard of the platform.
We have been successful in rolling out a disruptive model in conventional Real Estate business of India. We have scored thousands of customers in two cities of Bangalore and Pune.
During the Journey of this time, we have created a high pedigree Real Estate Platform which today is available for Residential Real Estate Owners, Funds & Developers to monetise their assets on easily.
In your opinion – what is more necessary: Idea or a good team for a successful startup?
The idea is only a kick-off point what is key is execution. A good team only make a start-up happen & successful. The Recipe lies in Execution.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Being an Entrepreneur is a serious responsibility. You have a responsibility towards your customers to solve things for them which they don’t know they need it. You have a high responsibility of showing them how they can get it and how it makes their lives better.
Always imagine on behalf of your customers and trust your team for a great execution!
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.
