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Rahul Yadav is yet again in the news after his controversial reply, where he promised that he was going to give away his personal shares worth 200 crores to over 2,000 employees of Housing.com. After the dust seemed to have settled on the issue, Yadav planned an interactive session with people on Reddit, where he answered people who posed doubts about Housing.com and his comment. It has been reported that the 26 year old founder was assisted by Housing.com employees while replying to people’s queries. His staff ensured that there their CEO didn’t go on to further ruffle feathers. Here is a look into the AMA (Ask Me Anything) conversation that happened on Reddit.
While Yadav was asked, “Why do you claim to have beaten Common Floor and Magicbricks based on site visits and app downloads? Aren’t they bullshit metrics?” He replied saying, “Yes I believe these are really bullshit metrics. But the market (brokers, builders, investors, media) somehow cares about all these things. And perception matters. So unfortunately, we have to play by THIS (India) market’s rules.”
He took a jig at Deepinder Goyal, Zomato CEO when somebody asked his opinion on Goyal, he replied saying, “A company scanning menus from last 7 years and doing no innovation. And the CEO says ‘Aww. So cute.’ ”
This time, Yadav was witty in replying to people who asked him about start ups. When asked, “What are the 3 most important things that contribute towards a startups’ success in the Indian startup ecosystem?” He mockingly said, “I think currently it is: Validated and copied idea from another market, Capital, Marketing. He also went on to say, “What I think it should actually be, Solving Indian people’s problem, Great product and innovation, Great teams and culture. (READ-Rahul Yadav takes on Zomato, Ola Cabs’ CEOs: Housing.com co-founder challenges Deepinder Goyal & Bhavish Aggarwal to distribute their shares!)
This time Yadav ensured that his answers did not create controversies. Here are some of the questions people asked Rahul Yadav.
1. Do you think your actions are distracting for your employees? Do you think startups in India are currently overvalued? Do you think it is indicative of a bubble? How long do you see these valuations lasting?
Rahul: Yes, it is distracting. But it’s actually fun if it’s there only for a few weeks. Beyond that, it’s really distracting and does not help. Indian market is an elephant. It’s gonna run/grow slowly. People/companies with patience over a period of 5-10 years will be able to leverage the opportunity. Companies which will survive in this period, for them the current valuations are nothing, given the opportunity size.
2. How about some tips for entrepreneurs on self-promotion, pitching to VCs and the right way to do PR?
Rahul: Be Obsessed about solving the problem, Work hard and Be Optimistic. Surround yourself with great people, rest is just a cake walk. VCs, PR etc will automatically follow if you are doing good.
3. Do you think its required to be mean to make a startup successful? If yes Please share an instance you got mean for your startup?
Rahul: There are no rules! I play by the situation.
4. What are some startups you are personally following and love what they are doing ?
Rahul: Uber and Twitter, slick products solving big problems
5. What made you ask Bhavish of Ola and Deepinder of Zomato to ask them to allot half of their shares to employees
Rahul: Success of a venture is a team work. Although all startups give ESOPs to their employees but the problem is it’s not PROPORTIONAL to the 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.
6. What is your opinion about Deepinder Goyal and Zomato?
Rahul: A company scanning menus from last 7 years and doing no innovation. And the CEO says ‘Aww. So cute.’
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