startup_sucess

If you want to get to know the story behind the scenes – the highs, the lows, the struggles, the accomplishments – let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

It all started back when I was working at a bank with an even fancier title, Premier Account Manager (Need I say more?).

But you know that nagging voice in the back of your head? Well, mine was always telling me there was something missing. That I should break away from the nine-to-five grind and just start my own venture.

The trouble is that the voice in your head said, “So what if you don’t have what it takes to pull it off? All you need to do is be the hardest worker in the room.” Here’s the truth – There’s never going to be a perfect moment because it doesn’t exist. You need to make the moment perfect by reaching out and grabbing it with both hands.

So, that’s what I did, I quit my job a month before our wedding and flew to Australia with my newly-wed bride on what was supposed to be my honeymoon. But it ended up becoming a business trip instead.

Thus, I began my entrepreneurial journey, with a bucket list of ideas and a heart full of hopes which I later learned were probably all I needed at the time.

Back when I had travelled overseas for an exchange program, I witnessed first-hand the challenges that international students have to navigate to find a place to stay. It was from these personal experiences that I got the idea for my startup.

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We have helped solve the very real problem of connecting students with verified, 100 per cent safe, and secure private accommodation with campus-like facilities for a smooth transition into university life.

A new beginning

The first year was brutal. I worked out of a tiny cabin in Delhi, reaching out to students who were struggling and relying on their word-of-mouth referrals to stay afloat.

My co-founder (and friend) Mayank chipped in from halfway across the world before finally joining me for good. Together, we built a simple listing page on WordPress, and with that, we were officially in business.

How’d we pull it off with zero technical know-how? Well, your guess is as good as mine. That, folks, is how we made it through the first year, oscillating between highs and lows – sometimes all in a single day.

As the year rolled by, the tiny cabin started to get a little too full for comfort. We moved operations to an airy, co-working unit that let us spread our wings, both literally and otherwise.

We were frantically trying to juggle between two worlds, setting up base in India and expanding in the UK.

I still remember when Mayank and I travelled to the UK for the first time, not as tourists but on official business, with back-to-back meetings that ran well into the night and last-minute travel plans that took us to the far ends of the city. We met accommodation providers who’ve now become long-term associates and welcomed interns fresh out of college. And I’m proud that many of them are still a part of our journey– successful managers and senior associates.

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While 2017 was the year of consolidation where we tested (successfully I must say) features that are now synonymous with our services, the year 2018 was undoubtedly the best year for us. We started off the year on a high note by launching our brand-new platform with end-to-end solutions, doubling our workforce, and ended it on an even higher note by establishing a strong referral programme with global universities, delving deeper into Ireland, Korea, France, and New Zealand. Phew, it was one hell of a ride, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

A land of opportunity

By the time 2019 had come rolling around, we had improved CRM automation and implemented AI to pre-emptively anticipate customer needs and accelerate user engagement. Since the world is our oyster, we never stopped exploring other opportunities and ended up expanding into the USA and Canada.

Coming to the present year 2020, we’re all aware of the unprecedented crisis that the world is facing. During this time, we have been hard at work, rewriting the playbook for success. We moved quickly in response to the unfolding situation with the global healthcare crisis, from adapting to the new normal of working from home to constantly coming up with new strategies to expand.

We are a tech-enabled platform that leverages the power of AI and ML to address a real-world problem, allowing us flexibility when it comes to working remotely. All of our existing team is developing their cross-functional skills, putting in extra efforts towards their tasks and going out of their way to pitch in where necessary.

Do you want to know the best part? We successfully hosted our first webinar where we partnered with experts from different facets of the education sector, all of which were done to address the concerns of one of our most valuable stakeholders – the students.

Also Read: How getting digital transformation right can help businesses get through a pandemic

It was just the confidence boost that we needed at a time like this, and now we’re well on our way to host the second one.

Given our whirlwind of a ride, I can say with certainty that I am extremely proud of what we’ve achieved, where we’re going, and the millions of student journeys we’ll make memorable.

Once we step out of our comfort zone and push the boundaries, that’s when we will become a better version of ourselves.

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Image credit: Doran Erickson on Unsplash

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