Rahul Pai (Co Founder, PropertyAngel)
- Crystal clear objectives: The first step to success is to have an unambiguous vision of your goal.
- Conscious awareness: A thorough understanding of oneself, the business landscape, industry trends, and competitors is crucial. This demands a high level of alertness and attentiveness.
- Self-belief: Have the confidence that you can navigate through challenges and find the best solutions to any problem that arises.
- Organization skills: To achieve grand ambitions and expedite growth, it’s imperative to have exceptional organization skills – for yourself, your resources, and your business.
- Momentum: Maintaining and directing momentum is a critical aspect of success. You need to amplify momentum in the right direction, overcome any obstacles, and establish the right pace to ensure successful outcomes.
Rahul Pai
(Co Founder, PropertyAngel)
Tell us about your journey and how it has moulded you as a person?
Each entrepreneur’s journey is different. Mine started very early! I had to decide between a college placement opportunity with an MNC,or going it alone. At the time, I had freshly read Rich Dad /Poor Dad so freshly [or naively!] inspired, I just took the plunge! & quite frankly, even though I have had a fair share of hits & misses-I haven’t looked back,I’ve never felt I’ve missed out on any fancy MNC job/fancy titles,etc- I’ve just been happy, for better or worse,to explore the road less taken,as Robert Frost puts it!.& God has been kind, we have taken a small family business which was essentially a small shop set up at the start, & are building it, bricj by brick,patiently, & thoughtfully, on its core strengths of deep goodwill,trust & customer centricity.
While my Co Founder & better half Sapna, is blazing her own trail in our allied business -spin off from the original business-A Proptech enabled-Property Asset Management business, PropertyAngel, which we built together from zero to a 1500 crs + of AUM & still growing. & proud to say, we haven’t raised a single rupee of funding for it, nor any debt, it’s a closely held,profitable, growing & steady business.
We are now setting up a crack capital markets team for addressing the issue of capital shortage in real estate. An AIF is also being proposed, to raise 1000 cr of institutional capital for our first Real Estate Fund. A team of vastly experienced & highly credible, industry-leading proffessionals, is being put together for the same.
So, all in all, we’re building nothing short of a Promoter owned-Professionally managed ‘Desi IPC’ ,which will create immense value for all stakeholders, right here, in our own backyard, with a vast range of services from real estate consulting to asset management to financial services & funding of real estate- So, we indeed, seem to be coming full Circle!
As I said, God has been kind, without his blessings to us & our family, none of this would have been possible.
How its moulded me-
Each day is a challenge, & an opportunity to learn something new, to grow!
I have learnt to place absolute faith in the Almighty, & seek his continued blessings for all our ventures.
What are the key ingredients to achieve success?
It’s the basics which count in any business-Put your customer first, there are no shortcuts, so act with integrity & transparency, first & foremost. Put in the hours, the hard work. Again, there is no substitute for the basics. Aim for the basics, get them right first, then look for the stars & spotlight, the funding etc, & not the reverse which seems to be the norm these days!
How do you handle failures and setbacks?
Learn from them! Each day is an opportunity to improve your life.
What’s the one word or phrase that defines you?
Calculated risk taker
How would you mentor/advise people who are struggling in their lives?
Examine your relationship with the Almighty. Seek help,there is no harm in admitting you need help.
What’s the one quote that defines your approach to life?
Just Do It!
Your company is enhancing property management constantly, with innovative initiatives. Please tell us more about your pursuits
- I like to say, We’re creating a Desi IPC [ International Property Consultant] right here, Make in India. The comparable giants, are the Cushman Wakefields, Knight Franks,& JLL”s of the world, who are large, publicly listed MNC’s,having Billions of Dollars of Market Capitalization.
- The customers are both B2C,like HNI’s,local investors, as well as B2B like Developers, Family Offices, Corporates & of course, Financial Institutions who are our allies too.
- So right from buying/selling of ultra high end real estate for HNI’s, institutional-grade commercial real estate to turnkey Property Management, to Loans, funding & finally, Institutional Property Investments & specialized Fund Management, there are dedicated & highly specialized & experienced teams set up, to drive each of those activities, all of which have their own synergies.
Please tell us the role of technology in your business pursuits
- Our Industry-leading Proptech platform & the eco system of Apps which are property-industry-specific,has been developed from scratch, with my Co-Founder, Sapna Chandiramani, an Ex Oracle/Yahoo Senior Team Member, taking the lead in this respect & building out a world class suite of Proptech solutions, in house & with an in- house tech team.
- We have spent the past 4 years refining, testing,& building various apps which would be useful & be a game changer, to the whole Real Estate community, be it property owners, tenants, brokers,& builders too!
- We have used low code platforms to do this, & our teams are presently working on a SAAS model, to scale these offerings, with God’s Grace, to a Global Scale.