Single and Still in Trouble!!
Back in 2011, Parikshit Agarwal felt awesome as he packed his bags for Hyderabad to work with Microsoft as their campus hire. Being an IIT Bombay Alumnus, his reputation was something that surpassed an introduction. All of that lay behind him as he went house hunting in the city. Parikshit wanted a great place to stay, however, he discovered that most housing societies did not allow him to stay as he was a bachelor and brokers showed him flats that were either too far or not up to his liking. He thought to himself, “I should work on a business idea that enables single people to find better places to stay”. For the next three years, he got engrossed in his work, with his idea lingering in his mind.
After having researched on his business idea for 4 years by meeting builders, agents, and talking to 800+ singles personally; Parikshit revisited his business idea in January of 2016. Out of the people he interviewed, 92-95% of the single men and 68% of the single women stated that they had faced problems during their house hunting process. Another insight that he was able to gain after talking to the countless single men was that they were either staying in Paying Guest Accommodations or forced to stay in the outskirts of the city as housing societies did not allow bachelors to rent flats.
The Good Start!
Parikshit and his co-founder Abhimanyu Singh started working on his business idea from the March of 2016. Abhimanyu, who was previously a UX-UI developer, could connect well to Parikshit‘s experience and decided to quit his job and get onboard with Easytenants. Abhimanyu takes care of the operations for the Pune and Mumbai regions and handles the entire digital marketing function for the company, while Parikshit takes care of the operations in Hyderabad and Bangalore. Besides the two co-founders, Swati Agarwal and Pankaj Sharma handle offline marketing and Online marketing respectively out of their branch in New-Delhi.
Passing the Acid Test!
Switching from an easy salaried life to that of an entrepreneur’s was not a bed of roses for Parikshit. He humorously states that his father stopped talking to him and his mother took a flight to Hyderabad after he expressed his desire to walk out on his well-paid corporate job.
He recounts his father’s remark, “So you want to be a property agent? Why bother studying in an IIT? You should have passed your 12th grade and enrolled in a finishing school!” Parikshit says even he hadn’t thought about his idea in detail and revisited it to think about the USP. “It was a hard task”, he says “but I was able to think through the clutter to work on a business model that is IOT enabled and put it across to my father. I think he was convinced about it after listening to the improvisations I made. Without my family’s support, I wouldn’t have been able to reach here, it’s hard work”, he says.
Friends reacted even more hilariously when he put across his business idea to them, with some telling him that he was just wasting his time. While two of his friends at the IIT understood the concept, others were just stunned. That quickly changed after they got Parikshit’s invite for a 7 days royal stay in a super cool, conveniently located flat in Hyderabad. His friends were surprised when he told them that the flat would cost them just INR 8,000, compared to the INR 20,000 they had calculated in their minds; now they are his biggest brand advocates!
The Idea, Platform, Landlords, and Tenants:
The original idea has been completely rolled out in Bangalore and Pune, where the tenants need not do a thing. The flats are located in close proximity to offices, affordable and fully furnished. The posh properties are leased from owners for a period of 3-7 years, or purchased and converted into bachelor pads. Under the traditional method of leasing or renting, landlords lose money over occupancy rates, maintenance of the house and coordination with the tenants for paperwork. While tenants rent a flat that is either furnished or unfurnished they end up paying higher rentals, and bear the maintenance and running costs.
With Easytenants, landlords outsource the complete process to the company; while the Tenants live on the concept of “Home Slice”, where they only pay for the services used saving them at least INR 4,000 per Month. The Company invests in properties that have an attached washroom with each room and provides amenities to tenants like:
1) Separate beds for twin-sharing rooms; one single bed for a single occupancy (no sharing) or a complete house.
2) Each room is furnished with ACs, Geysers, Mattress, Separate cupboards and Lockers, Bed sheets, Pillows, Pillow Covers, Blankets, Mirrors, and Toiletries for the Washroom.
3) Completely furnished kitchen with a Dining Table, TV, Sofa, and Housekeeping service two times a day. The uniforms for the housekeeping staff do not have pockets in order to prevent theft.
4) The flat is equipped with CCTV cameras that monitor the common area and the entrance and comes with additional services like Internet, Laundry, Grocery Delivery Services, and Drinking water.
5) Tenants living in remote cities get a free shifting assistance up to INR 10,000 for moving to a flat under the flagship of Easytenants.
6) Should a tenant shift to another flat with Easytenants, she/he gets a free shifting assistance. The tenants have to bear the differentials in rent if any.
7) Tenants can opt for a monthly protection plan for a small amount without any ceiling to the cost of repairs.
House Owners get Hassle Free Rentals by Signing up with Easytenants:
1) House owners get a committed rent on time regardless of room occupancy.
2) Completely digitized Tenant verification process within a period of three days and access to digital agreements made between Easytenants and the tenants. Suspicious cases are passed on to the cops as a responsibility towards maintaining legal and societal conformity.
3) Owners get professional maintenance care for their flats for free of cost.
4) By default, owners get a 2 Crore worth house insurance and premiums will be borne by Easytenants at the time of signing agreements.
Where do the Roads Lead to?
Easytenants.com has already grown its pipeline of prospective tenants by 5x times throughout India and doubled its growth within just 4 months of its inception. The company is about to reach its breakeven point in a couple of months. Parikshit says that the biggest priority for the company is to stabilize its operations in the coming 3 months. The company also aims to enter Tier 2 cities like Chandigarh, Kota, Vishakhapatnam, etc. The company aims to provide round the clock delivery and housekeeping service with dedicated staff that gets pick-up and drop facilities.