It hasn't been a great year for what was touted to be India’s hottest online real-estate startup. Housing.com, founded by a group of students from IIT-Bombay has been in the news for more wrong reasons than good. The company now finds itself in the middle of another controversy as its CEO Rahul Yadav wrote a scathing letter to the investors announcing his resignation after a spate of public spats.
"I don't think you guys are intellectually capable enough to have any sensible discussion anymore. This is something which I not just believe but can prove on your faces also!” Yadav wrote in the first paragraph of his letter addressed to the investors.
Within hours, however, Yadav who, according to the Economic Times, owns a 4.57% stake in the company, had withdrawn his resignation, as announced by Housing.com in the following statement.
This comes at a time when Housing.com has already been dealing with more problems than just a public spat. In February, the company made headlines for its massive hiring spree when it set out to quadruple its 100-member tech workforce by offering plush packages to potential recruits in India's premier institutions. A fresh round of $90 million in funding flowed in to the company, which set out to list 40 million homes across 300 Indian cities.
Soon after, the headlines changed dramatically.
Rs 100 crore notice
A legal notice was sent in March to the Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav from the Times Group seeking Rs 100 crore in damages for an internal email that Yadav is said to have sent to the company’s employees. The notice was purportedly related to a March 12 email in which Yadav reportedly alleged that the Times Group backed magicbricks.com which is one of the bigger players in the online real estate sector, was out to “malign” Housing.com.
The Times Group alleged that the email which soon surfaced on the social media and subsequently made headlines was "highly libelous, scandalous, false, defamatory, malicious and irresponsible’ and added that the "defamatory email is per se perverse and defamatory to our goodwill and reputation".
Spat with Sequoia
Housing.com's tale of woe started at the beginning of the month, when an angry email by Yadav to Shailendra Singh, the Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India, made its way to a website called Quora. In the mail, Yadav refers to Singh as "dude" and accuses the Sequoia executive of doing "inhuman[e] and unethical things" by luring away Housing.com employees. The email was copied to hundreds of Housing.com employees.
The Economic Times, which is owned by the Times group, reported on the spat, adding that it had prompted Housing.com's investors to consider removing 26-year-old Yadav from the position of CEO. This prompted Yadav to write another internal email, claiming that the Times Group was attacking Housing.com because the group's magicbricks.com portal ‒ a competitor to Housing.com ‒ was attempting to raise funds in the US.
This mail earned the firm attention of the Times Group's legal department.
New logo
That isn't the company's only problem. On Holi, Housing.com got a makeover and adopted an upwards pointing arrow along with the words “look up” as a logo. Even though the new design came with more peppy colours and an explainer video, it received its share of criticism.
For starters, NextBigWhat, an online media outlet that keeps track of start-ups, pointed to the similarities between Housing's new logo and that of an iPhone app LookUp.
Social media, meanwhile, was divided on what to make of the new look.
Co-founder's car kills two
Before that, on February 20, Housing.com's co-founder Advitiya Sharma was driving a car with three other employees of the company when it crashed into a tree in Mumbai. Two employees died.
A case was subsequently registered against Sharma under Indian Penal Code Sections 304A (causing death due to negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) but he was later released on bail.
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"I don't think you guys are intellectually capable enough to have any sensible discussion anymore. This is something which I not just believe but can prove on your faces also!” Yadav wrote in the first paragraph of his letter addressed to the investors.
Within hours, however, Yadav who, according to the Economic Times, owns a 4.57% stake in the company, had withdrawn his resignation, as announced by Housing.com in the following statement.
Today the Housing board met, and has been reconstituted to include all main shareholder representatives. After some good conversations the board has reaffirmed its faith in Rahul Yadav's vision at Housing.
Rahul commented that "After some frank and healthy discussions with the Board I have agreed to withdraw my resignation and I apologizs for my unacceptable comments about the board members. I look forward to staying on at Housing as CEO and building an even greater company, while working in full harmony with the board."
This comes at a time when Housing.com has already been dealing with more problems than just a public spat. In February, the company made headlines for its massive hiring spree when it set out to quadruple its 100-member tech workforce by offering plush packages to potential recruits in India's premier institutions. A fresh round of $90 million in funding flowed in to the company, which set out to list 40 million homes across 300 Indian cities.
Soon after, the headlines changed dramatically.
Rs 100 crore notice
A legal notice was sent in March to the Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav from the Times Group seeking Rs 100 crore in damages for an internal email that Yadav is said to have sent to the company’s employees. The notice was purportedly related to a March 12 email in which Yadav reportedly alleged that the Times Group backed magicbricks.com which is one of the bigger players in the online real estate sector, was out to “malign” Housing.com.
The Times Group alleged that the email which soon surfaced on the social media and subsequently made headlines was "highly libelous, scandalous, false, defamatory, malicious and irresponsible’ and added that the "defamatory email is per se perverse and defamatory to our goodwill and reputation".
Spat with Sequoia
Housing.com's tale of woe started at the beginning of the month, when an angry email by Yadav to Shailendra Singh, the Managing Partner of the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India, made its way to a website called Quora. In the mail, Yadav refers to Singh as "dude" and accuses the Sequoia executive of doing "inhuman[e] and unethical things" by luring away Housing.com employees. The email was copied to hundreds of Housing.com employees.
The Economic Times, which is owned by the Times group, reported on the spat, adding that it had prompted Housing.com's investors to consider removing 26-year-old Yadav from the position of CEO. This prompted Yadav to write another internal email, claiming that the Times Group was attacking Housing.com because the group's magicbricks.com portal ‒ a competitor to Housing.com ‒ was attempting to raise funds in the US.
This mail earned the firm attention of the Times Group's legal department.
New logo
That isn't the company's only problem. On Holi, Housing.com got a makeover and adopted an upwards pointing arrow along with the words “look up” as a logo. Even though the new design came with more peppy colours and an explainer video, it received its share of criticism.
For starters, NextBigWhat, an online media outlet that keeps track of start-ups, pointed to the similarities between Housing's new logo and that of an iPhone app LookUp.
Social media, meanwhile, was divided on what to make of the new look.
http://t.co/WL04GxNHKN has got a rebranding that can only be described as Deepak Chopra-inspired new age nonsense. https://t.co/MtHya3dNRh
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) March 6, 2015
What was this http://t.co/PJeIAac0m2 ad trying to say? Was it even for a housing listing site or Deepak Chopra? https://t.co/VqTqsYXIaK #Wtf
— this is a blah tweet (@blahfamous) March 15, 2015Co-founder's car kills two
Before that, on February 20, Housing.com's co-founder Advitiya Sharma was driving a car with three other employees of the company when it crashed into a tree in Mumbai. Two employees died.
A case was subsequently registered against Sharma under Indian Penal Code Sections 304A (causing death due to negligence), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) but he was later released on bail.
