Here’s what happened during Housing CEO Rahul Yadav’s Reddit ‘Ask me Anything’ session

It’s relieving that it’s finally over! We’re talking about Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav who has been hogging the media headlines for his Rakhi Sawant like instances since past few weeks. Yadav’s session of ‘Ask Me Anything’ on social media site Reddit, which happened yesterday, wasn’t as notorious as people might have presumed.

So, what really happened during the session? How did Rahul manage to respond to all the questions that were thrown at him?

Rahul’s session wasn’t as happening as had been his recent online and offline conversations. There were no controversial statements, can you believe it? As per The Economic Times, around a dozen Housing.com employees were seated around Yadav, helping him draft answers to the influx of queries. "The investors had just one guideline - avoid controversial answers," said one source. Rishabh Gupta, Housing's data collection head, Pratik Seal, chief marketing officer, and the entire corporate communications team was helping Yadav, a source informed the financial daily.

In his entire session, Rahul Yadav had touched upon several topics. While on one hand, he talked about Indian startups and expressed his admiration for Flipkart, he wasn’t as generous to the global startups like Uber and Twitter, which he described as "slick products solving big problems."

We checked out his entire Reddit dialogue and picked up few that make an interesting read. Check’em out!

redweddingsareawesom: Why do you claim to have beaten Common Floor and Magicbricks based on site visits and app downloads? Aren't they bullshit metrics?
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.

takatakha: Why did you decide to drop out of IITB in your final year?
I think I mentally dropped out of IIT in 2nd year. Physically in my 4th year. And on papers, I think I’m still an IITB student. :)

amitseoji: Can you create even 1% of housing.com without funding from VC?
I can create 100% of housing but then it will be a different type of housing. You can always create business without money, sometimes it can be slow, sometimes it can be really hard but its never impossible.

Bamboo 12345: What are the 3 most important things that contribute towards a startups' success in the Indian startup ecosystem?
I think currently it is:
1. Validated and copied idea from another market
2. Capital
3. Marketing
What I think it should actually be:
1. Solving Indian people's problem
2. Great product and innovation.
3. Great teams and culture.

(Image: India Times)