BackRealising that disruption comes at a cost was a click moment for us: Saurabh Garg
Saurabh Garg says barely 18 months after NoBroker was established, our office was attacked by brokers. We realized that we weren't just an idea, but a solution, a solution that consumers had accepted with open arms
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Saving money for the customers and having complete transparency have been two guiding principles for NoBroker.com, a C2C (customer-to-customer) real estate website that connects home seekers and home owners directly by eliminating the broker. We feel that the broker just plays on the asymmetry of information prevalent in the sector and adds little value to the home-seeking exercise otherwise. And both home seekers and owners have been paying exorbitant amounts of brokerage for that little value. This frustration gave way to a company that rides on an algorithm that eliminates brokers from infiltrating the platform.
But we realized that our disruption comes at a cost. While the real estate market was ready for the leap, we ended up antagonizing brokers in the process. On 15 September 2015, barely 18 months after we established NoBroker, our Bengaluru office was attacked by a mob of brokers.
It meant working from makeshift offices for no less than two months and umpteen inconveniences. At first we felt fear and anxiety for our safety and the safety of our employees. But later the fear gave way to conviction in what we were doing and realization that we have created an impact. Surprisingly enough, our employees displayed impeccable strength and bonding. Rather than feeling intimidated by this attack, they felt pride in their work. The incident had brought our team closer.
We came out of it stronger and more convinced than ever. In that click moment we realized that we weren’t just an idea or an option, but a solution, a solution that consumers had accepted with open arms. This incident and the conviction following it has constantly guided us in engineering solutions that the customer needs. We focused on making it a depth play by offering end-to-end solutions in each city we are present rather than a width play by entering multiple cities with less focus on consumer services. Thanks to this encouragement by consumers using our platform, over 4 million happy customers in five cities are using our services and more than 10,000 people find houses through us every month.
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