Nikhil Sikri, Zolo : How a doctor turned entrepreneur built India's largest co-living platform
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- čas přidán 18. 03. 2019
- When Nikhil Sikri decided to quit his job as a doctor in Singapore and return to India, he didn't know what was in store for him. Four years later, Zolo was born. By honoring his instincts and doing what he wanted to do even when the people around him thought that he was crazy, Nikhil and his co-founders Akhil Sikri and Sneha Choudhry have managed to create India's largest co-living platform.
SECTIONS
Becoming a Doctor: 00:58
Becoming an Entrepreneur: 05:07
The PG Gold Mine: 07:49
A Failed Platform Play: 09:30
Going Full Stack: 10:49
Three Keys to Scaling: 13:09
The Way Forward: 17:18
Nikhil grew up in a small town in Punjab. Both of his parents were doctors, but this didn't stop him from neglecting his studies in order to do what he enjoyed most at the time: sports. However, when class 11 and 12 rolled around, Nikhil finally gave more attention to his studies and ended up being ranked fourth in the entire country.
These extraordinary grades enabled him to obtain a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from AIIMS, and with this MBBS he secured a job for himself as a Medical Officer in Singapore. However, after just a year abroad, Nikhil decided to return to India. Even though life was comfortable in Singapore, Nikhil felt that he could be doing more with his life in India.
Fast-forward four years, and Nikhil was trying to figure out what kind of startup he was going to build with his two co-founders, Akhil Sikri and Sneha Choudhry. They looked at the food industry, the beauty industry, and the housing industry. Ultimately, what attracted Nikhil and his co-founders to the co-living side of the housing industry were the numbers. They saw that there were 8 million people staying in PGs, and realized that this side of the co-living spaces market was completely untapped. Nobody was standardizing it, nobody was using technology to improve it, and thus, Zolo was born.
Being a first-time entrepreneur, Nikhil and his team naturally ran into several problems as they built up their startup. The first was their approach. Initially, they listed preexisting PGs on their platform, and in nine months they were able to scale to 20,000 beds. However, the quality of what they were offering wasn't good, and so they decided to control every aspect of their product by going full stack.
By doing this, they were able to guarantee a high quality standard across platform, and with this new approach to their business, Nikhil and his team have managed to build what is now India's largest co-living platform, Zolo.
Nikhil Sikri's five-year journey as an entrepreneur has been exactly what he was looking for when he quit his job in Singapore and moved to India: stimulating, exciting, challenging, and most importantly, fulfilling. He has been able to make an impact on Indian society through Zolo, and that was, after all, the whole point.
We hope that you enjoyed Nikhil's journey as an entrepreneur, and that you'll continue to follow his startup story through his LinkedIn page, which you can access below:
/ dr-nikhil-sikri-71506110
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#entrepreneur #startup #zolo
Hi nikhil, I am really impressed with your experience, hard work and growth.one thing you have to focus on is managing team, you must be careful about the team where you are not present for example Pune, team out here want to sleep at home and get the salary.... I can say about Pune as I am present here....all the best...👍
Hi nikhil, very happy to see zolo growing . I have seen u live from zero beds to biggest co living inventory . All the best from kiran D
Manyata K e b property
Candid and informative
Working with him thought to be owner ... As I started to listen inner mind he is great personality...
He definitely does have a great personality!
Zolo should post Sad faces of Zolo Riverrun. This is the 1st property of Hinjewadi Pune. Here No Electricity...No Water due to electricity.. Daily Huge Garbage from Kitchen - you can enjoy smell as well..... Here you can enjoy 8-10 days delay to fix any electronic issue. Irresponsible,Non productive current PM... Here we have kitchen for 2500 #Zoloites and yesterday they preparing food from Storage Tank Water(They Soak cheek peas in that water). Why kind of hygiene here 🤔.And when we discussed this issues with Zolo Mid Management, they simply saying if you like it then live otherwise you can choose another place to live. Nobody listen and understand here. Lastly want to say, it’s been more than 9 months,I am living here but nowadays zolo mid management is behaving wrongly. Zolo should give service same for all properties.Zolo should not change their attitude for increasing business and increasing PGs across India. I Trust and believe on Nikhil Sikri(CEO Zolo) And Request to send this comment to Nikhil.
Thanks 🙏🏻
#ZoloStays #ZoloCommunity #Zoloites
More love from other medico from Aiims Delhi 😊😇💐
Nice interview
Inspiring
My brother is a Rockstar ✌️
He sure is!
How did u manage finances and tough time in business
Hi, hope u haven't disrupted all owners dreams , courtesy Covid-19, I m one of zolo owners stuck with u since last 2 yrs not yet paid rent since few months
I'm zolo ct zolo is good 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
😂😂😂😂😂 TQ for comment
Hi sir
M staying in ZOLO GRUHA....CHENNAI....here...we have several issues but nobody is here to listen... no caretaker or anybody... just guys is appeared to insert ppl into the room and extort the rent money from them.... thats it ... for services they are not only useless while pathetic in their attitude..... they don't hv caretaker in this property while on call they laugh on their problems while move your query here n there by saying .... I m NOT the caretaker for your property. ....nobody is responsible. .. every staff is quite aggressive n irritating. ...
I will crack aiims 2020
Good luck Gareeb! 🙂
@@backstagewithmillionaires ?? They guy's name is tejas
Hua bhai crack ?
@@lenovotab8322 haha
@@backstagewithmillionaires gareeb ????
Fkkkk he is aiims delhi passout
Ritesh Agrawal is not even pass-out
zolo is a fraud startup, it has to be eliminated with its grass roots. I have seen bad customer care and service but zolo has the worst of worst customer care and customer service.