As part of our endeavour to identify and share some of the unique and compelling stories from the ecosystem, we invited yet serial entrepreneur and business leader Raja Arjun – Founder and CSO at Raja Capital, for an interview with us to understand more about his exciting entrepreneurial journey so far.
He is a passionate design entrepreneur, investor and growth strategist. With his rich experience in this space, he is redefining real estate investing for his clients. He is known to have bootstrapped multi-million dollar businesses successfully. Let’s read more about his interesting journey, way forward and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs through our exclusive conversation!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Raja:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I am a fourth-generation entrepreneur and hail from a legacy business family of Bangalore. The seed to become an entrepreneur was sown at a very young age. I have fond memories of role-play games with my cousins where we enacted running a mock office. Part of my summer vacations was spent in my dad’s office where I helped out in printing, delivering files from one desk to another and labelling files. My first earning was when I rented books to my classmates in school at the age of 11. I had to stop the library service, cause I had run out of freehand me down books and people who borrowed books never seem to return them.
From a pile of free books, I had probably earned Rs.200 at Rs.5 per week to rent. Clearly a loss-making venture, I remember cherishing the money though and using it to buy stamps for my collection. It may have been a financial failure but earning money on your own empowers you to believe in yourself.”
I went on to pursue many other ventures including making custom motorbikes with an Enfield chassis as a base, quite successfully selling 22 bikes at the age between 17-20. Around the age of 18 while still in college I started working on independent homes while studying architecture and had made a dedicated move into design and construction by the time I graduated in 2011.
After graduation, I registered a realty company but I left the city to gain work experience in other companies and pursued a masters and moved cities living in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Tokyo and Barcelona briefly; the entire time trying to grow a business back home in Bangalore.”
There was a point when the business took off and it was clear to me that I need to dedicate all my time in one place.
In 2015, I moved back to Bangalore and since then we have founded, acquired, collaborated and grown companies to strategically form a vertically integrated Realty Company (Raja Capital)
What does your company specialise in?
Raja Capital is a design-centric vertically integrated realty company pioneering RAAS – Real-Estate As A Service – in India. We identify latent needs and envision new lifestyles. We have companies and people who specialise in various aspects of the real estate industry.
We have an award-winning design company at the heart of the organisation, OCD (Office of Cognitive Design) practising Architecture, Interior Design and Brand strategy. We offer turnkey civil and interior contracting services under Makebot Turnkey.
Fresh tags.in is a realty tech company which is a discovery and distribution platform for DTC (Direct to Consumer) brands. Raja Capital facilitates micro-investments in real estate into income-generating assets, making real estate investments accessible to anyone.
How is your company different from others? How did you grow your company to become a successful enterprise?
Raja capital has grown from one to one hundred hands that help me, my partners and my collaborators run our operations. Instead of opting for a traditional company structure, it is a collaborative ecosystem of five companies which function autonomously and yet integrated as one. Everyone who holds a senior position is empowered to think and function like an entrepreneur. It is an unconventional way of running a company, especially a realty company, unlike any other realty company I am aware of. I have built it partly inspired by established companies like Infosys, Ideo, Wipro, McDonalds, Coke-Cola, Zara and partly by questioning the normal.
We are hardly an enterprise. We have a long journey ahead of us to reach my goals for our company. I would consider myself and our company successful when we become the gold standard for quality and customer satisfaction in our industry. If I can put India on the global map one day for the work we do, I would be a happy entrepreneur.”
What are pixel spaces?
Pixel spaces are millennial centric realty ventures Raja capital with a hyper-focus on well-made micro spaces. Pixels are curated micro-living and microwork environments built in urban centres. Having lived in different parts of India and the world, I believe urban micro-living is an answer not just to offer affordable high-quality spaces but also the biggest positive impact on the environment. This single decision will make you live a more conscious life about the stuff you buy, it will help stop the horizontal expansion of cities and the destruction of nature which follows and optimal space means less materials used to build. Living on a small footprint and living minimal is a mindset which we millennials have embraced and love. Isn’t it cool to have your own space with less financial encumbrances and the freedom to not be tied to one place.
It’s also a great investment option for first-time realty investors by helping them split their risk, coliving/hospitality operators looking for purpose-built social spaces and veteran investors since there are no developments which are built around the millennial mindset – which is the largest active population today.
Pixels are a way of living, it’s not merely an investment decision. We are building a universe around it. We are designing and making smart flexible furniture, we’re creating environmentally conscious products and we’re investing in technology to make it easy to track and maintain these spaces.
It’s an evolving idea and it’s an iterative process. We have built Pixel one already off Bannerghatta road. Pixel two is under construction close to Kanteerava Stadium. We’re in talks to envision Pixel 3 and 4 in Indiranagar and close to Manyata Tech park by 2021.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
My ambition is to leave a better world than the one I came into. Everything that I have done has been against the grain by instinct and I have always enjoyed taking on a challenge. I enjoy setting out into the unknown to question and seek answers. There is very little a job can offer me to satiate this search for answers; corporate, government or private.
There is certainly nothing wrong in having a corporate job, there are clear perks in sticking to a company to help them grow. In fact, I would want more such people helping me grow our company. For me, it was never a choice I gave myself, I guess I have conditioned myself to become an entrepreneur. It helps that I find joy in my work and I guess that’s all that matters in the end.
” Mahe Goa restaurant interior design build by Office of Cognitive Design (OCD)”” Yashaswini Convention Hotel Designed by ACE Group Architects”
Please share with us some of the challenges you faced in your journey;
I started out young for the industry we are in. I would constantly be questioned about my experience, knowledge or the lack thereof, by all stakeholders – vendors, colleagues, peers and customers alike. When you are providing a service for someone who second-guesses you, it is a near-vertical climb up to reach a stage where one can trust you; And to gain someone’s trust needs honest hard work and to do it consistently. I have had to prove my metal with every day of my professional life for the last decade. As I enter into new territories of growth, the same challenges apply even today and frankly maybe for the rest of my life. I like it though and I look forward to the next day. The way I see it, these challenges make me a better entrepreneur and a better person.
I also believe, India’s mindset has to change when it comes to money. We should not condition ourselves to accept the L1 (Lowest Quote) life, we should start expecting and paying for H1 (Highest quality) life. In civil/interior contracting when we give a tender submission, 90% of the time the lowest bid is accepted. That is what happens in India for everything, government infrastructure, education, nourishment, healthcare and all the way down to paygrades. We should ask for more from everyone and be ready to pay for it. Only then will a nation grow. The private sector alone cannot do this, we need to get this from the government, change starts from the top and trickles down.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
It is not so simple. It is a combination of the two and not one over the other. For me, empathy plays a big role in business. Empathy for your clients, your employees, investors and every other stakeholder in your business. Certainly one needs to be financially prudent as well. Good business is also a battle fought between your ears. It’s all in the mind and how you can manage it.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I love doing what I do, so I think a lot of it doesn’t really bother me. It is stressful I won’t deny, but stress is a part of your life and the sooner you can embrace that, the sooner you can go on to do great things. I work out and play sports. I believe a healthy body means a healthy mind. I also try to hang out with friends and family whenever I can. I spent a few years working day and night, only to realise it was a toxic lifestyle and felt burnt out. That work I put in was required but I learnt a valuable lesson about the importance of people and genuine relationships in one’s life. It has made me a better person and a better businessman I guess.
What has worked well for you so far?
Lots of hard work, the constant pursuit for excellence, a dedication to a dream, consistency in work ethic, stamina to take on challenges every day, diligence to follow the right steps and the conviction to believe in your team and yourself.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Success for me may be very different from success for someone else. I think it is very important for every entrepreneur to define success. Without this definition, one will continue to chase a mirage. This definition of success may be the key to your success. I’ll leave it at that.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
Choose the people who you work with carefully and trust them to do the job they are assigned to do. I believe everyone is good at something and if you can play a part in them discovering that something that makes them tick, it is special.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Go for it. Give it your best shot. You’ve got nothing to lose.
Do you have anything else to share?
We Indians have an entrepreneurial spirit, I believe many potential entrepreneurs don’t pursue it out of fear of inadequate financial backing. We SME’s don’t have much protection from the government as well. There is no legal system that can protect us from non-payments for example. Justice, in general, is not swift in India. If the government can protect MSME’s, I mean really protect them, not just pass a rule, but to enforce those rules, then we will evolve into a developed nation in no time.
Everyone conducting themselves and their own work ethically and professionally, with mutual respect is what we need as a nation. Together we can build a stronger India. Let’s make a great work environment for everyone to flourish.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
