Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Pratik Agarwal: From the very beginning, Real Estate has thrilled me and that’s why I always wanted to have a career in the same industry. I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity to intern with CBRE, a US-based International Property Consultancy (IPC), while pursuing my MBA. From there on, I knew CBRE is the path to my dream and understood that Real Estate Consultancy is what is meant for me. Seeing my sheer passion and chutzpah, in 2014, CBRE extended their offer to me for a full time role. During my stint with them, I comprehended the nuances of Commercial Real Estate Consultancy and tried to network with Investors/Developers/Multinationals. The very idea of selling Real Estate in an extremely organized manner and my penchant for entrepreneurship made me venture out Mint Spaces in 2017 along with a friend, who is now my co-partner.. With a vision to provide Professional Real Estate Consultancy Services we started our journey and kept on adding verticals in our organization to reach the masses and areas where IPCs couldn’t reach.
Great Companies: What are the various services provided by Mint Spaces?
Pratik Agarwal: Mint Spaces is an Integrated Services Company specializing in Real Estate Consulting. We provide an array of services related to Buying/Selling/Leasing of properties in the following verticals:
· Commercial (Retail & Office)
· Residential
· Warehousing/Godown
· Pre-Leased Investments Advisory Services
· Portfolio Management Services
· Landlord/Developer Representation
· Tenant Representation
Great Companies: What makes Mint Spaces different from hundreds of other real estate Consulting firms?
Pratik Agarwal: Our team comprises qualified and experienced people who have worked with various IPCs/Developers and have transacted with top Developers and MNC Clients in Mumbai. Having the background of corporate organizations, coupled with the grass root knowledge of the various geographical areas/micro market within a city, our team can provide the perfect mix of an IPC and a Local Consultant wherein helping the Client find the best suitable property as per their requirement. Also, our team believes in doing a thorough mapping of any given micro-market to understand the perfect mix of Tenants/Brands in that location and then proposing the suitable property options to our Clients.
Our prime motto has always been “Customer/Client Orientation” by being a trusted advisor in helping them with their Real Estate Needs; giving high priority and focus to their issues and requirements and ensuring that we craft and implement service practices that meet both customers’/clients’ and our company needs.
Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?
Pratik Agarwal: Probably having Clients realize that we as a Startup can provide them the services in a manner various IPCs and established Consultancy Companies provide. Apart from competing with established players, Real Estate Consultancy is a very unorganized market wherein many times we have to compete with local players who have limited knowledge of the market and have just managed to get the Client on the basis of referrals. Also, this business only rewards you when you close a deal, whether it takes 3 months or a year to do the same. There is no remuneration even while you are working very hard day in day out. Often there are times where we are not rewarded even after months of continuous efforts in finding the best suitable property for our Client, but we have to be our own cheer leader and remain self-motivated.
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Mint Spaces?
Pratik Agarwal: To start with, we plan to hire people so that we can widen our bandwidth and horizon and reach various micro-markets of Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Having connected with all major Brands, and providing them our services in Mumbai, the next step will be to help them expand in other cities and states as well. For this, we also plan to have Associates and Channel Partners in other regions of India with whom we can tie up and work in a seamless manner. 5 years down the line, I would want to have a hierarchy of people looking at various verticals in my organization and streamlining the flow of information & data.
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Pratik Agarwal: I would say, if you want to be a Realtor, you have to step out of your office and not hesitate to do groundwork like mapping and stacking of properties. One can only understand a city’s Real Estate by understanding the geography of a region. Apart from this, Agility and Resilience, Self-motivation and “adapting” to the constantly changing working environment will be the key to your development.