Great Companies: How did you get your idea or concept for the business?
Satya Mehta : I and my co-founder have stayed more than 2 decades (60% of Lives away from home) in hostels, PGs, from high-end premium to one-bed mattress cheap hostel and have learned that there is a problem to be solved. Also, had worked with academia for 8+ years and has seen students either suffering or being exploited. Hence decided to give back to the community in the form of student housing & coliving startup
Great Companies: What are the various Services provided by Roompe Pvt Ltd
Satya Mehta :
RoomPe operates
(A) Student Accommodation
(B) Hostels
(C) Coliving
(D) PGs
RoomPe operates in
(A) Lease & Operate
(B) Revenue Sharing
(C) Management contract model
Any corporate or University with/without existing premised can approach us to operate or manage the student/staff housing
Great Companies: What makes Roompe Pvt Ltd different from hundreds of other accommodation providers?
Satya Mehta :
We are different, rather unique in 3 ways
(A) We majorly work in B2B or B2B2C model
(B) We are the only student housing company which is community-driven rather than design-driven or Technology or Space Driven
(C) We curate community and common areas depending on organizations requirements
Great Companies: What are the struggles and challenges you face?
Satya Mehta :
(A) Pandemic Slowed down the expansion
(B) B2B model is a time-consuming sales process
Great Companies: How do you plan to grow in the future? What does 5 years down the line look like for Roompe Pvt Ltd?
Satya Mehta : Our Major Focus is Tier - 2 Indian Cities & Universities (including private, IIMs, IITs) & Corporates with a minimum commitment of 80+ Beds, and in either of B2B or B2B2C model
In the next 5 years, we will be having 5000+ beds across 10 cities of India. We are also actively engaging with VCs and Institutional Investors who can come in as strategic advisor
Great Companies: If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Satya Mehta : Do everything by yourself for at least 1-2 years of initial days. Right from website, design, sales, purchase to operations, we both co-founders have managed ourselves. We will only learn by trying, sometimes failing and some time winning