EP22: {Raghav of UrbanClap} Services-at-Home segment, 10 million downloads and $175M fund

Stars & Startups

EP22: Solving for the services at home segment, 10 millions downloads and $175M fund {Raghav Chandra, Co-founder & CPO of Urban Company}

On this episode I chat with Raghav Chandra, co-founder of Urban Company, formerly called Urban Clap, where we discuss building products for millions of engaged users and creating a unique platform that now serves major markets in India and globally. We chat about

1. Building a product for the clients and service providers,

2. Owning the supply by standardizing service & vertical integration

3. The 5 pillars of the products to creating value, and

4. Learning the ukulele during lockdown

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"We’re not tied to any category, it gets pulled down if it doesn’t work"

"Bookings weren’t working, we gave up 50% of the then business to focus n things that worked"

Co-founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan, and Raghav Chandra, the startup has so far served over five million households across 14 cities in India, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Vadodara, and Visakhapatnam.

In the last five years, it also has expanded to Australia, Singapore, and the UAE. UrbanClap is backed by investors like Steadview Capital, Vy Capital, SAIF Partners, Accel and Bessemer Venture Partners and it currently has more than 25,000 individual service professionals (ISPs) on the platform across the seven verticals comprising of services such as beauty, spa, grooming, repairs, cleaning, painting, and fitness and yoga.

This episodes Video can be found on YouTube

Stay Safe

- V (@varunvummidi)

Timeline:

03:00- Genesis of the product

05:41 - Validation of the idea

07:07 - Launching the MVP

10:46 - JustDial vs UrbanClap

14:17 - Building Product

15:08 - Directly owning the Supply

18:27 - Standardizing Service & vertical integration

20:29 - UC Fulfilled & the 5 pillars of the product

22:38 - UC similar to a franchising business

24:50 - Build for Supply & for Clients

27:23 - "Semi-literate" Supply using the app

29:58 - Influence of Yelp & Twitter

34:23 - Process of Category creation

36:27 - Killing categories

40:32 - Launching subscriptions

43:10 - Saying no to aggregators controlling supply on the platform

44:18 - Going International

46:20 - Stakeholders in the UAE market to deliver a service

47:43 - 175 million USD war chest

50:32 - Consumers are "Divinely Discontent"

53:40 - COVID & plans for growth