Meet The Unicorn Founders Of Livspace, “The Uber Of Home Décor”

Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma are angel investors. Anuj’s recent exit was ZipDial. Ramakant used to be Engineering VP at Myntra. Anuj used to be a Google head of global marketing for ecommerce. The third cofounder Shagufta Anurag has a startup of her own. They have the man dubbed the Godfather of Google AdSense, Gokul Rajaram as an advisor and over 27 million dollars from VCs Helion, Bessemer, and Jungle. If any startup has the right resources to succeed then it has to be Livspace.

@Mr. Gokul Rajaram: Why did you decide to join Livspace as an advisor?

I have known Anuj for more than two decades now, from our undergraduate days together at IIT Kanpur to being colleagues at Google. He's a true unicorn - someone who is an incredible product thinker and builder, and at the same time an amazing leader of teams. I have also got the opportunity to know Ramakant well, and have been equally impressed with his technical and business acumen. They are a true powerhouse team, and we all know that at the root of great companies are great founding teams. I could not be more thrilled to help them build a truly transformative company.”

@Anuj (who is the primary spokesperson for Livspace):

How did you and Ramakant meet?

Ramakant and I share our alma mater—Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. We met through our network and over time became great friends and kind of like mentors to each other. We respected each other’s work from the very start.

Why did you go into business in this home decor? Of all the businesses you could have started?

The idea of Livspace was inspired by our combined frustrations in India and USA while getting our homes designed and realizing that instead of it being a fun, enjoyable experience — it’s a nightmare. I had an apartment in San Francisco and while I used Houzz to find a designer it literally took me 9 months and lots of misery to get my home designed. Ramakant was here in India, had spent countless months with carpenters, designers — who’re not very well-trained, and visits to stores to finally get his kitchen and home design done.

Livspace identified a market opportunity which was backed by the over $35B market size in India, hundreds of thousands of homebuyers in metros, and the utter lack of end-to-end home design experience.

Hence we created India’s first end-to-end online, home design platform that can bring disruptive innovation to the age-old process of home design, and make the entire process enjoyable, predictable.

How did you get started as an angel investor? For how many years now and in what areas do you invest?

I started investing in early-stage internet startups as a direct angel investor or as part of funds because the startup ecosystem, both in US and India, is very exciting with brilliant teams coming up with innovative ideas of great potential. Given my experience with internet products, I knew that this is the way to give back to the community and promote a culture of entrepreneurship.

A few of my prominent exits are Zipdial.com, (a mobile marketing platform acquired by Twitter), Voyagin.com(acquired by Rakuten), TravelMob (acquired by Homeaway.com), etc. Over the years I’ve invested in diverse sectors, from education, healthcare and entertainment to mobile commerce and payments.

Why did you leave Jungle Ventures? (A Singapore-based VC fund)

We were advisors to Jungle and continue to be excited about the fund's strategy. We are fully involved in making our own startup succeed; building a company for us was a far more exciting challenge than investing in them. We're active angel investors but let us say that we still have enough energy left in us to create ideas and build large companies in an exciting geography like India.

@Ramakant:

Being at Myntra as Engineering VP, how was it and how has that helped you with Livspace?

Both at Myntra and at other companies that I’ve worked with, I have been in the IT development industry for about 15 years now. I’ve gathered vast experience in software architecture and design, product management, building teams from scratch, entrepreneurship, ecommerce and online marketing. All of which has greatly helped me at Livspace.

My experience at Myntra, one of the first to promote ecommerce in India, has also given me critical insights into the Indian consumer’s psyche—the market here is vastly different from other consumer markets in the world. I’ve also seen the business successfully pivot from gift personalization to fashion and lifestyle, all contributing to valuable lessons.

How did you get started as an angel investor? And for how many years now and in what areas do you invest?

After working with startups for several years and cofounding a few others, it was natural for me to become an angel investor. I’ve invested in a mixed bag of carefully selected startups like GoZefo, Pitstop, and Housejoy to name a few. In the process, I’ve derived joy out of mentorship and have seen good returns.

Are you still with Jungle Ventures?

No, I am not with Jungle Ventures any longer.

Why did you leave Jungle Ventures? (The Singapore-based VC fund)

We left Jungle ventures to start Livspace; entrepreneurship is more exciting.

@Shagufta:

Why did you decide to be a founder of Livspace? How does it help your other startup, Space Matrix? Will we one day see a merger or an acquisition of the two?

I founded SpaceMatrix in 2001, which today is one of the largest design practices in Asia-Pacific and has won several International Design Awards. Even so, when I worked with thousands of apartments through property builders and I realized that home design is a complicated problem and needs a smooth addressal. When Anuj, RK (Ramakant) and I discussed how we all can solve the problem together, Livspace was born.

No, SpaceMatrix and Livspace are separate entities, and there is no merger or acquisition on the cards.