Not every genius billionaire is Iron Man: Life lessons from the Rahul Yadav-Housing saga

It would only be fair to call Rahul Yadav controversy’s child. Over the last few months the founder and CEO of Housing.com has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. From public spats with competitors and media houses, to impromptu resignations and mischievous emails, Yadav’s impulsive nature has almost turned his name into a verb for ‘rash decisions’. However, all his misadventures came to an end when the board of Housing sacked  Yadav as his attitude towards the company’s investors, partners and the media was not befitting of a CEO_._ The sacking brought an end to a tumultuous relationship where Yadav took Housing to great success before bringing it infamy with his antics. Which is why there will be no more  ‘HousingWapsi’ for Yadav. While Yadav continues to remain the hero for many budding entrepreneurs and a joke for most of social media, it cannot be denied that the man had a unique style. Be it his unapologetic manipulation of the media or his fearless jibes at rivals, he did things on his own terms and is now paying the price for it too. Here are the top life lessons we learnt from the Rahul Yadav-Housing.com saga. Not every genius billionaire is Iron Man  Guess what was Yadav’s reaction to his ouster ? He quoted Iron Man! In his classic, cocky style, Yadav posted the above image on his Facebook page. The self-proclaimed ‘genius-billionaire-philanthropist’ openly criticized the board that just sacked him. One might recall that the quote was uttered by Tony Stark to Captain America in Avengers. Seems like Yadav sees himself as the superhero in this story. However, not every genius who becomes a billionaire can be as popular and revered as Iron Man, not in the real world. What goes on the internet, stays on the internet  Just a day before his dismissal, Yadav was in the news for misleading the media by answering differently to different journalists on the issue of Housing’s sale to Quikr just ’to have fun’. The mail was, as expected, leaked online and elicited mixed responses from the public. While Medianama decided to suspend coverage of Housing, many  on social media questioned Yadav’s integrity. This isn’t the first time that Yadav’s mails have leaked  for all to see. Earlier this year, an email allegedly written by him detailing his exchanges with Sequoia Capital’s Shailendra Singh over poaching of staff found its way on to a Quora thread. Clearly, what goes on the internet, even if on personal email, stays on the internet. Any publicity is not good publicity  Publicity is one thing that Rahul Yadav did not have a dearth of. Be it his unprecedented success in business or his unexpected responses to situations, he is a man always in the limelight. Here are some of the unusual things he has done, apart from his public spat with Sequoia Capital’s Shailendra Singh, all of which got plenty of publicity, even if it was not all good PR. He took on the Economic Times publicly over the leaked emails on which the Sequoia story was based (Times group’s Magicbricks is a direct competitor of Housing), he has challenged his own firm’s board, he resigned from his position as CEO with a sarcastic email before returning the very same day with another cutesy email. After his return Yadav was the talk of the town was his d ecision to gift his stake in the company to its 2500-odd employees. He even challenged the owners of Zomato and Ola to do the same.Following this, he trolled Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka by posting a picture on his Facebook account of Sikka apparently sleeping at the irport lounge. Accompanying the photo was this text: “Infosys CEO Sikka. When I asked something he replied ‘I just want to sleep’ without listening to the question :D”. All this withing a span of few months, which culminated in his removal. This proves that not all publicity is good publicity, after all. There are no Aam Aadmis in business  Yadav’s resignation U-turn in May and another supposed resignation in June earned him comparisons with Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal and the more rude Steve Jobless . But while Jobs will forever be considered a pioneering genius, and Kejriwal was voted to power in Delhi twice despite his shortcomings, the same may not apply to Yadav. While his dramatic resignation email proclaimed that he had ‘3 lakh hours to go’ what will count is what he will do to make those hours count. As his sacking has shown that he may be likened to the Delhi CM, but when it comes to business there are no Aam Aadmis.