Rs 200 cr gift to employees: Is Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav the monk who sold his Ferrari?

A young IIT dropout CEO exclaims that at 26, it is too early for him to get serious about money. Passionate about solving problems, Housing.com CEO Rahul Yadav has once again created quite a stir by announcing that he will "allot" his personal equity worth around Rs 200 crore in the online real estate start-up to 2,251 employees of the company. While the 'gift' could serve as a temporary motivation factor for Housing.com's employees who might be concerned about their future in this uncertain startup, it should also be noted that in most cases, when a founder decides to leave a company, his share is transferred back to the ESOP pool. Is this 26-year old CEO really willing to lose it all and start afresh or is there more to it than meets the eye?

According to a report in the Economic Times, following a board meeting early in May, investors in Housing.com, too, were considering a proposal to return about 10 lakh shares to the company to swell the pool of employee stock options.

This announcement of employees getting approximately one year of their annual salaries worth of Housing stocks comes just a week after he withdrew his resignation from the company.

So what can be made out of this move? Unpredictable, impulsive or a masterstroke in perception management?

Housing.com's decision to make 'every employee of Housing.com a shareholder' appears as if the board and investors wanted to save face. Yadav is definitely not new to controversy, having indulged in a public spat with Sequoia Capital’s Shailendra Singh as well as a media house.

Rahul Yadav. Image courtesy: Housing.com

The latest blowout of his resignation and then the subsequent withdrawal of the same, not only portrayed Yadav in a bad light but even the investors, which includes Japanese giant Softbank that led a Rs 575 crore round funding, valuing the startup at Rs 1,500 crore. Moreover, even though they somehow kissed and made-up, it is a big  warning sign for anyone involved in the Indian start-up space.

As brand expert Harish Bijoor told Firstpost "Housing.com needs to correct its imagery. The good thing is that correction can be attempted quick and fast as well. eSpace can damage you fast, it can correct your reputation fast as well."

While Yadav has won some Twitter admiration with his latest stunt, others in the industry are not quite impressed.

#RahulYadav interesting CEO. Just 26 but a mover & shaker ...literally..

— Nikhil Wadatkar (@niksthegr8) May 14, 2015

@Housing Yeah, there's hue and cry, but when was the last time someone changed the world silently. Way to go, Mr. CEO Rahul Yadav

— Pulkit Saraf (@Pulkit_Saraf) May 14, 2015

Yadav all the way, hope the investors are serious. and it doesnt matter them as they invest in a company http://t.co/foRedSdV7b

— RITHESH SALIAN (@RITHESH_SALIAN) May 14, 2015

Ajay Gahlaut, the executive creative director at Ogilvy and Mather, thinks's Yadav's generosity is not charity but follishness.

Image is everything. Narayan Murhy giving away crores is seen as charity. Rahul Yadav giving away crores seems like foolishness.

— Ajay Gahlaut (@meajay) May 14, 2015

Take crores off the table in sec during funding Piss off VCs Donate remaining shares to team Now free to leave any time in a blaze of glory

— Sumanth Raghavendra (@sumanthr) May 13, 2015

@shiladitya Coming soon, the Indianized sequel to "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" - "The Wannabe who gave away his stake & bought a Porsche"

— Sumanth Raghavendra (@sumanthr) May 14, 2015

Deepak Shenoy, founder of CapitalMinds has termed the 'giving away of stocks' as the start-up equivalent of CEOs accepting $1 salaries

And the housing soap opera has more! This is the startup equivalent of a Rs. 1 salary. https://t.co/baxvKd5XmU

— Deepak Shenoy (@deepakshenoy) May 13, 2015

Moreover, companies where promoters/founders have substantial holding have more value because it shows that founders have confidence in the company. If a founder decreases his stake in the company, it would imply a negative for the brand.

Most investors want their founders to get down and build businesses, they like PR around the business, but despise drama, of housing kind.

— Kanchan Kumar (@kanchankumar) May 14, 2015

IMO, Hellion, Nexus are 'good' investors (don't know abt SoftBank). Don't think they like any of this. It's Rahul's exit formality #Housing

— Kanchan Kumar (@kanchankumar) May 14, 2015

Being a rebel, not playing by the book, doing own thing is cool, but not respecting the agreement that you signed isn't. Grab a popcorn!

— Kanchan Kumar (@kanchankumar) May 14, 2015

Sometime the potato is so hot that only option you have is to drop it. If housing board wasn't consulted, then this is dropped potato

— Kanchan Kumar (@kanchankumar) May 14, 2015

Dilip Cherian, CEO of Perfect Relations, cautions: "Childish behavior is tolerated more in the geek world where Bermudas mix well with bemused spectacles. But when a company’s crossed the puberty stage into being funded, the fun needs to be confined to quirky marketing ideas or at best edgy company parties. Any more is dangerous for growth."

In such a scenario, where the founder of Housing.com has not only given up his entire stake but also compared going to office as going to school where one has to still deal with those  'goddamn board' exams, it's not unlikely that Yadav may be shown the door.