Shaily Srivastava: Creating smart solutions for small-scale companies
Top 10 Most Inspiring CEOs to Watch Out For in 2022
Having the spirit to create something new
to allow small companies to skyrocket their growth in the real estate industry
was the prime aim for Shaily Srivastava.
Being passionate about technology, she
always visualizes that by harnessing the power of new ones, she can
revolutionize the real estate industry. Being a passionate lady, she keeps
herself updated with the new technologies in the industry and loves to
collaborate them with the company strategies to achieve new heights.
Advent of Acreage
In 2018 there were not many security token
offering solutions in the market. She felt that there is immense potential in
Blockchain technology to create a democratized investment model which would
bring equal opportunity of investment to everyone.
She adds, “My business partner (also my MBA
colleague) comes from the real estate background who used to invest in real
estate but had trouble expanding his business due to the existing traditional
financial model. This created the concept of Acreage.”
Roadblocks along the way
She feels that the biggest roadblock was
convincing people about this newer way of the investment process and the
benefits that it would bring. Not many were willing to switch from the
traditional way of investing in real estate and about how big of a game-changer
this would be.
The next biggest challenge for the team was
raising capital for the company. She adds, “Traditional angel investors and
venture capitalists did not quite see the potential of this new idea and were
reluctant in investing in Acreage. We realized that the only way to bring this
to reality was by bootstrapping the company, and we are proud to say that we
are doing it to date.”
From these challenges, she learned that
before selling the solution, it’s crucial to understand the pain points of the
target consumers and the problems that they face every day. She adds, “We
interviewed a lot of people to potential customers and then created a value
proposition for them to show how Acreage would be able to help them solve those
problems.”
Vamping up the real estate industry with
technology
Shaily believes that the recent growth in
Proptech companies and investments in the technology sector of real estate
indicates that it is time for a revolution where processes get digitized,
leaner and faster. Innovations are happening across the industry, and it is now
time for disruption and adoption of democratization.
She adds, “Acreage platform democratizes
private real estate investment space. Acreage platform is designed to allow
anyone and everyone to invest in industry-grade investment opportunities and
grow their hard-earned money. It enables a fully regulated end-to-end
onboarding of both investors and issuers (small to medium scale businesses
raising capital on our platform) and creates a direct P2P relationship removing
multiple stakeholders in between hence a win-win situation for both parties.
Our platform is being designed in a way that will introduce the liquidity that
never existed before for this traditional illiquid asset class. ”
She firmly believes that that staying ahead
of the curve keeps her team in the game. She adds, “Many large firms do not
realize how important it is to invest in Research and Development. It ensures
that you are aware of what is happening now in the market and helps you to
bring better products or services to your customers. We do understand the
change is inevitable, and hence rather than running away from it, we want to
stay in the culture of continuous improvement.”
Life as CEO of Acreage
Being the CEO and Co-founder of the
company, she steers the way for the company to achieve her vision. She directly
works with all departments to make sure that the operations are running
smoothly.
She tries to cultivate a positive
environment for the whole team and engages with everyone to keep a steady
inflow of new ideas.
She adds, “We are a family who speaks every
day and shares both professional and personal moments. Acreage is a flat
organization where team members have direct access to each other. We have a
culture to support each other and work towards the result rather than a 9-5
culture. We take responsibility of our deliverables, and KPI makes sure we
deliver in time and of good quality. When required, we all get together and
solve the problems.”
Achieving balance at the professional
and personal front
Being a software engineer and an MBA,
Shaily always had a passion for collaborating technology with the management
industry. She feels that new trending technology can unlock new opportunities
in the field and can benefit everyone.
She adds, “I believe my greatest
achievement has been to create a network of like-minded people who believe in
me and support me in my journey.”
She feels blessed to have a great family
and believes that her family support plays a crucial role in making her
successful. She states, “My husband supported me both financially and
emotionally while also managing two toddlers at home when I was mostly running
around for my MBA and business activities. I always make sure to take out time
for family, irrespective of the pressure of business, and hopefully, that has
taught me better management skills. My kids are my stress buster; spending some
playtime with them every day gives me the energy to go on.”
Future roadmap for Acreage
Focusing on her vision to create an easy
and secure way of investing in private real estate, so everyone gets equal
access to opportunities in the market, she adds that they have to cross a long
way to achieve many things.
She believes that the company was
successful in having a sound start and wants to establish its operations in
Canada and then grow them to some international markets.
She adds, “We also have plans to bring in
more offerings for the consumers. We are extremely excited for what we are
building and believe that consumers will really like it, and it will change the
traditional processes for good.”