[Culture Series] Find Out What You Have Common With CommonFloor

This article is a part of the Culture Series we'll be carrying as a run up to the Startup Jobs Fair, India's first exclusive campaign to connect the most promising talent with the most exciting startups. This series will bring out the culture of some of the most dynamic startups that have managed to scale and make a mark... First up is CommonFloor...

When co-founders of CommonFloor -- Vikas Malpani, Sumit Jain and Lalit Mangal decided to startup, it was not on the basis of any market research or with the belief what they are doing will be “the next big thing”. They wanted to address a very common issue. A sewage problem where the co-founders, Sumit and Lalit were staying got the residents of the apartment together and that was when they discovered, a friend of theirs also lived in the same apartment. This pleasant surprise led them to realise the fact that we are sometimes not in touch even with people living in such a close proximity to us. This idea led the IIT-Roorkee duo to startup CommonFloor in December 2007.

The Present

Today they’re a team of 280+ young and experienced individuals aiming to disrupt the online real-estate space. Resting in the heart of Bangalore- Indiranagar (Domlur), the CommonFloor team is “building stuff for the year 2025”. Their product and tech team is 50 strong, and they’re looking for more talented people to join them aboard. The startup has also received a recent Series-B funding from Accel India and Tiger Global.

A day at CommonFloor

“A typical day at the CommonFloor office is different for different teams. But, midst the team meetings and briefings, there is an underlying theme of a mission oriented attitude. We position ourselves as a challenger brand, giving tough time to the inefficient biggies in online real estate. We set organizational goals which are big enough to scare, and great enough to motivate.”, says Lalit. Although they’re still working on the core policies that define the culture at CommonFloor, work-from-home is allowed, with accountability, of course. Working on holidays and weekends is not mandatory, but the passionate are not stopped from stretching themselves a couple of weekends. All achievements of the team are celebrated and the young and energetic team maintain a vibrant atmosphere in the office -- even the walls of the office are colourful.

Who is CommonFloor looking for?

CommonFloor is looking for permanent employees, and not interns, as the gestation period of the various projects the company takes up is considerably long and takes much longer than the time taken for a normal internship. Freshers are welcome to learn and grow at an “inspirational rate”. Infact some of the freshers who worked with the startup in the last 24 months have become full owners of critical components at CommonFloor. Lalit says that prospective experienced-individuals who could join CommonFloor can see the actual business impact of their contributions, something which many large organizations fail to cater to.

The HR (Happiness Regime) at CommonFloor

The company’s HR policy is in line with the company’s high goals. Every aspect of an individual is linked to her personal and business performance. Although the policies are continually evolved, they have laid out KRAs and KPIs for everyone in the team. This has played a major role in making each individual target oriented and have improved the performance of the employees.

The Vision

In Lalit’s words, “In 2 years, we see CommonFloor becoming the most dominant real estate portal and a benchmark for product excellence. To achieve this, we are constantly battling with scaling challenges, multi-city operations, and faster go-to-market innovation.”

CommonFloor is looking for bright, young professionals to join their competitive and fast growing company. Come meet them at Startup Jobs Fair, Bangalore on 27 April, 2013