What does it take to build a full-stack real estate platform in India, a market defined by broken processes, low trust, and extreme fragmentation, without following the traditional VC playbook?

In this Season 4 finale of the Blume Podcast, Karthik Reddy sits down with Tanuj Shori, Founder of Square Yards, to unpack a decade-long journey of building one of India’s most quietly scaled businesses, now moving ~₹18,000 Cr of real estate annually.

This is not a story of blitzscaling or overnight success. It’s a story of risk taken early, course-correction done fast, and patience sustained over decades — in a market most founders actively avoid.

This episode dives into:
- Why Square Yards refused to build “just another” property search platform
- The decision to go full-stack in a deeply interdependent real estate ecosystem
- Why category leadership mattered more than adjacency or incremental revenue
- Hiring co-founders, not employees, and building a 15-person founding bench that’s still intact a decade later
- A capital philosophy rooted in the belief that equity is the most expensive thing in the world
- How retail distribution — not product or tech — became the hardest problem to solve
- Why the team is building with a 20–40 year horizon, not for milestones or exits

From selling their own homes and going all-in, to building an IPO-ready platform designed to outlive its founders, this conversation offers rare insight into what it takes to organise a broken market at national scale.

Timestamps

00:00:00 – From Lehman Brothers to questioning “what is equity”

00:04:24 – Risk appetite, early course-correction, and being “all-in”

00:08:15 – Banking years, hard work, and why competence creates passion

00:14:29 – The accidental entrepreneur and the Square Yards origin story

00:20:20 – Selling personal and family assets to go all-in

00:31:01 – Why search & discovery failed — and full-stack was necessary

00:37:25 – Category leadership as a non-negotiable mandate

00:44:20 – Cracking scale: retail distribution, COVID tailwinds, and growth

00:54:38 – Destiny avenged, IPO as governance, and building for decades

This season is brought to you in partnership with IDFC FIRST Bank and Ultrahuman.

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The views and opinions expressed in this content are for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities. References to companies, transactions, or market events are illustrative only and should not be construed as endorsements or statements of value. Any views expressed by individuals are solely their own and do not represent those of Blume Ventures, its affiliates, partners, or employees. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

How 15 Co-Founders Built an ₹18,000 Cr Company | S4E8 | Destiny Avenged | Weekend Ep.