Vishal Garg is an Indo-American entrepreneur. He is the founder of mortgage company Better.com, New York, US. He came into news in December 2021 for firing over 900 of his employees over a Zoom call.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Vishal Garg was born in 1979 (age 42 years; as in 2021) in India. From 1991 to 1995, he attended Stuyvesant High School, New York, US. He then studied for a BS in Finance and International Business from NYU Stern School of Business, New York City, New York from 1995 to 1998. At the age of seven, Vishal moved with his family to the borough of Queens, New York City, USA. from India.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 8″
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
There is not much information available about his parents and siblings.
wife and children
Vishal is married to Sarita James who is the CEO of Embark (admissions software company), UK. The couple has three children and a daughter named Uma Garg.
Vishal Garg’s wife, Sarita James
Vishal Garg’s daughter Uma
livelihood
In 1998, he joined the financial services company ‘Morgan Stanley’ in New York and worked there for a year. In January 2000, he co-founded the online student loan provider MyrichUncle (parent company MRU Holdings) with his high school classmate Raza Khan. The initial capital investment was made by Raza’s brother. In March 1999, he co-founded the New York-based investment holding company ‘One Zero Capital’ and remained associated with the firm until January 2014. In March 2011, he became one of the founding partners in the insurance company ‘Phoenix Holdings’. ‘ In January 2014, he founded mortgage company Better.com in Greater New York City, US. The firm is backed by various financial institutions such as SoftBank, L Catterton, Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, Ally Bank, American Express, Citi and other investors.
controversies
- Trouble with his business partner Raza Khan
In 2009, his company MyRichUncle suffered the consequences of the subprime mortgage crisis and was declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In 2013, Raza Khan, his partner in the company, sued him and claimed that Vishal siphoned off money and technical assets from EIFC (his next company). In 2012, Raza sued Vishal’s company ‘Embark’ for misappropriation of funds given to various universities and accused Vishal of making fraudulent financial statements. Later, Khan accused him of misusing funds and proprietary software to start his own company, Better.com. Khan further informed that many investors of Vishal’s company backed out from the company and some of them filed a case against him for fraudulent activities. In December 2019, documents presented by the local court in the “Khan and Garg case” stated that Garg had made a statement against Khan that he would stick him to the wall and burn him alive.
Vishal Garg’s former business partner Raza Khan
- Laying off employees on zoom call
In December 2021, he was brutally criticized for firing nearly 900 of his employees over a Zoom conference call. In the zoom call he said,
Hello everyone, thanks for joining. I have not come to you with any good news. As you know, the market has changed and we have to move with it to survive so hopefully we can continue to grow and accomplish our mission. This is not news you want to hear, but ultimately it was my decision and I wanted you to hear it from me. This has been a really challenging decision. This is the second time in my career I’m doing this and I don’t want to do that. The last time I did this I cried. This time I hope to be stronger. But we are laying off about 15% of the company [a number of] Reason: market, efficiency and performance and productivity. If you’re on this call you’re part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here has ended. effective immediately.”
After being severely criticized for his actions, he apologized to his employees. In his apology he wrote,
I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week. I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the affected individuals and their contributions to BETTER. The decision to lay off was mine, but I made a mistake in communicating it and in execution. By doing this I embarrassed you. I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and I am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader you expect of me. At Better, your dedication, focus and expertise are essential to the important work we are doing to unlock the value, joy and opportunity of home ownership for our customers across the country. I couldn’t be more grateful for all you do for the customers we serve. We’ll talk more about what to expect in the year ahead at our upcoming all hands meeting. I hope you will join me in the discussion. We’re also taking rapid steps to ensure that we are very transparent and aligned as a company on our 2022 goals, the metrics that matter most, and how we are all doing to serve our customers and fulfill our mission. How we can work together even better to achieve this. I believe in you, I believe in Better, and I believe that by working together we can make home ownership better together. -Thank you, Vishal.
Later, his former employees reported that he used to send rude emails to employees. There was one such mail,
Hello – Wake Up Better Team. you are very slow. You are a group of dumb dolphins and…the dumb dolphins get caught in a net and the sharks eat them. So stop it. Stop it. Stop it right now. you are embarrassing me.”
net worth
As of August 2021, his net worth is approximately $1 billion.
Facts/General Knowledge
- While he was studying at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, he sold CliffsNotes study guides and books and resold second-hand clothes at huge profits.
- In 2021, they donated nearly US$2 million (in partnership with the NGO Fund for Public Schools in NYC) to purchase Chromebooks, iPads, WiFi hotspots, books, and uniforms for over 20,000 public school students in New York City. Gave.
- His company named ‘Better.com’ was listed in the Forbes Fintech 50 list in 2020.
- During an interview, he shared how he thought of starting a mortgage company. He said,
My wife was pregnant with our second child and we were still living on rent. Ultimately we lost the place we wanted to purchase to an all cash buyer because our mortgage process was so long and inefficient.
- In 2023, in an interview, Vishal reflected on its decision to let some employees return in 2021. He shared that his decision inspired him to strive for more empathy and treat his team with the same level of kindness as he consistently did. Customer. Vishal said,
I think I’ve learned now that to make our customers happy, our associates have to feel happy too. So I’ve worked really hard to change the way I present myself to the team every day, to be more empathetic, and to treat them with the same level of kindness I show my customers.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn