Code Story episode

S5 Bonus: Eliminating the Security Deposit: Scaling a $1B+ PropTech Disruptor with Paraag Sarva of Rhino

Sep 22, 2021 · Season 5 · 39 min

Deposit Free Renting

Paraag Sarva is a New York City native. He grew up in Queens, and went to college at NYU. When he started his career, he didn't think about going into tech. In 2004 / 2005 timeframe, he did what most people did or tried to do - he went to work for Goldman Sachs to learn the financial services world. Though he was good at his job, he quickly realized that he didn't love it, and moved on to work for Mike Bloomberg when he was mayor at City Hall. This was as pivotal time for the city, as this was the the time period after 9/11. It was after this that he was introduced to - and fell in love with - the startup world.

He's married with 2 kids, and during the pandemic, he found that one of the early tell-tell signs that people were getting panicky was the line of cars backed up to get into... you guessed it, Costco. He loves to cook, and actually, he and some friends would get together occasionally to have ice cream club, which had one rule - you had to make the ice cream. He also has slowly found himself enamored with Formula 1 Racing.

As a renter and landlord, Paraag intimately felt the pains on both sides of the equation, when it comes to security deposits. Rather than people stuffing large amounts of cash into a system that doesn't help either side, he knew there was a better way to help renters... and landlords.

This is the creation story of Rhino.