Unicorn Feces

Finally, somebody talks about the problems with OYO's business model. I personally think it's a WeWork in the making for sure. If I had Softbank shares, this article would be enough to make me sell.

Meanwhile, here in India, journalists just can't seem to write about anything except the OYO's greatest achievement, i.e. raising a few billion dollars.

It should've been common sense by now, that raising huge sums, is actually a liability. Sure, it's an achievement for a founder to convince investors to give them a huge sum for their experiment, but most people are just looking at it as an end in itself (as if the company has succeeded already).

P.S - Just to reiterate OYO's founder's tendency to overpay. A friend of mine leased a hotel to OYO in Mumbai at a 30% higher price than what they would get for it otherwise (~$30,000/mo). And they're still paying the mount, even though rents are down another ~25% due to a slowdown.

Update: OYO's been getting negative news, mostly because of retaliation from hotels in India. Not because of making silly acquisitions, etc.

Opendoor also has pretty negative reviews from everything I can find online. Would guess tech is hardly a component to this business - likely just some basic pricing models. Seems like the basic playbook is to lowball desperate homeowners, make a few thousand dollars worth of renovations (if at all), and then turn it around and try to sell it for a lot more. Not exactly rocket science, and definitely riskier in a downturn in their core markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix with relatively high supply as is.