Krish Bajaj, Roam
Introduce yourself in three words or phrases.
Optimistic. Courageous. Fun-loving.
What do you like most about your job?
I’d say it’s the people. I started my career in this industry and I love it that people come from literally all walks of life. We work with students from all walks of life, and everyone has a treasure chest of life experiences that you can learn from.
It’s like opening up a book or an atlas every time you speak to someone. It’s quite fascinating. So, I would say meeting new people and doing business – which is something I love – with all these exciting people.
Describe a project or initiative you’re currently working on that excites you.
Roam is pivoting to student housing. We’re focussed on building platform where an existing students who might’ve struggled for months to find a perfect apartment can list it on Roam when they move out. So then a new student can then take that apartment instead of it getting lost in the market just for them to struggle to find the same place. It will effectively be passed on through the students in a streamlined manner – we serve as the broker and we give them a cut for having listed the apartment, systemising this process.
What’s a piece of work that you’re proud of and what did it teach you?
Our social media is definitely something I’m proud of, because every month we reach about 500,000 students with zero marketing dollars spent. And what it has taught me is the power of storytelling, shared emotion, and consistency. When you align those three, at least when it comes to media, you can go a very long way, because people resonate very, very strongly when they can feel what you’re saying. Being able to put those three together yields phenomenal output.
What’s a small daily habit that helps you in your work?
This is very simple, but the first thing I do every single morning is make the bed pristinely. So every time I turn back to look at it, a couple things happen. First I’m like, oh, wow, it looks good. Second is, I feel accomplished for having done the smallest thing I could have that’s in my control when I first wake up. And third, it looks so nice that I never feel like taking a nap in the day, so I’m constantly working.
What idea, book, podcast, or conversation has stayed with you recently?
I think the Brits will like this one. I was listening to Stephen Bartlett’s podcast with Richard Branson about how he built the Virgin empire, and about how even though he’s dyslexic and not good with maths or numbers, he’s managed to surround himself with people so incredible when it comes to working with others that they’ve been able to explain everything about the business that he’s built to him, simply enough for him to understand the complicated parts of it. And that was fascinating to see the power a team has and the power understanding people has.
What’s one change you’d like to see in your sector over the next few years?
I think conferences like these are fantastic, but students are often not a part of it. And that’s perfectly alright that they’re not here at the conference, but I think more organisations and universities, especially, need to be in front of students in person to establish that trust. And that would go a long way to alleviate the unethical practises that happen where students are pushed to towards one university because of commercial interests of certain stakeholders. I think in-person engagement between universities and students across the world would definitely fix that. Roam has a solution called global access for that, too.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting out in this field?
It’s a long game. And it’s all about who you know. I think international higher education is a very, very, very relational field. Unless you show up to these conferences and you shake people’s hands and you meet them face to face, it’s very hard to get in. So getting your foot in the door is definitely a priority, and be ready to work with institutions that like to take their time to do things. Keep at it.
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