Vishal Garg is an Indian-American entrepreneur. He is the founder of Better.com, a New York-based mortgage company. He was in the news for firing more than 900 employees over a single Zoom call in December 2021.
Wiki/Biography
Vishal Garg was born in India in 1979 (42 years old in 2021). From 1991 to 1995, he studied at Stuyvesant High School in New York, USA. From 1995 to 1998, he studied for a bachelor’s degree in finance and international business at New York University’s Stern School of Business in New York City. At the age of seven, Vishal moved with his family to Queens, New York City, United States. Originally from India.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′8″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Not much information is available about his parents and siblings.
wife and children
Vishal’s husband, Sarita James, is the CEO of UK-based Embark, an admissions software company. The couple has three children, one of whom is a daughter named Uma Garg.
Vishal Garg’s wife Sarita James
Vishal Garg’s daughter Uma
Profession
In 1998, he joined the New York financial services firm “Morgan Stanley” and worked there for one year. In January 2000, he co-founded online student loan company MyRichUncle (parent company MRU Holdings) with high school classmate Raza Khan. The initial capital investment was made by Raza’s brother. In March 1999, he co-founded One Zero Capital, a New York investment holding company, and worked with the company until January 2014. In March 2011, he became one of the founding partners of the insurance company “Phoenix Holdings”. ‘ In January 2014, he founded Better.com, a mortgage company in New York City, USA. The company is backed by several financial institutions and other investors including SoftBank, L Catterton, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Goldman Sachs, Ally Bank, American Express, Citigroup and others.
dispute
- Tiff and his business partner Raza Khan
In 2009, his company, MyRichUncle, faced the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis and declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In 2013, his partners in Raza Khan’s firm sued him, claiming that Vishal drained EIFC (their successor company) of capital and technology assets. In 2012, Raza sued Vishal’s company, Embark, for improperly using funds owed to universities and accusing Vishal of producing fraudulent financial statements. Later, Khan accused him of misappropriating funds and proprietary software to start his own company, Better.com. Khan further revealed that many investors in Vishal’s company had exited the company and some of them had filed cases against him for fraudulent activities. In December 2019, documents filed in the local court in the Khan vs. Garg case said Garg made a statement against Khan saying he would nail him to a fucking wall and burn him alive.
Vishal Garg’s ex-business partner Raza Khan
- Laying off employees via Zoom Call
In December 2021, he was heavily criticized for firing about 900 employees during a Zoom call. He said in a Zoom call,
Hello everyone, thank you for joining us. It’s not good news that I come to you with. As you know, the market has changed and we must change with it to survive so that we can continue to thrive and achieve our mission. This is not the news you want to hear, but ultimately it was my decision and I want you to hear it from me. This is a very, very challenging decision. This is the second time in my career that I’ve done this, but I don’t want to do it. I cried the last time I did it. This time, I hope I can become stronger.But we will lay off about 15% of our employees [a number of] Reasons: Market, efficiency, performance and productivity. If you get this call, you’re one of the unfortunate ones who’s been laid off. Your employment here is terminated. Effective immediately. “
He apologized to staff after being brutally criticized for his actions. He wrote in his apology email,
I would like to apologize for the way we handled the layoffs last week. I failed to show appropriate respect and appreciation for the individuals affected and their contributions to Better. I owned the decision to lay off employees, but in communicating that decision, I made mistakes in the execution. I embarrassed you by doing this. I realized that the way I delivered the news made an already difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader you expect me to be. At Better, your dedication, focus and expertise are critical to the important work we do to unlock the value, joy and opportunity of homeownership for clients across the country. I am deeply grateful for everything you have achieved for the clients we serve. We will discuss more about our expectations for the year ahead at our upcoming plenary session. I hope you can discuss it with me. We’re also taking quick steps to ensure that we as a company are highly transparent and aligned on our 2022 goals, our most important metrics, and how we can work together to better serve our customers and achieve our mission. I believe in you, I believe in better, and I believe that together we can make homeownership better. -Thank you, Vishal. “
Later, his former employees revealed that he used to send rude emails to employees. One of the emails was,
Hello – wake up, better team. you are too slow. You are a bunch of stupid dolphins…stupid dolphins caught in nets and eaten by sharks. So stop it. stop. Stop immediately. You embarrass me. “
net worth
As of August 2021, his net worth is approximately $1 billion.
Facts/Trivia
- While he was a student at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, he made huge profits reselling CliffsNotes study guides and books, as well as second-hand clothes.
- In 2021, he donated approximately $2 million (in partnership with the New York City Public Schools NGO Fund) to purchase Chromebooks, iPads, wifi hotspots, books and uniforms for more than 20,000 New York City public school students.
- His company name “Better.com” was included in the 2020 Forbes FinTech 50 list.
- In an interview, he shared his thoughts on how to start a mortgage company. He said,
My wife was pregnant with our second child and we were still renting. We ended up losing a home we wanted to buy to an all-cash buyer because our mortgage process was too long and inefficient. “
- In an interview in 2023, Vishal reflected on his decision to lay off some employees in 2021. He shared that his decision led him to strive for greater empathy and treat his team’s customers with his usual level of kindness. Vishal said,
I think I’ve learned now that in order for our customers to be happy, our teammates have to be happy too. So I’m working very, very hard to change the way I approach my team every day and become more empathetic and treat them as kindly as I treat my customers. “
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education