FOR THE LOVE OF SPORT
For Srikanth Iyer, Co-founder and CEO of HomeLane, sports is a great teacher
“I have always believed sports teaches you a lot more. It teaches you the importance of timing, the value of teamwork and also humility. Losing is fine. It teaches you perseverance. Don’t give up till the last point. You never know when the match may turn around,” says Srikanth Iyer, Co-founder and CEO of interior design firm HomeLane, who loves racquet sports and has been playing tennis for the past four years.
Iyer was introduced to sports at a young age when he started playing table tennis in school. He went on to play competitively and represented Bangalore University and Karnataka state. “But then life took over and sports was given a break for almost a decade,” says the 51-yearold. When he returned to court, it was for squash. “I played that for 7-8 years till my body refused to co-operate,” smiles Iyer who set up HomeLane eight years ago because he found a gap in the home improvement market. “The urban Indian middle class, when they buy a new home, typically don’t have any choice but to go to the unorganised market for anything that is fit out, such as wardrobes. We wanted to provide certainty in terms of quality, budget and timeline, besides great looking homes.”
His latest love is tennis, which he plays daily for over an hour at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. “The nuances for different racket sports are very different. In table tennis, for example, spin matters the most. In squash, spin doesn’t matter at all. In tennis, it’s kind of mid-way. It’s the nuances which make it difficult and also so interesting. I think I play a mix of all three sports when I play tennis right now,” laughs Iyer, who is a fan of Roger Federer.
HomeLane is currently present in 21 cities and delivers 40 homes a day. In another 12 months, Iyer hopes to expand to 40 cities and provide 75-80 homes a day.
IYER WAS INTRODUCED TO SPORTS AT A YOUNG AGE WHEN HE STARTED PLAYING TABLE TENNIS IN SCHOOL