Rajiv Srivatsa, Chief Technology and Product Officer of omnichannel furniture retailer Urban Ladder has hung up his boots seven years after he co-founded the start-up with Ashish Goel.

His exit comes at a time when the company is struggling to stay afloat even after it has trimmed the flab off its employee base by laying off 40 per cent of its headcount in the Jan-March quarter this year.

This is the second high profile exit from the company after retail veteran of 30 years, Ajit Joshi who was hired as President and COO in July 2017 quit in March citing personal reasons. Prior to Joshi’s exit, other top executives who were heading various roles including Operations and Supply Chain; Sales and Marketing, Product & Engineering, HR and Engineering had also moved on.

Sources told BusinessLine that Srivatsa had announced his exit as early as March this year.

Vani Kola, Managing Director of Kalaari Capital, which has invested in Urban Ladder has also stepped down from Urban Ladder’s Board in August, according to RoC documents accessed by business intelligence platform paper.vc

“The last 8 years have been an outstanding journey building Urban Ladder (UL). I will transition out of my active leadership role as CTPO at UL at the end of this month. I will continue to be an engaged shareholder and Board member, and work with Ashish on strategic initiatives. I am mighty proud of what we have accomplished at UL - a big shout out and thanks to our customers, investors, partners, team members, friends, family and last but not least, Ashish for the ride of a lifetime!” Srivatsa said in a late night tweet on Monday.

"UL is recognized for its good quality, great design and outstanding service. I am supremely confident that we will continue this momentum and truly build one of India’s most loved consumer brands. Periods of change are always exhilarating, and scary in their own way. The big question, what am I going to do next? I am starting with a reasonably blank slate. The plan is to explore various avenues in the coming months before choosing a specific path. I would love to connect with many of you, hear your experiences and maybe some dots will connect! ‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’. And I am taking my first step today in pursuit of a new journey. Wish me luck :)” said Srivatsa.

One of the pioneers in online furniture retail, Urban Ladder has been unsuccessful in raising funds from new investors since its last fund raising nearly 22 months ago. It has raised a total of $112.8 million to date compared to rival Pepperfry which raised $197.5 million to date and has built a network of over 65 experience studios across the country.

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