The brainchild of 25-year old Dhruv Sharma, GuestHouser was founded out of a pure and unadulterated love for travel. With a childhood that was spent wanderlusting all over the world, Dhruv graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University. At college, Dhruv led 161 people to validate 21 out of 23 business plans, ensuring he won these 21 mock business competitions. Belonging to a business family that has a slew of real estate projects all over the country, the combination of a background in entrepreneurship, hospitality, travel, and computer science, Dhruv had the requisite building blocks to set up a venture that targets a burgeoning population of travellers who are looking for unique experiences. Back in India, Dhruv identified a gap in the Indian travel space, which was characterised by a declining hotel industry. At the time that GuestHouser was founded, it was evident that travellers sought authentic experiences in offbeat locations. The only thing missing, Dhruv realised, was a supply of local connections with owners of second homes who could actually be the missing cog in the wheel. Thus, GuestHouser was born out of this unique untapped potential in the travel industry in India. Dhruv founded the start-up in 2014, with his childhood friend Braden Hanlon on board as spine support.

Braden grew up in New York until the age of 17, when he went to Boston University. He began working at the age of 14, washing dishes for his mom’s catering business, which is where he learnt the value of labour. At the age of 16, Braden was managing 45 people, and also managed an early graduation from school, so he could go to college at 17 years of age. He managed 150 people in his job with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston during his college stint. When he met Dhruv and his family at 19, they began a small Indian restaurant in the United States. A year and a trip to India later, Braden was consulting with Dhruv’s father in the family’s real estate business. At 25, Braden is the operational backbone of the company, overseeing recruitment and operations, defining and building GuestHouser culture from early days and ensuring the every little nut and screw that keeps the GuestHouser machine rolling is always functional and well-oiled!