Open Book: Venky Machavarapu, India Country Head
Open Book is a series of interviews for you to get to know the incredible people of Opendoor. Meet Venky, who brings mission and execution together to build high-performing global teams in India.
Hi Venky! You recently joined Opendoor as its India Country Head — welcome! We understand you have two decades of experience building engineering and operation centers in India. Has anything surprised you along the way?
As an engineer at heart, I never expected to become a manager in my career. I’ve always been passionate about building and architecting software, but was constantly curious about how things could be done differently. The idea of empowering teams to be creative and to deliver beyond customer expectations intrigued me — and then I fell in love with it. I’ve realized the culture of an organization can make or break the business. Of course, business performance is critical, but so is a sustained growth culture.
Pairing my passions for engineering and management opened doors in my career. It’s what led me to work in the U.S. for 13 years, helping large tech companies — including Salesforce, Indeed and Kronos (UKG) — build and lead high-performing global engineering and operational teams in India.
What inspired you to join Opendoor?
While I wasn’t looking for a new role, I had a few conversations with the amazing leaders at Opendoor that opened my mind to the incredible mission here. During my time in the U.S., I experienced the stressful ordeal of buying and selling a home. There are so many complex, moving parts — home inspections, title and escrow, and more. Because I understand how the U.S. real estate market works, I appreciate the problems that Opendoor is solving for customers, like removing the hassle, stress and uncertainty that comes with the traditional process. The company’s bold bets and innovation inspired me. Everyone I talked to — from our CTO Raji Subramanian to our CEO Carrie Wheeler — made it clear they’re invested in the company’s mission, impact on customers and success.
That’s great to hear. Looking ahead, what are you most excited about when it comes to your role and the future?
As India Country Head, I partner with leaders across the organization — in India, the U.S. and Canada — to unlock opportunities to innovate and deliver more value to our customers in a timely fashion. I see a huge opportunity to build high-performing, collaborative teams in India — partnering with teams in other time zones to innovate products. There is a lot to be done.
Right now, our team is focused on several initiatives, such as scaling up our operations team, improving our tooling for operational efficiency and excellence, and further leveraging AI/ML to build features that deliver more value to our customers.
You’ve been with Opendoor for one month now. How would you describe your experience so far?
So much has happened! The teams here in India did some demos for me and it was amazing to see how seamlessly they’re operating and collaborating with partners in the U.S. The value they deliver to internal and external customers blew me away.
I also recently traveled to Opendoor’s offices in the U.S., where I could already see the innovation we’ve accomplished, in addition to the opportunity that lies ahead of us. I strongly believe the technology behind our pricing algorithms, the tooling for operational excellence and consumer-facing features on the seller and buyer side will make a difference in our customers’ lives.
The best part is that every Opendoor team member I speak with exhibits the same enthusiasm as our leaders. One team, one dream is an operating principle we have here, and I see it every day. As a manager, my philosophy has always been to coach my team members and give them the freedom to innovate. Because we hire the best in the industry, our teams deeply inform our decisions.
Your career journey is inspiring — do you have any advice for people who may want to pursue a similar path?
I’ve been blessed to have many opportunities throughout my career, and I’m incredibly grateful to everybody who helped me along the way. I’ve realized that you can’t do it all by yourself — the people you surround yourself with make growth possible.
One of my mentors said to me, “Success brings more work.” It’s simple but amazing, isn’t it? What you do with that success is up to you. For me, I’m excited to work with smart people and disrupt the real estate industry (while finding some time to play golf and cook, too!).
Interested in joining our team? Opendoor is hiring! Check out our current open positions!
Are you based in Hyderabad? We’re hosting an Opendoor Tech Talk with our Chief Technology Officer, Raji Subramanian, on December 15 and we’d love to have you. Check out the event details and RSVP here.
Want to learn more about working at Opendoor? Check out our Design and Business blogs.
