2008 Woodie Awards
Young Alumni: Alykhan Dhanani
A recent graduate succeeds at the end of the Dot Com era.
Tom Trasente
Issue date: 11/19/04 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 3 next >
Alykhan Dhanani attended Rollins in the late nineties as an international business major. While still in school he came upon the idea of virtual tours on CD-ROMs for students looking to attend college. His business started in the Olin Library, and with very hard work and dedication has grown into a business that very few around the world provide the same services.
SANDSPUR: Give us a background about you and your company. What is that you do so people will pay you?
DHANINI: We are a real estate communication company. Builders and developers utilize our services in the presale phase of their project prior to commencing construction. Our products are renderings and virtual animations which are created from blueprints to help potential buyers truly visualize their home and option selections before it's built.
We have combined our virtual product line with more traditional advertising and marketing offerings including everything from collateral design, media buys, websites, to TV commercials and architectural scale models to form one of the nations only true real estate communications companies. We currently have offices in New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, China, Russia, Argentina, and Costa Rica.
SANDSPUR: Did you have a partner, or were you alone with only some financial backers?
DHANINI: The company started with a former Crummer student who left us several years ago. We started the company in the Olin Library toward the end of the dot com boom. The Olin Library provided us with the use of their computers and other resources which helped us to keep overheads down while developing the business. The initial money invested in the company came from myself and family members.
SANDSPUR: Since the most important thing in the free market is probably having an idea, how did you come up with yours?
DHANINI: The idea started out as CD-ROMs for colleges and universities. We contacted universities, including Rollins, to create interactive CDs which would be given to high school students to give them an idea of the school without having to actually go to the campus. But later we found a niche market in real estate... by offering this same unique "experience" to a potential homebuyer.
SANDSPUR: Give us a background about you and your company. What is that you do so people will pay you?
DHANINI: We are a real estate communication company. Builders and developers utilize our services in the presale phase of their project prior to commencing construction. Our products are renderings and virtual animations which are created from blueprints to help potential buyers truly visualize their home and option selections before it's built.
We have combined our virtual product line with more traditional advertising and marketing offerings including everything from collateral design, media buys, websites, to TV commercials and architectural scale models to form one of the nations only true real estate communications companies. We currently have offices in New York, Las Vegas, Orlando, China, Russia, Argentina, and Costa Rica.
SANDSPUR: Did you have a partner, or were you alone with only some financial backers?
DHANINI: The company started with a former Crummer student who left us several years ago. We started the company in the Olin Library toward the end of the dot com boom. The Olin Library provided us with the use of their computers and other resources which helped us to keep overheads down while developing the business. The initial money invested in the company came from myself and family members.
SANDSPUR: Since the most important thing in the free market is probably having an idea, how did you come up with yours?
DHANINI: The idea started out as CD-ROMs for colleges and universities. We contacted universities, including Rollins, to create interactive CDs which would be given to high school students to give them an idea of the school without having to actually go to the campus. But later we found a niche market in real estate... by offering this same unique "experience" to a potential homebuyer.