By Divakar Kumar Panday
“It is extremely important to build something that a 100 people absolutely love using rather than make something that a 1000 people would just, kind of, like.”- Ritesh Agarwal
Born to a modest family in Cuttack, Ritesh Agarwal beat many odds to reach the heights he has today as the founder of OYE ROOMS. OYO Rooms is an Indian hotel brand that owns and operates as well as aggregates standardised hotel rooms. It currently operates in more than 200 Indian towns. The gimmick its owner is best recognised by is “College Drop-Out at 17, Millionaire at 22.” The institution he dropped out of was the Indian School of Business and Finance, Delhi, but despite his decision, he has managed to do exceedingly well for himself. He is a firm advocate of the notion that “the best education often happens outside a classroom”.
As a man who loved travelling, he was just 17 when he founded Oravel Travels (later to turn into OYO rooms). He modelled it after Airbnb before it branched out to achieve its current status. He was also nominated for the Thiel fellowship designed to provide a college drop-out, less than 22 years of age, a sum of $100,000 to pursue a startup dream. He became the only Indian to receive it. He is also an author, orator and a coder (since age 8). In fact, one of the books he wrote at a tender age even became a best-seller.
Despite having lived only 23 years, he has acquired many accolades and titles, including a Forbes “30 under 30” in the consumer tech sector, a spot amongst the top 50 entrepreneurs in 2013 by TATA First Dot, the TiE-Lumis Entrepreneurial Excellence award in 2014 and the Business World young entrepreneur award. One can only imagine what he will achieve in the years to come.
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