Ritesh Agarwal- founder of OYO(On Your Own)

Starting with selling sim cards at the age of 13-14 to a 22 year old start up millionaire. His
journey towards success has been one of its kind.
Determinate of his plan, he was very sure of his career path at a very young age. He only
wanted to be an entrepreneur. So he dropped out at 17.
Going to college opens doors for learning in a structured fashion, he says. Only, it wasnt his
cup of tea.

He did enroll for the University of Londons International Programme provided by the Indian
School of Business and Finance, Delhi. But most of his time went into attending
entrepreneurship events and traveling to research his business idea.

His education came from something else: the Thiel fellowship for under-20 entrepreneurs. It
was started by PayPal founder Peter Thiel for young businesspeople. Ritesh calls it the best
thing that could have happened to me.

Networks can shape your personal and professional persona, and he got to experience that first-
hand.

Ritesh is a Marwari, an Indian community known to have entrepreneurship in its bones. His
father used to run a small business in the Odisha town where he grew up, but now works for a
company. His mother is a homemaker.

The 19-year-old ritesh had traveled for months staying at budget hotels, attended customer calls
everyday and immersed himself in every possible experience to learn about budget hotel
customers and their expectations. That was the kind of on-the-ground learning that helped him
pivot Oravel to Oyo.

Ritesh started his entrepreneurial journey when he was 17 years old. He dropped out of college
and launched his first start-up Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd. in the year 2012.

At 18, Ritesh was looking to replicate an Airbnb-like business.

Along with a co-founder who later departed, he launched Oravel Stays in 2012, which
aggregated budget hotels and put them online. By that time, many travel agents were also
getting online.

he could see why travelers would not trust reviews and listings on a website to book in some
other part of the country. The real problem according to him was not discoverability, but the
lack of predictability and standardization.

This is when he decided to change with OYO by partnering with these cheap hotels and visibly
transforming the rooms. He was 19.

To the Indian budget traveler, used to dirty washrooms, broken taps, soiled bed linen, and no
AC, the amenities OYO brings (it also includes branded toiletries) are a dream come true.

The startup controls the entire process, from discovery to booking to the stay itself. OYO claims
to have a 150-point standardization checklist and a 30-point audit checklist.

Property owners pay Riteshs startup a commission, which varies depending on the location and
performance. The startup audits its rooms once every three days while users provide feedback
after every stay.

A cousin of mine once had an interesting experience in Mumbai. He says the hotel itself was
shady, the staff was rude. But, to his surprise, the room inside which had been brought up to
OYOs standards was good.

The startup says its rooms in Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata have put it on the path to
profitability.

Consulting firm HVS estimates that 1.8 million Indian rooms are in unbranded hotels,
compared with 112,000 in branded ones. Only about 2 percent of them are online.

That is what OYO is cracking.

What about homestays, a sector that is being eyed by the likes of Stayzilla, WudStay,
and Airbnb? Ritesh doesnt bet on it. He believes cultural nuances, safety, and regulation issues
in India are bound to pose challenges.
The startup, which now offers premium rooms too, would rather focus on leisure stays and
pilgrimages.

Many say it has the potential to be the next Indian unicorn.

Now, now. No legend is complete without controversy.

From his parting with Oravel co-founder Manish Sinha to whether his book Indian Engineering
Colleges was really a bestseller, your impression of Ritesh might vary with what you read about
him. As per Flipkart, the book went into 4th edition.

A critic, in a LinkedIn post, had lashed out as recently as last month calling OYOs numbers
exaggerated and its business model a Ponzi scheme.

Ritesh, in a mail to his employees, responded to the allegation, calling it just preposterous.

I will leave you with a line from that mail to ponder upon. Writes the young founder: [] I am
yet to hear of an entrepreneur who can claim to have succeeded without making mistakes.