Ritesh Agarwal

Ritesh Agarwal – Life, Business Journey, and Wisdom

Ritesh Agarwal (born November 16, 1993) is an Indian entrepreneur, founder of OYO (now Prism) Hotels & Homes. Explore his early life, business strategy, challenges, leadership philosophy, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Ritesh Agarwal is one of India’s most celebrated young entrepreneurs. From humble beginnings in Odisha, he founded OYO (now under the umbrella of Prism) and transformed it into a global hospitality brand. His journey—from college dropout to billionaire—offers lessons in risk-taking, scaling, resilience, and vision. In this article, we trace his biography, business trajectory, key principles, famous quotes, and the insights we can glean from his story.

Early Life and Background

Ritesh Agarwal was born on November 16, 1993 in Bissam Cuttack, in the Indian state of Odisha.

During his teenage years, Agarwal worked odd jobs—selling SIM cards, for instance—to support himself and develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

Although he enrolled in college, he dropped out early, feeling that traditional education did not align with his goals. Thiel Fellowship (a grant from Peter Thiel) for young entrepreneurs, making him one of the first recipients from India.

Business Journey & Achievements

Founding OYO / Oravel

In 2011, under the name Oravel Stays, Ritesh started his venture into the hospitality sector by aggregating budget hotel listings online.

In May 2013, Oravel pivoted and rebranded into OYO Rooms (later OYO Hotels & Homes), focusing on standardizing and franchising budget hotels and homes under a tech-driven, asset-light model.

With a mix of technology, process standardization, and brand-building, OYO expanded rapidly across India, then globally. By 2018, OYO had raised significant funding including from SoftBank, and the company claimed presence in 80+ countries and hundreds of thousands of rooms.

In more recent years, Ritesh has shifted the group under a parent brand Prism, positioning it as a broader hospitality and real-estate platform.

Recognition & Impact

• Under his leadership, OYO became one of India’s fastest-growing start-ups and was often cited among top unicorns.

• Agarwal has been featured in “30 Under 30” lists and is recognized as one of India’s youngest billionaires.

• In 2024, he joined Shark Tank India (Season 3) as one of the youngest “Sharks,” lending his experience as an investor and mentor.

Despite rapid growth, OYO has also faced challenges—such as criticisms over hotel-owner relations, quality control, and business model disputes.

Leadership Style & Philosophy

Ritesh’s approach reveals a few recurring themes:

• Risk tolerance: He often emphasizes that entrepreneurs must take risks wisely, and that failure is part of the journey.

• Focus on fundamentals: He encourages building products that a small, passionate core loves before scaling broadly.

• Culture and brand: He believes brand identity and company culture are as important as operations.

• Customer empathy: By having worked in operations himself (housekeeping, showing rooms), he maintains a grounded connection to customer experience.

• Continuous iteration: He often speaks about learning, unlearning, and relearning—responding to feedback and evolving.

He also openly addresses personal doubts, security, and pressures of scaling a global enterprise—grounding his public image in vulnerability as well as ambition.

Famous Quotes by Ritesh Agarwal

Here are some of his notable quotes that reflect his mindset and advice:

• “I was a small-town boy with big dreams.”

• “One should accept failure, and be willing to learn, unlearn and relearn again.”

• “Hire people not for today but for 2-3 years from now, and let them grow with the company.”

• “The reality of a startup is you have failures very often.”

• “Your brand reflects your culture, purpose, and identity. It’s never too early to start thinking about it.”

• “Companies that raise capital do it on the basis of past performance and unique competencies of the business. We cannot raise capital if we are not creating sustained value.”

• “Post 10th grade, I came to the northern half of the country. I realized that the usual education did not excite me at all…”

• “My home has three-tier security, which is valuable to me considering I get five death threats a month.”

• “As an entrepreneur … I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the company’s mission of building the world’s most loved hospitality brand…”

These lines offer a peek into both his ambition and the pressures that come with building something big.

Lessons from Ritesh Agarwal’s Journey

1. Start small, excel locally, then scale
   His early emphasis was taking one hotel, refining the system, then replicating—rather than spreading too fast.

2. Embrace failure as feedback
   Mistakes are inevitable; the key is to learn quickly, adjust, and persist.

3. Build with empathy at the core
   Ritesh’s experience doing operational tasks (housekeeping, showing rooms) helped him understand the frontline challenges firsthand.

4. Think long term—culture and identity matter
   He views brand and culture not as afterthoughts but as foundations for sustainable growth.

5. Be bold, especially when the odds seem small
   Dropping out of college, applying for a global fellowship, and betting on a nascent hospitality startup were all high-risk moves—but with high upside.

6. Stay grounded amid growth
   Even as OYO expanded globally, he has spoken candidly about vulnerabilities, security, and maintaining personal balance.

Conclusion

Ritesh Agarwal’s rise is emblematic of youthful ambition meeting relentless execution. His story is not just about creating a hospitality empire, but about proving that someone from a small town can envision and build a global enterprise. His journey reminds us that success is not linear, that culture is a strategic asset, and that with grit and purpose, barriers can be reimagined.