Want to start your own business? Know what helped OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal start his own company!

If you are a budding entrepreneur but still confused about how to go about your business idea, you might just want to read this. The 21 year old founder of OYO Rooms, the chain of branded budget hotels, Ritesh Agarwal, got wings to fly, when he was selected for the prestigious Thiel fellowship in 2013. And since then, there has been no looking back for him.

“The first quarter was spending at the bay area, hanging out with starters, learning from our mentors, spending more time with entrepreneurs, came back to India and then started working on OYO Rooms in full blown. The foundation remained involved in every step and reviewed us and gave us feedback. The opportunity to be a part of the Thiel and the kind of experience I had was totally unimaginable,” says Agarwal.

Agarwal is probably one of the two youngest entrepreneurs from India to become Thiel Fellow graduate. Thiel fellowship, founded by American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, offers not only $100,000 over two years to aspiring entrepreneurs but also offers other resources pivotal to the growth of a start-up.

For any budding innovator, being mentored by the likes of Peter Thiel, Sean Parker, co-founder of Facebook and Napster, Elon Musk, the founder of Paypal is probably a life changing experience. Besides, they also get time to spend with other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

“ During the fellowship, we were not only told about entrepreneurship or technology but also how our lifestyle should be. For instance, every month, we had to send a report on the number of hours of exercise or the number of hours of sleep that we get. We also got access to Zen Habits, that tells us what habits to change, which is again extremely important for our overall growth,” notes Agarwal.

So, how does it work? Agarwal was first told about Thiel fellowship by his entrepreneur friend who himself was a TED fellow at that time. With hardly any resident Indian ever making it to Thiel, Agarwal was not too hopeful himself. However, he still applied and was asked to answer a few simple but pretty interesting questions.

“I was asked questions that were very intriguing. And then there were rounds of interview on Skype, following which I was selected for the programme,” he states.

Following the fellowship, Agarwal’s company raised $25 million funding from some of the biggest investors such as Sequoia Capital India Advisors, Greenoak Capital, Lightspeed India and DSG Consumer Partners in March this year. This is probably the biggest round of funding for any Thiel graduate across the globe.

Image credit: Indiatimes.com