At 17, Ritesh Agarwal was offering investors a 15% stake in his fledgling startup for just ₹30 lakh.
Most said no.
Today, the college dropout is preparing to take OYO-parent PRISM to the stock market through a ₹6,650-crore initial public offering (IPO), capping one of Indian startup history's most dramatic journeys -- from an Odisha village to building a hospitality empire spread across more than 35 countries.
The boy who learnt coding before he became a founder
Born in Bissamcuttack, a village in Odisha's Rayagada district, Agarwal’s early years already showed a quiet pull towards building things, even if he didn’t have language for it yet.
Also Read: Oyo parent Prism files updated IPO papers for fresh issue worth Rs 6,650 crore
He has often described how that environment shaped his thinking in ways traditional success stories don’t always capture.
“I did not grow up around entrepreneurs. I grew up around problems, and that turns out to be the better education, because it teaches you to build for people rather than for applause,” Agarwal said, speaking exclusively to ET Online.
That early mindset translated into action very quickly. He began coding at the age of eight, spending long hours on computers, experimenting, breaking things, and slowly figuring out how software actually works.
While most teenagers were still thinking through academic choices, he was already drawn towards technology and building something of his own.
Exposure kept building over time. At 16, he was selected for the Asian Science Camp at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai, an annual gathering designed to nurture young scientific talent.
Failure, though, came just as early and just as visibly. Years later, he would reflect on that period in a way that reframes it entirely.
“I failed early, and I failed in full view of everyone, and I have come to believe that failure which arrives young is not a wound, it is a vaccine. It immunises you against the fear that stops most people from ever starting,” said Agarwal, who has since gone on to become India’s youngest billionaire, with an estimated net worth of ₹18,402 crore (about US $2 billion), according to Hurun’s March rich list.
By 17, he had already taken on the role of chief executive officer at a company called Worth Growth Partners, a brief stint that ended in difficulty, but left behind sharper lessons about how fragile early ventures can be.
