A
19-year-old Indian boy
has received a $100,000
fellowship to skip
college and expand his
entrepreneurship idea
to use technology to
help travellers find
affordable
accommodation, an
alternative to hotel
rooms.
Ritesh Agarwal, who
was born and raised in
Odisha and shattered
his own IIT dreams to
explore bed-and-
breakfast options and
set up his company, is
among 20 young people
from seven countries
picked for the 2013
Thiel Fellowship.
The fellowship created
by Peter Thiel, a
German-born American
entrepreneur,
encourages young
people with innovative
ideas to skip college and
focus on their work,
research and self-
education.
Agarwal is founder and
CEO of a company that
allows consumers to
find what he says are
affordable and
hospitable bed-and-
breakfast
accommodation in the
national capital region
as an alternative to
living in hotels.
He says he plans to use
the fellowship funds to
expand these services
to several cities across
India.
Agarwal who went to
school in Rayagada,
Odisha, moved to Kota,
Rajasthan, to attend a
coaching institution that
he hoped would help
him secure an
engineering seat in an
IIT.
“I was doing nothing
else but learning to
solve problems to crack
the (IIT) entrance
exam,” said Agarwal,
who said he quickly lost
interest and began to
help out a friend who
had set up an event
management company
in Delhi.
The experience with
that start-up and the
need to travel from
Kota and stay in Delhi
several times exposed
him to both elements
of entrepreneurship and
the difficulties in finding
accommodation that a
senior school student
could afford.
But the commissions
from the start-up were
good and, in 18 months,
he’d saved up Rs
550,000. He began to
dream about his own
own start-up, a
company that would
help tourists and
business travellers find
nice places to stay.
He set up his company
in February 2012, and
became one of India’s
youngest entrepreneurs
to raise angel
investments from
VentureNursery that
provided him guidance,
mentorship and funds
to drive his idea.
Agarwal’s company has
a fairly simple business
model — it lists bed-
and-breakfast options
and allows consumers
to book their stays
online, while taking
commissions from the
accommodation
owners.
Behind this online
activity, there is a
rigorous screening
process to ensure
quality, says Agarwal
who has himself
checked out many of
the options listed and
encourages owners to
maintain standards of
quality and hospitality.
Agarwal is happy with
the fellowship condition
that he should not go to
college for the next
three years. “My
parents were concerned
about this, and I’m
grateful to a mentor
who agreed to speak
with my father that
what I'm doing is okay,”
Agarwal said. “But I
was speaking to my
mom last week, and
she still wants me to
go to college some day.”
He is among the third
class of 20 Thiel
Fellows, all of them
under 20 years of age.
“When we created the
fellowship more than
two years ago, our
intention was to help a
small number of
creative people learn
and accomplish more
than what they might
have otherwise,” Thiel
said yesterday in a
media release. Thiel, a
venture capitalist who
co-founded PayPal was
the first outside
investor in Facebook.
The other 2013 Thiel
Fellows are pursuing
projects in topics
ranging from robotics to
telecommunications,
and education to
fashion.
19-year-old Indian boy
has received a $100,000
fellowship to skip
college and expand his
entrepreneurship idea
to use technology to
help travellers find
affordable
accommodation, an
alternative to hotel
rooms.
Ritesh Agarwal, who
was born and raised in
Odisha and shattered
his own IIT dreams to
explore bed-and-
breakfast options and
set up his company, is
among 20 young people
from seven countries
picked for the 2013
Thiel Fellowship.
The fellowship created
by Peter Thiel, a
German-born American
entrepreneur,
encourages young
people with innovative
ideas to skip college and
focus on their work,
research and self-
education.
Agarwal is founder and
CEO of a company that
allows consumers to
find what he says are
affordable and
hospitable bed-and-
breakfast
accommodation in the
national capital region
as an alternative to
living in hotels.
He says he plans to use
the fellowship funds to
expand these services
to several cities across
India.
Agarwal who went to
school in Rayagada,
Odisha, moved to Kota,
Rajasthan, to attend a
coaching institution that
he hoped would help
him secure an
engineering seat in an
IIT.
“I was doing nothing
else but learning to
solve problems to crack
the (IIT) entrance
exam,” said Agarwal,
who said he quickly lost
interest and began to
help out a friend who
had set up an event
management company
in Delhi.
The experience with
that start-up and the
need to travel from
Kota and stay in Delhi
several times exposed
him to both elements
of entrepreneurship and
the difficulties in finding
accommodation that a
senior school student
could afford.
But the commissions
from the start-up were
good and, in 18 months,
he’d saved up Rs
550,000. He began to
dream about his own
own start-up, a
company that would
help tourists and
business travellers find
nice places to stay.
He set up his company
in February 2012, and
became one of India’s
youngest entrepreneurs
to raise angel
investments from
VentureNursery that
provided him guidance,
mentorship and funds
to drive his idea.
Agarwal’s company has
a fairly simple business
model — it lists bed-
and-breakfast options
and allows consumers
to book their stays
online, while taking
commissions from the
accommodation
owners.
Behind this online
activity, there is a
rigorous screening
process to ensure
quality, says Agarwal
who has himself
checked out many of
the options listed and
encourages owners to
maintain standards of
quality and hospitality.
Agarwal is happy with
the fellowship condition
that he should not go to
college for the next
three years. “My
parents were concerned
about this, and I’m
grateful to a mentor
who agreed to speak
with my father that
what I'm doing is okay,”
Agarwal said. “But I
was speaking to my
mom last week, and
she still wants me to
go to college some day.”
He is among the third
class of 20 Thiel
Fellows, all of them
under 20 years of age.
“When we created the
fellowship more than
two years ago, our
intention was to help a
small number of
creative people learn
and accomplish more
than what they might
have otherwise,” Thiel
said yesterday in a
media release. Thiel, a
venture capitalist who
co-founded PayPal was
the first outside
investor in Facebook.
The other 2013 Thiel
Fellows are pursuing
projects in topics
ranging from robotics to
telecommunications,
and education to
fashion.
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