Education, in India, has been given a great amount of importance. It is viewed as a guaranteed way to success. ‘The higher the level of educational qualification one holds, the higher the success rate’, is a common belief prevailing in the minds of almost all Indians. Is it really the only way to success in life though? Well, it’s hard to say yes, when so many successful ‘college dropout’ entrepreneurs of India have proved otherwise.
To add to this, the Indian startup culture has also made it easier for individuals driven by pure zeal and outstanding ideas to build their careers without having a college education.
Let’s take a look at some of India’s most successful college dropouts
Rahul Yadav
Dropping Out from IIT (Bombay) and starting a website called Housing.com was not an easy journey for Rahul Yadav. In 2007, to specialize in metallurgy, Rahul got into IIT (Bombay). However, life had other plans for him. He chose to drop out from IIT in the fourth year, a step that is definitely not easy to take. Rahul co-founded Housing.com and became its CEO. This website aids in finding and selling multi-million dollar properties. The portal sold eight million worth of assets in the first week itself. With a robust staff of 2500 employees, the company is currently valued at 1500 crores. The company currently receives more than 11 million visitors per month to its website and has surpassed a million app downloads. Speaking of fundraising rounds, Housing.com has received a total of $139.5 million from 6 investors over the course of 4 rounds, including SoftBank Capital, Helion Venture Partners, and Qualcomm Ventures. Yadav was included in the Forbes list of 30 under 30 young entrepreneurs.
Ritesh Agarwal
Ritesh Agarwal is one of the most known college dropouts to reach the zenith of success in India without a college degree. One of the most popular entrepreneurs, he is the founder of OYO Rooms (Initially Oravel Travels) and was one of the youngest CEOs in the country. When he was 18, An idea to run a budget hotel chain sparked in his mind. To fructify his idea into a serious startup, he took up travelling to different places, stayed at budget hotels, and attended customer calls. This helped him gain some experience in establishing his business. He founded Oravel Travels in 2012 and later renamed his business OYO Rooms in 2013. His idea was to run a business offering affordable and standardized accommodation for all. His model attracted many investors including Light speed Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Green Oaks Capital. OYO Rooms has raised about $125million of funding in 4 rounds from 7 investors. Ritesh has won many awards including the Business World Young Entrepreneur Award. At entrepreneurial conferences and institutes across India, he is a regular speaker.
Kunal Shah
Kunal Shah is one of India’s other best-known and new-age entrepreneurs. Kunal has been working since he was 15. Initially, he opted for freelance gigs in graphic design and programming. In 2000, he started working as a junior programmer for a newly established BPO company called TIS International Inc. Further, he also operated PaisaBack and co-founded FreeCharge with Sandeep Tandon successfully. Sandeep, an investor in the startup, arrived from the United States to play a more active part in the operation of the business. He was impressed with Kunal’s working style Sandeep and thus chose to invest in his startup. That is how FreeCharge was founded. His concept for FreeCharge was uncomplicated. He intended to create a website that offered clients incentives and rebates in exchange for each top-up. Sandeep and Kunal worked together to expand the company to a 1200-person outsourced staff. After being a huge success, FreeCharge was then purchased by Snapdeal for $400 million. Later in 2018, he founded CRED, a credit card payments firm.CRED is popularly known because of its unique product offering, solid business model, and uniquely quirky ad campaigns. Kunal has also served as a part-time advisor to Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator. Despite coming from a family of businesspersons, Kunal chose to set up his own startup and expand it. Additionally, Kunal has invested in many startups, having the most diverse investment portfolio with over 200 investments.
Entertaining your idea and choosing to turn it into a startup is definitely an interesting thing to do. However, it takes a great amount of determination and dedication to expand on an idea and drive profits from it, especially without a college degree. As Seth Godin said, “There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.” So if you are a risk-taker, with an outstanding idea and determination, you too can take steps towards setting up your own startup!
