Ritesh Agarwal

It is very important to find a calling and pursue it.

— Ritesh Agarwal

I started taking programming lessons at the age of 10.

— Ritesh Agarwal

Stay away from family when you are working on a startup.

— Ritesh Agarwal

We want to be a daily brand but not once-in-a-while brand.

— Ritesh Agarwal

My father ran a grocery store.

— Ritesh Agarwal

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

— Ritesh Agarwal

I love gorging on 'chhena poda.'

— Ritesh Agarwal

By 2023, we will be the world's largest hotel chain.

— Ritesh Agarwal

I had gone from a small town in the eastern corner of India to San Francisco, and I was very lucky to…

— Ritesh Agarwal

Building culture as part of your team is extremely important.

— Ritesh Agarwal

We are building OYO to be the preferred hospitality brand for consumers in the new post-COVID reality.

— Ritesh Agarwal

I can speak Odiya, Telugu, apart from Hindi and a little bit of Rajasthani, so, truly Indian from that context.

— Ritesh Agarwal

When I go to colleges for talks, I encourage the students to drop out.

— Ritesh Agarwal

Geopolitical impact is going to become one of the big risks for companies which are global.

— Ritesh Agarwal

While one is in the process of coming up with a truly innovative solution, it is essential to keep an open mind.

— Ritesh Agarwal

I don't dissuade people from formal education. What I encourage them to do is to follow their dreams.

— Ritesh Agarwal

COVID-19 is unlike any other challenge the world has faced, affecting people from every socio-economic background and causing a disruption in operations…

— Ritesh Agarwal

When you scale up your business there will invariably be small groups of vested interests unwilling to see the new ground reality.

— Ritesh Agarwal

We have, at various levels, invented how hospitality experiences would look like. At lot of levels, we have transformed how the hospitality…

— Ritesh Agarwal

There are causes that are dear to me personally including encouraging entrepreneurship, improving livelihoods as well as helping humanitarian rescue and relief…

— Ritesh Agarwal

2017 has been a watershed year for us. We steered our growth trajectory by upgrading and bringing beautiful living-spaces in the value…

— Ritesh Agarwal

Indian companies have a very exciting global opportunity, Indian companies are well-respected globally, doors of business are more open. So that has…

— Ritesh Agarwal

Dropping out of college was never the plan, but it made me eligible for the Peter Thiel Fellowship. I was the first…

— Ritesh Agarwal

Initially, when we were running just one hotel in Gurgaon, I used to handle housekeeping, sales, CEO duties, etc. I would literally…

— Ritesh Agarwal

As an entrepreneur and on behalf of the company's management, I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to rededicate ourselves…

— Ritesh Agarwal

A lot of hotels have beautiful chandeliers because the asset owner is emotional about having chandeliers in the property. I always say…

— Ritesh Agarwal

My parents always wonder why I work round the clock and I never had an answer, until one day I came across…

— Ritesh Agarwal

I know what time a customer checked in, what he ordered, did it get delivered on time, did he order for sling…

— Ritesh Agarwal

Other people's view was that saving a rupee is a rupee earned. But for our family, earning two rupees is a rupee…

— Ritesh Agarwal

I was a small-town boy with big dreams.

— Ritesh Agarwal

Whenever I go to Odisha, I make it a point to converse in Odia.

— Ritesh Agarwal

The scale of impact that people aspire to create, based out of the Bay Area, is truly incredible.

— Ritesh Agarwal

At heart, I am still the guy who loves tinkering with machines and writing code.

— Ritesh Agarwal

SoftBank's $100 million investment helped cement our reputation as a start-up with a promise.

— Ritesh Agarwal

Everybody has a dream of being the most impactful company in their segment worldwide.

— Ritesh Agarwal

Masayoshi Son is one of the most innovative and impactful thinkers and problem-solvers of our generation.

— Ritesh Agarwal

I grew up in Rayagada in Odisha, in a middle-class family. But I always had the entrepreneurial bug.

— Ritesh Agarwal

There is always room for improvement in experience and it can be achieved if one listens to the customers carefully.

— Ritesh Agarwal

What we are unlikely to do as a leading brand space is just buy revenue or partnership with hotels.

— Ritesh Agarwal

At the end of every year our management regroups and thinks about things we did right and what we could improve.

— Ritesh Agarwal