It is no secret that today the stories of Oyo Rooms’ stellar success have become part of curriculum studies across several Indian business schools. But now the anecdotes of Oyo’s inspirational journey will also be taught at Harvard Business School, one of the world’s most prestigious business schools. Harvard has agreed to induct a case study on Oyo in its curriculum series. The case study that is titled as OYO: Creating Effective Spaces essentially encapsulates the company’s inspirational journey from its humble beginnings to its unicorn status.
Only earlier this year, OYO’s founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal had addressed the students of Harvard Business School. The Gurgaon based startup is now the only second startup to become part of Harvard’s curriculum, the first one being the edutech startup Byju’s.
The names of Indian origin professors who contributed to this case study are as follows: Das Narayandas, Sunil Gupta, Rachna Tahilyani and Mahima Rao Kachroo.
While OYO’s spell-bounding success in a short span of time has certainly left everyone impressed, it is the 26-year-old Agarwal who has added dynamic appeal to this company. For someone who is as young as Agarwal is, to lead a high profile startup that is today worth $10 Bn is no small achievement. On top of it, this young entrepreneur recently further consolidated his stake in his founding company through a share buyback process and thereby joined a rare breed of entrepreneurs who didn’t cede their controlling stake in the founding company.
OYO’s credentials in recent times, on the other hand, have also reached dazzling heights. From operating small accommodation rooms in Indian budget hotels to running a global hospitality chain across the world. Today its global operation spans across China and Japan in Southeast Asia to U.S. in North America. Over the period of time, the company has also ventured into other verticals like co-working and co-living industry.
While challenges remain abound for the Gurgaon based company, no can argue that Oyo’s eye popping success makes it one of the proud brand of ambassadors of India’s burgeoning startup industry.