Meet Ritesh D. Ritelin, founder of Manzuri & Porcellia. The hunger to make more pocket money than he received made him financially self dependent at 20. And at the age of 24, he achieved financial freedom.
His entrepreneurial journey started when he was in the first year of college. He received a pocket money of just ₹5, 000 from his parents. And he thought to himself what if there was a way to make more than this.
Due to this enthusiasm, he collaborated with two of his school friends. These three musketeers started with something that really was an issue for college students ie looking for sponsors for college events.
Read further to know how he is successfully running two businesses and also living a life that comes after being financially independent. Edited Excerpts
How did your entrepreneurial journey start?
We started as a Sponsorship Brokerage Agency. My school friends had also joined me as even they wanted to do something out of the box.
We realised that Events Group that look for sponsors are eventually disbanded after the college so the new group has to start again. So we thought why not take this up and become like a broker that helps colleges get sponsors without having to search for new sources again.
So we basically centralised learning from previous groups and formed an agency for all colleges in Delhi University.
How did it go?
It went well. Our very 1st client was OYO that gave us nearly ₹16 lakh for a non college in Hauz Village. We were really in the first year and our first year’s total revenue was around ₹50 lakh. So in hand we received around ₹14 to 15 lakh.
But the second year was not smooth as people realised that we are taking brokerage fees from the brand as well as the college peeps.
But the database that we had created due to this agency was really huge as we helped many colleges.
What was your next step then?
In second year, we started conducting deep market survey for brands like Twitter India & Whatsapp.
Our very first client, Twitter India, wanted to do some market research. With our huge database I could easily carry out this project with around 8000 students.
We got ₹1.5 to 2 lakh per project for doing these market research for big brands.
What does your first startup look like today?
My remote agency that I started in college is now a growth marketing agency, Porcellia. We work directly with founders and help them scale from 0-10 at an accelerated pace. This startup was later acquired by PoPxo partially. POPxo is India’s largest online community for women.
So after graduating in 2017, I started with my first job at a salary of ₹25,000 a month at POPxo. Then I rose in rank from Growth Hacker to Sr Manager of Growth. I was learning everything that I could here till 2020. Later, MyGlamm acquired POPxo.
And at 23, Iwas earning ₹4-5 lakh a month through my job at MyGlamm & my freelance work.
What about your second startup?
In August 2020, I started Manzuri, which means consent in Hindi. This brand majorly focuses on sexual wellness of women. We want to be a reliable source for pleasure products.
But for the first two years, I had to face heavy losses. Whatever I got from my agency, I lost it here and my savings went to zero.
Even though my savings were zero, I could still manage my travel and daily necessities.
Tell us more about this business. How did you make it profitable again?
Firstly we started with Content & Edtech and we just had 5000 followers. My Co-founder, Astha Vohra, was creating content related to this business. It helped us gain insights from users & we saved a lot on research cost. With all the data in hand, we were able to bring the right products to the market.
So when we started importing the products, our margin was very low and the cost to the customer was still high because of the logistics & import cost. Later on, we took our margin to 65%. This was possible because we opened new import channels, got better cost pricing, and imported more quantity.
And we believe in spending on the quality of product rather than marketing. So our marketing is 100% organic and that’s we saved on advertising ost as well.
So by 2023, we were making ₹35 to ₹37 lakh per month.
What does a Financially Free life look like?
For me Financial Freedom is doing what I want to do without worrying about the cost. For 3 years I have been travelling. I went to Sumatra, Ireland, Thailand, Japan, etc for leisure. I would mostly work at night. Recently, I also moved to Goa.
How much is your current Net Worth?
My liquid net worth is ₹1.5 crore while Manzuri is valued at ₹8 to ₹9 crore. So my total net worth is ₹10 to 12 crore.
Please share your Portfolio details.
My Portfolio looks like:
30% cash
60% crypto
10% in equity
My biggest spends are on Scuba diving and travelling to new places. It’s almost around ₹20 to 25 lakh. I also invest a lot in upskilling myself, almost ₹3 to7 lakh a year.
Also read: This 1% Club Member is Halfway to Fat FIRE!
What’s that one thing that helped you in your journey?
Every person has some inherent advantage. And I found mine. I knew I was good at understanding people. Which made me naturally good at sales. I just transferred that knowledge to Digital Sales.
Also, I don’t live for the weekend. Rather than working 9 hrs a day for 5 days, I prefer to work 6 hrs a day for 7 days.
Disclaimer: The above content is based on the information provided by Ritesh D. Ritelin. The 1% News doesn’t independently verify non-public data reported by interviewees.
