From Broke Teen to Business Prodigy: Jagrit Sachdev’s Inspiring Journey
Entrepreneurship
India
16 Years
Hey, I’m Jagrit Sachdev, a 16-year-old student, tech enthusiast, and founder of multiple projects under my brand, Zylon Labs. I’m in class 11 (PCM) and, apart from academics, I spend most of my time building tech startups that actually solve problems I’ve faced myself.
I started very early - like 13 years old. I’ve always been into tech. Fast forward to 2020 during the lockdown - we got a new laptop, but it was shared, and my sister used it most of the day for her online classes. So I started waking up at 6 in the morning, just to learn coding before she’d need it. That’s when I joined Atal Tinkerpreneur, a program by Atal Innovation Mission in India. Somehow, I did well and was even invited as a speaker on YouTube. That’s when I really got into the idea of building things, not just learning.
Since then, I’ve made a Telegram bot for websites, learned Python, trained 20+ interns, and even sold an EdTech platform I built to fix problems I personally had while studying from YouTube — like distractions, annoying ads, and not finding notes. Then I built an AI music studio for businesses, which did pretty well as an MVP. I also started providing software services for other businesses - building their websites, apps, and tools from scratch.
Right now, I’m working on Zylo1Km, a quick commerce idea that’s still in development. The plan is to deliver groceries from local stores within a 1 km radius with zero delivery charges - no dark stores, no inflated prices, just super local and sustainable. We’re not live yet, but we’ve done surveys, and the response has been solid.
One-line mission:
Build tech that makes life easier — without making people pay extra for basics.
Full Mission (Real & Raw):
I’ve always believed that the best startups are born out of problems we face ourselves. I never started with the mindset of making money- I just wanted to fix things that frustrated me. Whether it was the annoying ads and distractions on YouTube while studying, or the crazy delivery charges on apps, I built things because they bugged me too.
With every idea, my mission has been simple: make useful tech that people actually love using - and don’t feel cheated by. I want my companies to be transparent, accessible, and genuinely helpful. No hidden fees, no paywalls for basic stuff, no premium nonsense just to get a good experience.
In the long run, my goal is to make Zylon Labs the kind of brand that people genuinely trust. I want it to be the Tata of our generation - something built by young people, for everyone, that always puts users first. That’s the vision. Not just to create a company, but to build a movement of fair, future-ready tech that respects people.
"I had two choices: stay broke like my family or build something. Most people choose comfort. I chose 6 AM coding sessions on a borrowed laptop. While they slept, I built. While they complained about delivery fees, I built a solution. The difference between winners and losers isn't talent - it's who's willing to do what sucks when no one's watching."
What inspired you to start your own business?
I come from a lower-middle-class family where survival was always a bigger priority than dreams.
My dad, an electronics engineer, never had a stable job. Either he would resign or get fired — switching companies, trying to make things work. I grew up watching him go through that cycle — frustrated, stressed, and honestly, never really happy with what he was doing.
We didn’t have generational wealth. No backup. No safety net. It was just survival, one day at a time.
Even though we lived in a decent society, most of the people around us were different — they owned factories, businesses, built something for themselves. I always felt that difference deep inside. From as early as 5 or 6 years old, I knew that if I wanted to have a different life, I had to create it myself.
Nobody was coming to save me.
Growing up, even asking for a toy or something simple meant thinking 10 times. Money wasn't just "money" — it was survival, it was tension at home. And that taught me very early how valuable every rupee is. I knew I didn’t have the luxury to wait for “luck” or “chances” — I had to build whatever I wanted.
I also saw the difference between people who worked for someone and people who worked for themselves.
If I wanted to go on a trip, my mom would say, "We can’t take leave." But my friends, whose families had their own businesses, could just decide and leave the next day. They had control. Freedom. Ownership.
And that stuck with me — that having your own thing gives you freedom, and maybe even happiness.
Now, tech — that's a love story in itself.
When I was a kid, I discovered Amazon by accident on my dad’s old 2008 laptop. I still remember the shock — adding random things to the cart, dreaming about buying them one day. That laptop became my window to the world.
I wasn’t born with anything. I built everything from scratch.
No funding. No family business. No godfather.
Just pain, pressure — and a promise to myself: "I will not repeat the same life."
And that's exactly what keeps me pushing forward every single day
During COVID-19, around 2021-2022, Zepto and other quick-commerce apps exploded in India.
At that time, I classified myself in the lower-middle class, and trust me, every ₹10 or ₹15 mattered.
Whenever we ordered something through quick delivery apps, I could literally hear conversations like:
"This item's ₹11 more expensive here..."
"Should we just go and buy it ourselves instead?"
It always felt a little painful — paying extra every time for basic things just because of convenience.
But COVID made going out tough, so we still used those apps.
Still, in my mind, I kept thinking —
"Why is there no better option for normal middle-class families like us? Why isn't there a quick commerce platform that actually saves money instead of making us overpay?"
That small irritation stayed in my head.
I realized that normal local shops around us could easily supply these things without needing huge dark stores or charging crazy commissions.
That’s when the seed for Zylo1Km was born:
A quick commerce idea — but focused on connecting people directly to their neighbourhood stores within a 1km radius — with minimal extra costs, almost no overpricing, and super fast deliveries.
Helping local businesses, saving families like mine some money, and making daily life a little better.
How did you turn your idea into a business?
Turning my ideas into real businesses wasn't some fairytale. It came from pure necessity, frustration, and a need to build something for myself — because I had no generational wealth, no family background in business, and definitely no safety net.
The first real push came during COVID. I was stuck with a borrowed laptop, learning Python early in the mornings because I couldn’t use the laptop during the day. No paid course, no mentor — just self-learning, free YouTube videos, and raw curiosity. I wasn’t just learning to learn. I was trying to figure out how to solve the actual problems I was facing as a student.
Zylon EdTech
This came from personal pain. I was studying through YouTube, but it was chaotic — constant distractions, irrelevant recommendations, and not a single place to get notes, quizzes, and lectures together. So I built my own edtech platform. It had the same YouTube-style interface but with curated educational content, direct notes, quizzes, and parental controls. I coded the entire backend and frontend myself. Later, I got early testers, collected feedback, and eventually sold it quietly because someone saw the value in it. That was my first real win.
Zylon Studios
Once I was deep into coding, I noticed people loved personalized stuff — especially in music. I experimented with building an AI model that could generate custom songs with lyrics, name mentions, and emotion-based tones. I made an MVP where users could select a theme and submit names or stories, and the AI would generate a unique track. I released it under Zylon Studios. The response was solid. We started creating songs for birthdays, friends, brands — and people actually paid for it. I handled the tech, trained a few interns on frontend, and kept improving the product with feedback.
Zylon Devs
While working on my own stuff, I met small businesses that had no idea how to go digital. They didn’t know where to start — websites, online forms, even basic design. That’s where Zylon Devs came in. I started building portfolio sites, dashboards, management software — everything custom. I trained interns and built a small team. This became a proper service arm, and we handled client projects from start to finish. Every line of code, every deadline, I handled personally with the team. No freelancers, no outsourcing.
Zylo1Km
This one came from lived experience. When Zepto launched in 2021–22, it was a big deal. But we were from a lower middle-class background. Even an extra ₹10 every time we ordered felt like a stretch. I noticed how that ₹10 multiplied every day, every week. So I asked myself — could we build a better version of quick commerce? Not just cheaper, but truly local? That’s when Zylo1Km was born. I imagined a system that doesn’t rely on dark stores but uses the same kirana shops within 1 km. I interviewed local shopkeepers, designed a basic layout, and started building the tech stack. We aren’t launched yet — but everything from backend to business model is in development. This time, the goal is not just fast delivery, but a sustainable business that actually helps both customers and shopkeepers.
None of this happened overnight. I had no investors, no startup circles. I just started building. From 5 AM coding sessions to managing school, relationships, and team calls — I kept doing the work. Not because I had a perfect plan. But because I had no other option.
How did you get your customers?
Getting customers wasn't some super strategic funnel or paid ad campaign. It was simple — I documented everything I was building online.
Zylon EdTech
While I was building it, I started sharing sneak peeks, screenshots, and updates on Instagram, LinkedIn, and a few Discord servers. People started asking, “When can we try this?” or “Can we collaborate?”
Eventually, someone saw the value and approached me to buy the entire platform. That was my first major exit. No pitch decks. Just raw building in public.
Zylon Studios & Business Suite
This one’s actually fun. I made custom music ads and brand jingles. Short, catchy, high-quality samples that I would cut down to 10-15 seconds and just cold DM or email companies.
If I reached out to 10 brands, at least 3 to 4 would reply, and out of that, 1 or 2 would buy the full version. Same strategy worked for Zylon Business Suite — I would build light versions of websites or dashboards, take clean screenshots, or send interactive previews and ask:
“Want the full version with hosting, backend, and bug support?”
It worked. Because I was showing, not telling.
Zylon Devs
For websites, apps, and software tools — we had a straightforward strategy:
-
Build the MVP,
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Give a limited version for free or demo access,
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Offer a 1-year free bug fix guarantee with every sale.
Others charge extra for bug fixes. My logic?
“I built it. If it breaks, I fix it. Free.”
That earned trust. And trust gets you referrals. A lot of our clients came back for upgrades or referred others. No ads. Just proof of work and actual delivery.
Screenshots of graphs, users, Amazon/Shopify/Google Analytics, metrics and dashboard will really help.
We don't sell on amazon etc. and we don't like to share the data.
How are you funding your startup?
From day one, my startup has been 100% bootstrapped.
I didn't raise any money from investors, family, or friends.
No fancy funding rounds, no seed capital — just pure work.
Because of the way I built things — by solving real problems for real clients — it was profitable from day one.
The money I made from my first few projects was immediately reinvested back into building better tools, software, and expanding into new verticals like Zylon Studios, Business Suite, and Devs.
This way, the business grew organically, with zero debt, zero outside pressure, and full control in my hands.
It’s still bootstrapped, and it’s still growing.
What is your average monthly revenue?
I prefer not to disclose exact revenue numbers publicly at this stage.
However, what I can share is that we’ve been profitable from the start, and our growth has been consistent month over month, especially as we expanded into multiple verticals like software services, AI-generated content, and B2B development solutions.
The focus has always been on building real value and solving actual problems — and the revenue has followed naturally.
How are you doing today and what plans for the future?
I'm doing pretty fine. Everything is going great overall.
For the future, the plan has been the same from day one — focus only on execution.
Like the Nike slogan: Just do it.
Of course, understanding the market is important, but in the end, execution matters the most.
What's working — honestly, almost everything is working well right now.
There's an inside joke between me and my employees — they call me the "chill devil" because I’m usually very chill, open to discussions, having fun, but when something goes wrong, I switch immediately and fix it properly and sometimes scold also. So it’s a mix of being chill but strict when needed.
Mistakes/missed opportunities —
The biggest one is that even though I technically started during COVID, half my time went into learning rather than executing.
Even today, around 20% of my time still goes into learning and experimenting.
If I had started properly back in COVID time, when school was easy and flexible, it would have been much better.
Managing business along with class 11 PCM studies became very tough later.
I was always an above-average kid academically, but suddenly managing studies and work together hit me hard.
If I had started building earlier, it would have been more smooth today.
Good decisions —
Starting Zuup was definitely one of the best decisions.
Zuup is a nonprofit initiative, but not just to save taxes. I could have easily saved tax by other means too.
The real reason was to create actual impact — to teach freelancing skills to students and people, connect them to real work opportunities, and make them independent.
It also helps my company indirectly — because when we partner with other companies to get projects, it grows my network, brings new people in, and helps us expand socially and professionally.
Most importantly, we impact real lives — the people we train actually get freelancing opportunities and better futures.
Another best decision was opening up personally.
Even though I am still an introvert by nature, learning to text, call, email people, network — all this helped me a lot.
I slowly started getting comfortable with reaching out and building relationships, which has helped in growing both myself and my business.
And finally, a business decision that really worked was giving 1 year of free bug-fixes and support with every software, website, or app we build.
While others charge separately for every small issue, my simple belief is: If I built it, and it has a bug, it's my responsibility to fix it for free.
This built huge trust with my clients, and that trust brought more referrals, repeat customers, and genuine growth without running behind aggressive marketing.
What advice would you give to budding founders?
My simple advice —
Listen to everyone, but in the end, do what you feel is right.
You should definitely hear advice from others — mentors, friends, family — but when it comes to making decisions, listen to yourself first.
When I started, even my own parents were against me doing business. They didn’t support it much at the beginning. But now, the same people brag about my work to their friends. It’s funny how things change once you prove yourself.
Another important thing — do it yourself.
In the beginning, you will have to handle everything — coding, marketing, talking to clients, fixing bugs — everything by yourself.
Don't wait for a perfect team or perfect timing. Start small, but start right now.
I wish someone had told me earlier that self-belief is the only shortcut.
No motivational video or mentor can replace your own trust in your ideas and your work. Also, execution matters more than ideas. Everyone has great ideas, but the one who executes wins.
What is your proudest achievement so far?
One of my proudest achievements has been receiving the Young Achievers Award, which meant a lot considering where I started — no generational wealth, lower-middle-class background, and pure hustle.
Another big moment for me was being listed in The CEO Magazine's Executive of the Year Awards (India Finalists List) alongside some of the top business leaders in the country — even before officially launching my delivery platform.
Link: The CEO Magazine - Executive of the Year Awards Finalists
Also, seeing my startup listed alongside giants like Zomato on platforms like F6S (under delivery category) — again, even before launching — felt surreal.
Link: F6S Delivery Companies India Listing
But hands down, one of my core proudest moments came just last year when my relatives and my parents’ friends used to talk about how dumb I was for not studying, for "doing nothing," and wasting my time. They always discussed how I wasn’t living up to the "standard." My parents used to criticize me back then for not following the typical academic path. Fast forward to now, and they’re telling everyone to check my LinkedIn, praising what I’ve accomplished with the businesses. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day where my own parents are the ones praising me instead of criticizing me. It’s a huge moment of personal growth and validation.
For someone who started with no big background, no VC backing, and was just figuring things out through execution, it’s a huge validation.
And honestly, it’s just the beginning — the real game is still ahead.