At just 25, Rishi Udapurkar has built a ₹10 crore creative agency, without business experience, family funding, or an MBA. The Mumbai-born entrepreneur, who once filmed his mother’s cooking videos as a hobby, now runs AdKo, a full-service digital agency with three offices, dozens of employees, and global clients. His journey is proof that passion, persistence, and teamwork can beat any lack of formal training.
Who Is Rishi Udapurkar?
Rishi is a young founder based in Mumbai and Bangalore, also known for his YouTube channel and reels, where he shares honest, unfiltered lessons about building a business.
A graduate of Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, he majored in Mechanical Engineering but quickly realized his true calling was storytelling through digital content, not a 9-to-5 job.
Rishi’s story began with zero money, zero connections, and pure self-learning:
- He shot 45 cooking videos for his mother’s YouTube channel, teaching himself photography and editing.
- After sending 700+ cold messages, he landed his first client, Icecraft, where one video hit over 8 million views.
- That viral success opened doors to bigger brands like Starbucks.
Instead of staying a freelancer, Rishi chose to build an agency model. He teamed up with co-founders who filled skill gaps, like performance marketing and copywriting, while he focused on creative direction.
The early days were scrappy: brainstorming ideas over coffee at Starbucks, working with patchy Wi-Fi, and stretching every rupee.
Rishi’s real turning point came when he shifted from per-project deals to monthly retainers, offering clients everything from video and web to design and digital marketing. His mantra? Focus on service quality and teamwork, not shortcuts.
By mid-2025, AdKo had 3 offices across Mumbai and Bangalore, with over ₹24 crore ($3M) in total revenue to date, a growing team of young creatives, and big-name clients, including Google and multiple startups.
The agency now manages end-to-end campaigns while Rishi publicly documents the ups and downs, helping other founders learn from his journey.
Rishi’s success matters because it breaks the stereotype that entrepreneurship requires rich family backing or a business degree. His lessons are clear:
- Start small but stay consistent
- Build real skills and surround yourself with strong teammates
- Value people over profits
- Share your failures as much as your wins
Beyond the numbers, Rishi is refreshingly open about the struggles of entrepreneurship—managing anxiety, learning self-care, and helping his team grow alongside him. His raw storytelling makes him especially relatable to Gen Z founders chasing their own startup dreams.
From filming at home to working with global brands, Rishi Udapurkar’s journey shows that you don’t need a perfect plan to build something great. What you need is persistence, adaptability, and the courage to start, even if it means sending 700 cold messages just to land one client.
