how to build 100 carore usd business with 0

In a quiet corner of a small town, inside a cramped room with peeling paint and a secondhand desk, sat a young man named Rishi. He wasn’t born into wealth. He didn’t have investors, degrees from top universities, or a safety net. What he did have, though, was a notebook full of sketches, a laptop that barely worked, and a single burning thought:

“What if this idea could change everything?”

The idea wasn’t even revolutionary at first. It was a simple app that helped small businesses track their cash flow. Rishi had seen his father struggle to manage their local grocery shop accounts, often jotting down numbers in notebooks that would get lost or smudged. “There has to be a better way,” he thought.

But between the thought and execution stood the towering distance of ZERO—zero funding, zero team, zero experience.

He decided to name his project "Rocket." It stood for speed, vision, and limitless potential. And he wrote across the front page of his notebook:

“Rocket – From Zero to $100M.”

Stage 1: Ignition — The Struggle to Start

The first few months were brutal. Rishi worked nights at a call center just to pay his bills. His days were spent teaching himself how to code from free YouTube tutorials. He built the first version of Rocket from scratch — buggy, slow, but functional.

He walked from shop to shop in the local market, pitching his app to skeptical store owners. Most dismissed him. But a few—curious about the “tech boy”—gave him a shot.

Within three months, Rocket had its first ten users. They weren’t paying customers, but they were giving feedback. He listened, adjusted, and iterated. He kept a Google Sheet labeled “Fuel Logs” — tracking every tiny win:

3 users logged in today

Mr. Gupta said it saved him 2 hours

Version 2.1 crashed only once

Each line was a drop of fuel for the rocket.

Stage 2: Liftoff — First Revenue

By month six, he introduced a subscription model — ₹199/month. To his shock, three users agreed to pay. It wasn’t the money, it was the validation. People valued what he’d built.

He reinvested every rupee. He upgraded his laptop using a zero-interest EMI. He hired a freelancer from LinkedIn to help him iron out bugs. And he started documenting his journey on LinkedIn under the hashtag: #FromZeroTo100M. His raw, honest posts started gaining traction.

That visibility caught the attention of a local angel investor, who offered $20,000 for a 10% stake. Rishi was terrified. This was real now. But he said yes — not just for the money, but because belief from others was a new kind of fuel.

Stage 3: Orbit — Scaling the Vision

With the investment, Rocket upgraded — literally and metaphorically. Rishi set up a small office, hired a designer and another developer, and focused on UX.

He expanded to three cities, launching regional versions in Hindi and Tamil. His marketing was still scrappy — referral programs, WhatsApp groups, and street demos. But it worked. Rocket crossed 10,000 users in under a year.

Rishi refused to look at vanity metrics. He cared about one number: retention. If users stayed, Rocket had thrust. If they churned, something was broken.

The startup press took note. TechCrunch India ran a headline:

“Can This Small-Town Startup Be India’s Next Big SaaS Rocket?”

Investors followed. In his seed round, Rishi raised $1 million. Rocket now had 15 employees. The pressure mounted — expectations, timelines, projections.

But Rishi had learned one thing: keep the rocket steady. Focus on the mission.

Stage 4: Into the Stars — Building the Empire

By year three, Rocket had scaled across India and Southeast Asia. It had 2 million users, 70,000 paying subscribers, and had just crossed $10 million in annual recurring revenue.

Rishi’s office now overlooked a city skyline — but he still kept the original notebook on his desk. The first page still read:

"From Zero to $100M."

One night, alone in the office, he took out a marker and scribbled something beneath it:

“Almost there. Stay humble.”

He had rejected acquisition offers. He wasn’t in it for the exit. He wanted Rocket to be the default tool for every small business in emerging markets. It wasn’t about ego. It was about legacy.

Stage 5: Breakthrough — The Hundred Million Mark

In year six, Rocket hit $100M in revenue. It had offices in five countries, 300 employees, and hundreds of thousands of paying users.

But here’s the twist: Rishi never celebrated like a millionaire. He wore the same kind of T-shirts, still walked into kirana stores to ask how they were using Rocket, still replied to customer emails at 2 AM.

He was never building a business. He was building a movement — proof that from ZERO, with just an idea and relentless action, anyone could reach the stars.