Inspiring story of Vivek Raina, who founded internet company Excitel, once worked for Hathway for just Rs 10,000 per month. His company now clocks a turnover of Rs 400 crore.
Vivek Raina’s serves as an example of the strength of resiliency, tenacity, and education. Entrepreneurs should draw inspiration from his experience, which also highlights how crucial persistence is to success. Vivek Raina overcame enormous obstacles by staying dedicated to his objectives and creating a prosperous company that is changing India’s internet industry.
Vivek Raina was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, but due to militancy and conflict in 1990, he was forced to escape his home during the Kashmiri Pandit Exodus. His four children left their luxurious Jammu home to live in a one-room rental apartment. Vivek was raised in their ancestral home by parents who made education the only priority in their children’s lives. However, tragedy occurred in Srinagar when Vivek was 13 years old, forcing the family to move to Jammu. Despite these difficulties, Vivek completed an MBA program and worked for a number of ISPs before founding Excitel in 2015 with partners from Bulgaria. The Delhi-based company, which has a revenue of Rs 400 crore, is present in 30 Indian cities.
Vivek remembers the challenging transition his family underwent when they moved to a new city that was very dissimilar from their previous one. Summers in Srinagar were a welcome respite from the severe and snowy winters that forced them indoors before they moved to Jammu. However, they were exposed to the oppressive heat they had never known during their first summer in Jammu. The family had to relocate regularly, changing one-room residences every few months because it was challenging to get along with landlords.
As their father having to work part-time to support them financially, Vivek and his family found it difficult to adjust to life in Jammu. Rent costs increased, and they had to make considerable lifestyle changes.
Vivek’s family was disappointed by his Class 12 grade, which he only managed to earn with a mere 55%. Vivek studied Electronics and Communication Engineering at Government College of Jammu between 1994 and 1997 in an effort to impress his father. He enrolled in a correspondence program at Jammu University for a BA in English Literature around that time because he wanted to study English literature. He later completed his MBA in Marketing at the University of Pune.
As a Business Development Officer for the internet business Hathway, Vivek’s initial position involved selling broadband connections to small offices. Prior to leaving the company in 2004 and joining Reliance, he earned a starting salary of Rs 10,000 that was later increased to Rs 16,000 in total.
Vivek started working for Reliance as the Manager of Business Development and sold IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). In 2008, he left Reliance and returned to Hathway as the Business Head for North India.
Later, in 2009, Vivek changed jobs, becoming the Regional Head for North and Central India at Broadband Pacenet, a cable television firm that was a division of Digicable. He continued to work there until 2015, earning a salary of Rs 30 lakh annually.
Vivek got the chance to meet some Bulgarian business owners at this time who were looking for chances in India after selling their online firm there.
In 2015, as a result of this encounter, Vivek Raina and his Bulgarian business partners co-founded Excitel.
They were able to raise Rs 12 crore from Neveq Ventures to launch the business, and they raised Rs 100 crore once more in 2021 to continue Excitel’s expansion.
Vivek claims that although their initial goal was to make 50,000 contacts in the first year, they ended up making 1 lakh relationships instead. They earned Rs 5 crore in the first year.
Their business now thrives across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
Their corporate office, which employs about 3000 people, is in Delhi’s Aerocity. There are seven additional offices scattered throughout India.
