The youngest CEO in India – Ashwin Ramesh
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DailySEOblog had already featured Suhas Gopinath as the world’s youngest CEO in the world sometime earlier. The story was about a guy who made it big owning a company at the age of 17. But hey! That’s old story.
Meet Ashwin Ramesh, the “Youngest CEO in India. Probably the youngest in the world.”
I met Ashwin at the SearchCamp Chennai and was deeply impressed with his skills and am sure you too will be. He is CEO to OrganicApex a company which is into SEO, SEM and SMM services. He started his first firm when he was 15 years old and evolved into Organic Apex. Today Organic Apex has branches worldwide and employs around 35 people.
I managed to interview the man and this is the first of it’s kind interview he’s given ever. Exclusive to DailySEOblog. 
How much money do you make per month?
- That is something which I cannot say that openly but yeah, its a good amount. I reinvest most of the profits I make..
What is the size of your company?
- Almost 35 people ( as per my knowledge )
What services do you offer?
- Organic SEO, PPC Related Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Internet Marketing Solutions
What opportunities do you see forth?
- I see an imminent boom in the Internet sector resulting in people everywhere trying to monetize on it.
But as always, only the early birds will really make loads of cash and also Internet Marketing is going to be HUGE ( h1 tags for that? )
What is your current business model?
- We currently do direct sales marketing ( does that make any sense? ) for our services and I do have a set of web ventures which are doing pretty decent for the time being.
When did you start this business?
- I started this about a year back and before that i was here and there into Adsense and affiliate marketing.
What actually made you think about it? Please describe how things rolled out.
- Well, that’s a very very long story.
A friend of mine ( or should I say mentor ) told me that he got his first Adsense cheque. I didn’t know what the heck Adsense was and i though “WTF! When he can do it, I can too”.
I started out with my first blog trying to monetize on Adsense but miserably failed.
I was making 0.00$ a month from Adsense and I decided to resort to click fraud, I worked with click fraud till i made 99$ on my Adsense account and my account got banned just then. That small mistake of mine, is costing me a lot now…
Once Adsense was done with, I met this guy who taught me affiliate marketing and clickbank, I did make a little money with it but wasn’t satisfied.
Then there came Mr. SEO Guy…
He was this guy who was 1 year elder to me who was bragging to me about his BIG SEO FIRM ( which turned out to be bogus ) and his large kitty of earnings.
I obviously got jealous and set out to create my own firm and made enough money freelancing from home to create a fully functioning unit.
Were there any bottlenecks during this time running your business? How did you overcome them?
You Bet! Being a Young Entrepreneur in India Sucks! Especially if your from a very conservative family like mine.
My dad wanted me to become a software engineer and it took a whole load of persuasion and a not or recommendation from my uncle to really make him have a look at the potential in this industry ( I’m sure my dad would agree now that it was stupid to call this a waste of time now )
I still face these bottlenecks – Formal Education.
It gets very tough pursuing formal education and running a firm.
Worse cause people in school don’t understand what I’m doing ( I’m nicknamed foreigner after I told them that I might be going to Adtech NY this year )
Actually, none of my teachers know what I’m doing and I wouldn’t want them to know.
Most of the people I meet think that everybody who makes cash must wear a costly sneaker or own a BMW car – That is dip shit ( inspired by Mr. Someone from Taiwan at SearchCamp )
PS: I get a pocket money of 25 cents a day
PPS: MY bank account is in my mom’s name.
Anybody else in my shoes would have dropped out of school, but I still stick to school because I think I should be DIFFERENT ( Lets see how long that lasts )
If other people were to take inspiration from you, what would you recommend them?
I really don’t know.
If my story inspired you, maybe you should keep this in mind ” Always do what you want even if someone tells you not to do it – They’re telling you not to do it because they couldn’t do it or think it cant be done ”
( Flicked from the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” )
What are your future plans?
Short Term:
Make Organic Apex the Largest Organic SEO Firm in the World ( IS that too BIG? – Then lets settle for Asia )
Long Term:
To create something which would make everyone else would look up and take notice at ( A competitor to one of Google‘s products )
I want to do so many things one of which would be to clear the Internet of people projecting themselves to be nice guys but clearly trying to make cash.
Cheers to both of you!!! its nice
Btw Ashwin where are my reportsssssssssssssssss …..lol
Hi Ashwin,
This is a really inspiring story, I wished i could achieve the same when i was your age.
thanks mani, for the info
Hey that’s so wonderful. Ashwin deserves this fame…..congrats to both of you.
Stumbled!
Aswin hats of to you and its great working with you
I can say he stole the show at the SearchCamp on Sunday and then I realise that he is bigger than that
He just rocks!
I am fortunate to have met Ashwin at the SearchCamp. Recent interactions with him has just stumped me – am I really talking to a 17 year old.
I have never been more impressed with someone so young and yet so mature at his views especially business. A great attitude too. I won’t be surprised if the next big breakthrough in the internet comes from Ashwin.. Larry Page or Mark Zukerberg .. err I know he doesn’t like this comparison. His views on running a services business (which is not covered much in the post above) and doing a venture are highly impressive. No wonder he has made it big this early.
I wish you the very best Ashwin.
all the best to you Aswin ! sure you wil do great buddy !
Wish Aswin gud luck for future and i really liked his attitude on idea of keep doing things if you knw it is possible without worrying abt wat others think of it.
That is very inspiring. My 7 year old son has been asking me to help him start a business, which we just did at http://www.LegoAdventures.com . We’re still newbies at all this, so it’s great to see and hear stories from young entrepreneurs who have done so well.
Outstanding Business sense and Great Public network building thats what Ashwin is all about.
My best wishes to you for becoming Youngest and Richest CEO
Awesome! I was amazed by this young guy at the search camp. Wish you great success stories ahead buddy..
And Mani, you’ve been doing an excellent job, highlighting such a shining star to the world. Hats-off both of you…
Hi Mani, Nice meeting you over the weekend at SearchCamp. Nice blog! Added to my feed reader.
Hi I have seen you dude in Chennai really u r a kid but any way great achievement god bless u through out your life. Even my little brother is asking for my business http://www.emailappenders.com and want to be part of my business. I got shucked.
If I had been as smart at 16 as Ashwin is, I would be richer than Bill Gates now.
He is a great guy
We would see many inspiring guyz by this.
Wow… I had met this guy, but I never knew he was the youngest CEO in India. Best of luck to you, Ashwin!
Great info there Mani… Good to hear an Indian name like Ashwin… All the best to him…
Dear Mani And Ashwin,Great Show.God Bless you Both In All your Ventures.Regards.R.R.Sethu
Really great.. Ashwin really inspired me.. Thanks to Mani for this Interview.
Good Luck Ashwin………
Hi Ashwin/Mani,
Though I was at Searchcamp, I couldn’t network with you all.I missed a lot due to my lack of Networking. All the very best to Ashwin as well to Mani Karthik to brought this into the webworld.
Cheers and looking forward to meet you all in the next conference!
Very inspiring…. and great that Aswin also had entered into the category of Premji and Dhirubhai Ambani starting the company and making it successs in young age.
It was an great opportunity for me to meet all those people especially Ashwin & Mani, whom I met on the last day! Wish to get interact with you folks soon.
Ashwin really impressed me a lot, being so young I hope he has a lot more to explore…Good Luck Dude!!!
Regards
Afzal Khan
Innovation always pay i am sure he is innovative in his approach……congrats to Ashwin…
have a wonderfull day
I actually work on some projects with Ashwin, I am really satisfied with the results.
Ash is a nice person to deal with
Alex Panait’s last blog post..Free prints from PhotoBucket
Thanks Keep it up my Dear
Regds
sanjay
i am flash programmer,
greate job aswin, try making your own search engine. i too once had a dream of writing my own operating system
Its realy great….
THIS IS A VERY GOOD NEWS FOR ALL OF US. MAY GOD BLESS U. WE ALL WISH A VERY HAPPY & VERY SUCCESSFUL LIFE.
Good to know all about Ashwin. Now day Many young guys working as freelancer and have started their own company .. I wish Ashwin become more famous and rich .
great to know about him
Hats off to Ashwin! I got loads of Indian friends and business connections, as an entrepreneur living in South Africa, with the largest global Indian population out of India, has exposed to to many Indian people.
Apart from a common passion for cricket I’ve always been amazed by the work ethic and perseverance of Indian people in general (not to mention the great cooking and hospitality!)
I met him during the search camp 2009 at Chennai. Hope he do remember me, I was damn sure of meeting him someday and the day was the first day of search camp 2009. I have gained a lot of knowledge about Web Analytics through the Search Camp 2009.
Great achievements at such a young age.Keep it up Indian!!
SEO is not a famous profession in India.Maybe people will follow your path.
cool
17 years-old I play games
WOW really nice. The problem with youngsters in India lack of support (4 Business). Parents always want their kid with a secure job(some thing which will never be in reality).
Hi I tihnk you have a rally bad hairstyle and bad ttaste in clothing and who the hell would care if you’
re a CEO:) This comment is more inspiring:)
Ashwin,Great!.Never stop or look back.Way to go…
Abdulkareem
http://www.locators.co.in
TOTAL CRAP
Wish you the best Ashwin for the future.
Simply superbbbbbbbbbbbbb post. All the best..
Am proud of you to be an INDIAN.
Being an enterpreneur is a big deal these days..But that’s good you are working only for the domestic market.and making profit…A hope for this crushed market
Best wishes…!!!
Really all indian’s should proud. I pray to god to give you a very good health.
Certainly, It’s great achievement and want to congrats this dynamic quality. Ashwin, U have done Excellent………….Excellent.. Undoubtedly proud of India’s and landmark for the youngsters.
thanks.
Shardakant Shandilya
SEO SEM Consultant Delhi NCR – India
Web Marketing Expert
u r my inspiration to move forward in my life, carry on friend.
Two words- Simply great!
Hi Ashwin
its really great man
Hi Ashwin. will u please highlight on the lines ”I was making 0.00$ a month from Adsense and I decided to resort to click fraud, I worked with click fraud till i made 99$ on my Adsense account and my account got banned just then. That small mistake of mine, is costing me a lot now…
Its hard to achieve something but its hader to remain it for long time. we ppl cant even imagine hw much burden u hav, dat so many ppl r mad of u n u hav fulfill there expectations…..
hi ashwin i admire u brother. will meet if time permits cell me selva 9841026568 r phavishar at gmail,com
its not necessary to be an achiever at the age of 17-23 years. first u need to enjoy your life at that age, as time goes on you need to grow up and then you need to create history, because once time moved off, then you will be dilemma that i would have enjoyed my life at that age. I Sandeep Manugunta 23 years old, just started my career as Software Test Engineer. I don’t feel that i m more or less than you, i will also prove myself some or other day.
I think you’re just whining that you can’t do what he’s doing.
Enjoying life is a relative term, you could go to college and enjoy life, or get drunk and do that too.
I think what’s more important is if you do something useful in life, best of luck in being a Software Test Engineer, but there are millions out there just like you doing something that they don’t understand and feeling bad that others around them are doing great things that you cannot.
Best of luck in your career and hopefully you will indeed prove yourself some day!
if u people really want to be success in your life, then follow me i will show u the exact path..
Organic SEO is always the best as Google likes you to optimize your page in an organic way.:’”
Great going man!
Wish you the best of luck.
really superb!!!!!! can u tel us how to open my own firm?