London: Akshay Ruparelia, the 19-year-old Indian origin who became Britains' youngest millionaire by luanching an online estate agency was inspired by no-frills airline Ryanair founder Michael O Leary.
"O Leary began by selling flights for just 4.99 pounds. His point was that if you can offer customers something at a price they can't believe and you deliver what you say you will, you hook people in and your business will work," he said.
The young entrepreneur – nicknamed Alan Sugar by his friends – set up an online estate agency while still at sixth form. He attributing the idea to set up a small business to reading biography of Ryanair founder Michael O Leary, according to Daily Mail.
Akshay juggled his school work with negotiating property deals for his no-frills business that offers to sell properties for a fraction of the cost charged by established high street estate agents.
This week "doorsteps.co.uk" became the 18th biggest estate agency in the UK just 16 months after the website went live.
Ruparelia claims to have already sold 100 million pounds worth of properties since he set up his business.
"I got the website up and running and after a couple of weeks a man in Sussex asked me to sell his home and a separate chunk of land he owned beside it.
"I had to pay my sister's boyfriend 40 pounds to drive me to Sussex to take photographs of the house, as I hadn't passed my driving test and didn't have a car," he recalls.
The north London-based schoolboy was able to sell the property and land within three weeks, which set the ball rolling.
He started his company with 7,000 pounds, borrowed from relatives and now employs 12 people.
In the initial stages of his business, he hired a call centre to answer calls coming in to his work while he was at school and would return the calls after his classes.
His model is based on hiring an ever-expanding network of self-employed mothers across the UK, who show clients around the properties he has been asked to sell.
The teenage tycoon believes his model is set to turn the property selling market away from agents in flashy suits.
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