At 17, he had no degree or work; by 22, he made Rs 1 crore. Man says his DM to Raj Shamani became reason for financial success

Sometimes, a career does not begin with a degree, a formal job application or years of experience. For some people, it can start with one message sent at the right time and a decision to offer something useful before asking for anything in return. Aditya Bansal says that is what happened to him when he was 17, and that a DM he sent to entrepreneur and podcaster Raj Shamani eventually became the starting point of a career that saw him make Rs 1 crore by the age of 22.

Bansal recently shared the story on X, looking back at what happened five years ago. In 2021, he was supposed to be preparing for the JEE after the exam had been pushed to October. Instead, he had become deeply interested in self-improvement content on YouTube and was watching Shamani's international talks late into the night.

"I was 17. With no degree. No experience. Nothing to show."


He had already tried several ways of making money, including graphic design and website development, but none of them worked out. His original plan was fairly straightforward: clear JEE, become an engineer and get a job. But Bansal says he could already see that path ahead of him and did not like where it was leading.

One night, after watching Shamani's video about income streams, he decided to do something different.

He turned a video into a Twitter thread

Bansal says he had always believed in the idea of "give before you take". So instead of simply asking Shamani for work, he spent a few hours turning the video's information into a Twitter thread.

He wrote the thread in a Google document and sent it to Shamani without asking for anything in return.

At 10:41 pm, Bansal sent the DM. At 3:53 am, he got a response. "Let me upload this, and if it works out, I will hire you for my twitter threads, cool?"

Bansal admits the thread itself was far from perfect. It received 1,200 likes, but he says he was nowhere near the writer he would eventually become. Shamani also told him it could be better, but decided to give him a chance.

That chance turned into his first paid work. Bansal wrote five or six threads for Shamani, who paid him through Amazon gift cards because the teenager did not even have a bank account at the time.

The opportunity became more than just a job

According to Bansal, the biggest impact was not simply getting paid. He says Shamani gave him the information and resources needed to do the work properly, including insights and sources, instead of simply handing him a blank page and expecting results. "He noticed the small things."

Bansal also recalled that Shamani wished him on his birthday and treated him like a member of the team despite his age and lack of experience.

The work eventually ended because Shamani needed a full-time team, something Bansal could not commit to at 17. But before they stopped working together, Shamani gave him a testimonial.

That testimonial helped Bansal land his first retainer client.

From one testimonial to Rs 1 crore

Bansal says everything after that came from the initial opportunity. He went on to work with more than 45 founders and says he has since made Rs 1 crore by the age of 22.

He also revealed that he faced three separate periods when he lost all his clients and was left with zero revenue. Each time, taking a conventional job was an option, but he chose to continue building his own work. "I never took it, because of that one night."

Five years after sending that late-night message, Bansal says he and Shamani have still never spoken on a call, and he has never heard Shamani's voice outside a podcast.

"We have never talked on a call. I really hope we do one day."

Looking back at the decision that started it all, Bansal summed up the importance of that message simply: "That DM is still the best thing I ever wrote."