From a kirana shop to a $700K ARR business: Founder says one meeting with Dharamshala entrepreneur changed how he views success

Success stories are often associated with startups, funding rounds and fast-growing tech companies. But for many entrepreneurs, the biggest lessons come from meeting people who have quietly built profitable businesses outside the spotlight. That is exactly what happened to Harshil Tomar, founder of Dream Launch Studios, during a visit to Dharamshala.

Sharing the experience on X, Tomar described how conversations with entrepreneurs from very different backgrounds changed his understanding of what success can look like. His post has drawn attention online for highlighting businesses that most people rarely hear about despite their impressive scale.

A kirana shop owner who built a $700K ARR business

One of the people Tomar met had an unusual journey. According to his post, the entrepreneur had gone from running a kirana shop to building a business with $700,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR) while operating with a team of just two people.


"I met a guy in Dharamshala who went from running a kirana shop to building a $700k ARR empire with a 2 people team," Tomar wrote on X.

The story stood out because it challenged the common belief that large businesses always require large teams or heavy investment. Instead, it showed how a focused business model can create significant revenue even with limited resources.

Beyond the careers most people grow up knowing

Reflecting on the experience, Tomar said many people grow up believing there are only a handful of career paths to choose from.

"Growing up in a city teaches you a narrow menu of careers. Tech, marketing, sales, HR. You pick one and build inside its boundaries."

He explained that meeting entrepreneurs working in highly specialised fields made him realise how many opportunities exist outside the careers people usually talk about.

Meeting founders in unexpected industries

Tomar said he also met another entrepreneur who helps people navigate international visa processes, an industry he admitted he knew little about before the conversation.

"I met someone running a 2 person business doing $700K ARR, another one helping people navigate international visa processes, a space whose day to day operations I wasn't aware about."

Another meeting introduced him to someone who had left a large multinational company to focus on quantitative trading. Instead of creating products for customers, the entrepreneur built a simulation engine using Claude solely for personal trading.

"Another person had left a big MNC, gone deep into quant trading and built his own simulation engine using Claude, not to sell to anyone, just to run his own trading."

Tomar added, "He had more clarity about his one narrow thing than most founders I know have about their entire company."

A lesson that books alone cannot teach

According to Tomar, reading about niche businesses had never left the same impact as meeting the people behind them in person.

"I'd read about niche businesses like this before. Reading about it and sitting across a table from someone living it are two completely different experiences."

He concluded the post by saying such encounters reshape how people think about opportunity and success.

"You don't know what's actually possible until you're surrounded by people who've already proven the boundaries you grew up believing in were never real to begin with :)."