# Building on the internet since 16

*The work has kept changing. The curiosity that got me started hasn’t.*

**Ojash Yadav · Founder · Dubai · 2 min read**

## In this article

- [Starting at 16](https://ojash.com/blog/building-on-the-internet/#starting)
- [Search at a different scale](https://ojash.com/blog/building-on-the-internet/#scale)
- [Building my own companies](https://ojash.com/blog/building-on-the-internet/#companies)

I’m 24, based in Dubai, and I’ve been building things on the internet since I was 16. I never went to college. My path has moved through niche websites, freelance SEO, writing, acquisitions, and eventually software and AI.

## Starting at 16

At 16, I built niche websites that reached 500,000 monthly visitors. At 17, I made $34,000 freelancing as an SEO on [Upwork](https://www.upwork.com/) and worked with a venture capital-backed startup in San Francisco.

At 18, I skipped college and went all-in on SEO. I was learning through real websites and client work, then taking on projects with larger audiences.

> “I like building cool things, figuring out why they work, and sharing what I learn along the way.”

## Search at a different scale

At 19, I wrote more than 120 technology articles that went on to receive over 8 million views. A year later, I helped deploy $2.5 million into website acquisitions and scaled them through SEO.

At 21, I managed SEO for publications including [MakeUseOf](https://www.makeuseof.com/) and [How-To Geek](https://www.howtogeek.com/), and worked on publications reaching 5 million visitors a day.

By 22, I was starting to build SEO software and AI automations. The problems I kept running into were becoming things I could build tools for.

## Building my own companies

At 23, I co-founded and launched [Mentions](https://mentions.so/), my first SaaS. It reached $20,000 in monthly recurring revenue within 24 hours.

Now, at 24, I’m a co-founder of [Known](https://known.agency/), focused on AI search optimization, and I’m building [Tobias](https://hiretobias.ai/), an AI employee for Slack and Microsoft Teams.

On the side, I also founded [Flashback](https://flashbackbooth.in/), a photo booth company that grew to more than 13 locations in under a year.

These days, I’m mostly building at the intersection of SEO, AI, and software. I share experiments, research, what works, and what doesn’t on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ojashyadav/).

*✳ Still building. Still figuring it out.*

[← All writing](https://ojash.com/blog/) · [Get in touch](https://ojash.com/#contact)

## Contact

- [Email](mailto:hello@ojash.com): hello@ojash.com
- [X.com](https://x.com/Ojash_101): @Ojash_101
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ojashyadav/): /in/ojashyadav
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ojash_101/): @ojash_101

Follow my thoughts on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ojashyadav/) and [X](https://x.com/Ojash_101), find me on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ojash_101/), or drop me an email at [hello@ojash.com](mailto:hello@ojash.com).

![Ojash Yadav’s signature](https://ojash.com/assets/ojash-signature.png)

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