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Painted portrait of Gaurav Madaan in a navy suit, arms crossed, smiling

Gaurav Madaan in Overnight Success

My 15 years.
Your 5 minutes.

Take the 13 lessons behind ₹20 Crore+ of digital products sold online. I paid for every one. You get them free.

Lesson 1 cost me ₹50,000 and a bag of bricks.

Plays with music. Or swipe upPlays with music. Or scroll down

Scene 01 Ext. An ATM in Saket, Delhi. Night, 2015.

One MacBook, one iPad, two iPhones.

Painting: Gaurav kneels outside an ATM at night, holding up a brick from a duffel bag full of bricks, while a man escapes on a scooter and a stray dog watches.

Paid ₹50,000

100% bricks0% MacBook

  1. 2015. I had taught digital marketing for six hours. On the way home I stopped at an ATM.
  2. A man was selling gadgets “cleared from a Customs site”. A MacBook for my friend Saurabh, an iPad for Roshni. I paid ₹50,000 and raced home.
  3. “All I found was a bag full of bricks.”
  4. “We laughed off at this as a joke and moved on becoming wiser.”How the story ends when I tell it

  5. Lesson 01

    Never make a money decision while you are emotional.

    “While taking financial decisions, don’t let emotions clutter your mind.”

Scene 02 Rewind. Class 10. Time to pick a stream.

I chose the stream that looked like an ice-cream.

Painting: a schoolboy with a backpack looks up at three giant melting ice-cream cones standing on stone pedestals like monuments.
  1. Non-medical, commerce or medical. Three flavours. Pick one for life.
  2. “My parents told me, I had only one job. That was just to beat the mob.”Me, in a rhyming rant about school, 2014
  3. At Hansraj College I built a robot that could follow a line. I was following one too.

  4. Lesson 02

    Don’t follow the line. Ask why.

    “We all know a 2 year old would be more curious than most of us today.”

Scene 03 Int. A rented room. Night, early 2011.

I made my first $100 from Google. Then Google banned me.

Painting: a clean-shaven, twenty-year-old Gaurav with spiky hair grins at a bulky old desktop monitor late at night in a small rented room, chai in a steel tumbler beside the keyboard.
Photo: Gaurav and Saurabh Bhatnagar smiling at a cafe table at night
Saurabh and me. Fifteen years of friendship.

AdSense $100

Account disabled

  1. My college friend Saurabh got me into an MLM that sold domains and hosting. We pitched about 400 people. I did not like the selling.
  2. “I fell in love with Websites :)”What I got out of it
  3. Then I found a trick. I spent two hours pasting my link to strangers on Omegle, and my AdSense account showed almost $100.
  4. We threw a party. Next morning Google wrote to me: “Your Account has been disabled.” The cheque never came.

  5. Lesson 03

    Shortcuts get banned. Do it the right way.

    “If you want to survive you will do it the right way, and that’s where the journey began.”

Scene 04 Int. A small room. MBA days, 2013.

An ₹18 lakh MBA did not teach me digital marketing. A blog did.

Painting: a young, clean-shaven Gaurav in a hoodie types on a sticker-covered laptop in a small shared room at night, a small cake with one candle beside him.
Screenshot of the Geekotech blog homepage as it looked in June 2013
geekotech.com, June 2013. The real thing.
  1. So in 2013, during my MBA internship, I started a blog called Geekotech. I wrote about tech, trolls and Indian parent logic.
  2. At 23 I started a show called TechPreneurShup and interviewed founders like Shradha Sharma and Vishal Gondal.
  3. “I never thought… ‘College would add any value to me’ but Fate is for REAL.”On Prof. Vinod Achanta, who had me co-host a workshop for 50 entrepreneurs
  4. Then Facebook bought WhatsApp, an old post of mine caught fire, and I got almost a lakh visits in a few days.

  5. Lesson 04

    Start your email list on day one.

    “From 2010 to 2014 I was not building an email list and that’s a sin, to be honest.”

Scene 05 Int. A classroom at DSIM, Gurgaon. 2014.

For three months I was not a good teacher.

Painting: Gaurav laughs at the front of a packed classroom, marker in hand, students raising their hands.

3,000+ trained

A crowded group selfie of Gaurav with a batch of students
One of my batches at DSIM.
Selfie of Gaurav with Kunal, the founder of DSIM
Kunal, who founded DSIM. One of my mentors.
  1. “My body was exposed to ultra violet rays of corporatism.”My first month in an office, 2014
  2. “Whoa Gaurav, you need to really improve yourself.”Me, reading my student feedback. Watch me say it
  3. So for two years I did nothing else. I trained with all my heart: more than 3,000 professionals, business owners and students.
  4. When I left, my students and I made a farewell video. More than 8 lakh views. The boss ran it as an ad for four years.

  5. Lesson 05

    Find a mentor. Then become one.

    “I have had 2 Mentors and without them I would still be stumbling in the Internet wave.”

Scene 06 Int. An event in Dehradun. 2016.

All it takes is one bold decision.

Painting: Gaurav in a white T-shirt and Roshni Dhal in a blue and white striped dress stand side by side at an event stall, smiling, with a crowd and a sunburst behind them.
Photo: Gaurav speaking to a crowded hall under an Internet Profits banner
Me in the Internet Profits T-shirt, Dehradun.
Photo: Gaurav in an Internet Profits T-shirt beside Roshni Dhal, seen through a glass shopfront
Dehradun. The actual moment.
Studio photo: Gaurav in a navy suit and Roshni Dhal holding a HighonM laptop
Roshni and me, a few years later.
  1. Roshni Dhal worked in HR. She came to help Saurabh and me promote our first course at an event in Dehradun.
  2. “That’s where I asked her if she would be wanting to explore the Digital World more.”
  3. She said yes. Today she is my co-founder, the “Executionist” behind our launches, and a LinkedIn Top Voice with 230,000 followers.

  4. Lesson 06

    There is no competition. Only collaborators.

    “Getting a Partner in Business can save your Sanity… Co Founders are god sent.”

Scene 07 Int. A very small office. 2016.

Our first big client had Grammarly built into his brain.

Painting: Gaurav in a checked shirt holds a phone to his ear and his forehead in his hand, while the giant shadow of a pointing client looms on the wall behind him.

Calling: client (oops)

Client firedHis bill to us: ₹18,000

  1. Roshni and I started an agency called HighonM. This client moved into an OYO near our office so he could watch us work.
  2. “He would call us into his temporary workspace, watching over us like a hawk.”
  3. One evening I called him by mistake instead of Roshni. He started listing complaints. I snapped and told him we were done.
  4. He said we owed him ₹18,000. “This absurd demand was the last straw.”

  5. Lesson 07

    Stop trading time for money.

    That is when Roshni and I decided to build digital products instead.

Scene 08 Int. A bed, a laptop, a launch. December 2016.

Flop. Then a million dollars.

Painting: Gaurav in a striped T-shirt sits cross-legged on a bed with a laptop, fists raised, as sparks and paper sale receipts pour out of the screen under a globe-like moon.

Flop

New saleNew saleNew saleNew saleNew sale

$500,000in eighteen months

  1. Our first course was an instant hit in India. So we tried the world with a new one, Maxa Page Profits.
  2. “We launched it on WarriorPlus, then we failed again.”Me, telling it in 2022. Watch me say it
  3. They wanted software, not courses. Twenty-eight days later Saurabh and I launched Live Suite Pro on JVZoo, with Jai Sharma as our mentor.
  4. Eighteen months later we had sold half a million dollars of software. Then a million. All from India.

  5. Lesson 08

    Build from here. Sell everywhere.

    “Trial and Error until I got what I wanted.” The world doesn’t care about your pin code.

Interval

Stretch your legs. Get a chai.

Or skip a few of my fifteen years:

Book 1 hour with me

Second half: the cake, the ₹15,000 room, and the robots.

Scene 09 Int. Wherever the laptops were. 2019.

I went full scale crazy with Facebook ads.

Painting: Gaurav in a black T-shirt grins over a white cake iced with the words FB ADS 100K MILSTONE while teammates clap and one films on a phone.
Photo: two celebration cakes from above, one iced with FB ADS $100K MILSTONE
The real cake. The spelling is also real.

5,000+ students

Photo: Gaurav at an iMac with a podcast microphone, a wall of motivational posters behind him
My desk at HighonM HQ, 2020.
  1. One campaign crossed $100,000. We ordered a cake. It said MILSTONE. We ate it anyway. The campaign went on to $150,000.
  2. “Our CA to us: Yours is the only company that gives so much money to Facebook… Ab inka TDS kaise kate?”Me, 2020. Now how do we deduct their TDS?
  3. Then I taught everything I knew, one day at a time. 5,000 people joined the 77 Days Facebook Ads Course. It launched at ₹777.

  4. Lesson 09

    Learn three things, in this order: copywriting, funnels, ads.

    “Without copywriting you’re nothing. Absolutely zero.”

    Ads not converting? Book an hour

Scene 10 Int. A ₹15,000-a-month room. 2021.

You don’t have to look rich. You just have to be rich.

Painting: Gaurav, in a navy three-piece suit, sips chai on a single bed with a floral bedsheet in a tiny rented room.

Rent ₹15,000

No EMIs

  1. I made a video about earning ₹85 lakh from affiliate marketing. People noticed the bedsheet behind me and asked why I still lived in a room like that.
  2. “Dikhane ka itna hi shauk hai to bhai Dubai jao, aur wahan par kiraye par le lo gaadi.”If you love showing off so much, go to Dubai and rent the car there. Watch me say it
  3. My car was an old Honda City, bought for about ₹3.5 lakh. It had not moved in a month.
  4. “Please, aapse haath jodkar vinti hai, gadhe wala kaam mat kariye. Koi cheez EMI pe mat lijiye.”With folded hands: don’t do the donkey thing. Buy nothing on EMI. Watch me say it

  5. Lesson 10

    If you can’t afford it three times, don’t buy it.

    A ₹1 crore house needs ₹3 crore, not an EMI.

Scene 11 Ext. Somewhere quiet. 2021.

In 2021 I slowed down.

Painting: Gaurav meditates cross-legged on a rock in the snow, in a blue puffer jacket, beanie and mirrored sunglasses.
Photo: two people doing headstands side by side in a yoga studio
Headstands with Vijata Ma’am.
  1. “I just took a break and reflected upon life to focus on my Mental Health.”
  2. “Is doing business at this time of Pandemic 2nd wave considered as Insensitive?”What I asked on Twitter, May 2021
  3. “You can never Quiet your Mind, you can only watch it dance.”Me, August 2021
  4. Later I found a yoga teacher who explained what every asana does to the body. I can hold a headstand now.

  5. Lesson 11

    Money, mind, body, spirit. Grow all four.

    “Fix your Inside, the outside is just a reflection of it.”

Scene 12 Int. Bedroom. 3:00 AM.

Now the night shift is not human.

Painting: Gaurav sleeps peacefully while a team of small friendly robots works the night shift at tiny desks around his bed.

3:00 AM Lead answered

Photo: Gaurav with mentees at the Goa AI Retreat, arms raised
Goa AI Retreat 2, 2025.
  1. “My code is marketing. I don’t code and I don’t even like coding.”Me, live on Periscope, 2015. Watch me say it
  2. “It complements you, man… it’s not the godfather yet.”Me in 2021, after testing AI copy against my own. Watch me say it
  3. In December 2024 I gave my night shift to an AI agent. It answers leads while I sleep.
  4. Now I teach this at our three-day AI Retreats in Goa. And Launcherator AI builds your offer, your product and your sales page. Try Launcherator AI

  5. Lesson 12

    Stop hiring for roles. Start building agents.

    “It’s up to you, that you want to be scared of it or you want to take leverage.”

    Want AI on your night shift? Book an hour

Scene 13 Int. A very large hall. Today.

Housefull

Painting: Gaurav, seen from behind on a stage, faces a vast hall where thousands of people hold up small lamps.
Screenshot: a list of student success interviews on YouTube with their results
Their interviews are on the HighonM channel.
  1. 100,000+ students so far. Every lamp in this hall is one of them.
  2. One lamp is Deepak Singla from Karnal. His first salary was ₹16,000 a month. He went on to sign about $90,000 in contracts and bought his mother a washing machine. Watch Deepak tell it
  3. One is Nergis. She once sent me an irritated email about my eBook. I wrote back at once and offered her money back. She has followed me for over five years.
  4. One review calls me the Aamir Khan of digital marketing. I have not told Aamir.
  5. “I am going to get you to success and then we will party :)”My reply to a student’s review

  6. Lesson 13

    Take the most imperfect action in the next twelve hours.

    My 12 Hour Rule. Here is one you can take right now.

    Book 1 hour with me

you earned this

Your 13 lessons

Fifteen years on one page. Save it, screenshot it, send it to the friend who keeps saying next month.

    Do it with me

    One image, made on your device.

    Lesson 4 says start an email list on day one. Here is mine: get my emails.

    films my students made

    Spin-offs

    I only taught. They did the work, and they tell it themselves in these interviews. More on the HighonM channel

    These are their results, as they report them. Yours depend on your own execution. Ideas are cheap, execution is expensive.

    ten-plus releases, one famous flop

    Filmography

    The main releases, with the box office as I have reported it. ₹20 Crore+ in sales so far.

    no playback, all live

    Live on stage

    YearShowWhat happened
    2014ISB Goldman Sachs 10,000 WomenA workshop for women entrepreneurs, while I was still an MBA student
    2017India Affiliate Summit, GurugramPanel: 6 figure-income by blogging
    2018Affiliate Conference India, DelhiOn stage at a 600-person conference
    2018HighTraffic Summit, BengaluruHow to create evergreen affiliate funnels that make $10,000 a month
    2019Enrichment Begins Within, GoaAffiliate marketing for beginners. The whole talk is on my YouTube
    2019Marketing Summit, GoaKeynote: converting simple funnels into evergreen funnels
    2025Goa AI RetreatsThree-day retreats, building AI employees with our mentees
    SoonHarvardAt 24 I wrote that I would speak here by 30. I am running late. Harvard has not called yet

    Press

    Interviewed by JVZoo about the one thing I cannot live without during a launch. (Remarketing.) In 2020: a profile in The Statesman Inspiration Hub, and partner features in Forbes India Brand Connect and Hindustan Times Brand Post.

    Want me on your stage?

    I speak on digital products, funnels, paid ads and AI in business.

    Email me about speaking

    all mine, all on record

    Famous dialogues

    start with these

    Trailers

    177 videos since 2012. These four explain me best. Subscribe on YouTube

    advance booking open

    It took me fifteen years. It should take you less.

    One hour with me, one on one, on your business. I look at what you have, tell you exactly what I would do next, and send you the plan in writing.

    Book my hour · ₹10,000

    Admit one

    Show
    Your business, with me
    Running time
    1 hour
    Screen
    Yours and mine, on a video call
    Take-home
    The plan, by email
    Ticket
    ₹10,000
    SeatYours

    Bring three things

    1. What you sell, or want to sell.
    2. What you have already tried.
    3. The number you are stuck at.

    We can fix one of these

    • A digital product you want to price, package and launch
    • A funnel or sales page that is not converting
    • Meta ads that eat money
    • A business that still needs you at 3 AM, and could use AI agents instead

    Book my hour · ₹10,000Email me. I reply with the payment link and we fix a time. gm@gauravmadaan.com

    “I am going to get you to success and then we will party :)”

    Not for you if you want a trick that makes money by Friday. I tried one in 2011. Google banned me. If you are not ready for a call, try Launcherator AI or get my emails.

    your turn

    Now cast yourself

    Every overnight success starts as a poster nobody has seen yet. Put your name on this one and send it to five people who should start too.

    It is made on your device. Nothing is uploaded.

    After the credits Somewhere warm. Evening. No suit.

    You’re still here?

    Painting: Gaurav, barefoot in a faded T-shirt and shorts, plays an acoustic guitar on a balcony at dusk, palm trees and a string of bulbs behind him.
    1. “You can own ten suits. But you’ll wear the same three.”Me, 2026
    2. “The freedom got bigger. The appetite got smaller.”
    3. That is the film. If one lesson helped, send it to the friend who keeps saying next month. Watch it again