College Dropouts Take Startup to 5 Million Users in Just 18 Months

Launched in early 2024 by college dropouts Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan , Turbo AI has quickly become one of the fastest growing AI startups with five million users, eight-figure annual revenue, and 20,000 daily signups, all in just 18 months. Their goal was to use AI to solve the universal problem of taking notes in class while also paying attention. A majority of their growth came in the past six months, as their AI-powered note-taking and study tool scaled from one million to five million users, all while remaining profitable. The idea for Turbo AI originated from a frustration that was shared by countless students. "I would always struggle with taking notes because I just couldn't both listen to the teacher and write at the same time. I just couldn't do it," said CEO Sarthak Dhawan. "Every time I tried to take notes, I'd stop paying attention. And when I listened, I couldn't take notes. I was like, what if I could use AI?" This relatable pain point became the foundation for Turbolearn, a side project the duo built to record lectures and automatically generate notes, flashcards, and quizzes. They initially shared it with friends, and it quickly spread across Duke and Northwestern campuses. Within months, the app had reached institutions like Harvard and MIT . The Product Turbo AI goes beyond basic just note-taking. The platform records, transcribes, and summarizes lectures, then transforms them into interactive study materials like flashcards or quizzes. It also features a built-in chat assistant that helps understand complex concepts and key terms. However, the founders quickly realized that recordings in large lecture halls picked up distracting background noise. To address this, they built features allowing students to upload PDFs, YouTube videos, or reading materials instead of relying solely on live recordings. This flexibility has now become the most common use case. "Students will upload a 30-page lecture and spend two hours going through 75 quiz questions in a row. You don't do that unless it's really working," Dhawan said, stating how the product saves time and boosts information retention. While Turbo AI started as a student-focused tool, its user base has grown way beyond campuses. Working professionals like consultants, lawyers, doctors, and even analysts at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey now use the platform to generate summaries, create study aids, and even convert reports into podcasts they can listen to during their commute. This broader adoption prompted the founders to rebrand from Turbolearn (a study app) to Turbo AI (an AI notetaker and learning assistant). Arora and Dhawan have been friends since middle school and have collaborated on multiple projects over the years. Before Turbo AI, Dhawan built UMax , an advice app that reached #1 on the App Store with 20 million users and $6 million in annual revenue. Meanwhile, Arora used his skills in viral marketing and growth strategies. Their combined expertise with Dhawan on product development and Arora on growth and distribution has been instrumental in TurboAI's rapid scaling. The pair have leveraged organic content, social media virality, and word-of-mouth growth to reach millions without heavy advertising spend. A Lean Growth Strategy Unlike many fast-growing AI startups that raise massive funding rounds early, Turbo AI raised just $750,000 in seed funding last year and has since remained cash-flow positive and profitable throughout its growth journey. "We raised that before we had a lot of traction. Since then, we've had a lot of inbound interest, but we're taking our time because we're cash-flow positive and have been profitable our entire time as a company," said Arora. The 15-person team is based in Los Angeles, staying close to student and creator communities at colleges like UCLA. The founders are currently exploring various pricing models with students paying around $20 per month, to balance accessibility with sustainable revenue growth. Turbo AI operates in a crowded space alongside competitors like Otter.ai , Fireflies.ai , and Y Combinator -backed YouLearn . However, the founders believe their product differentiates itself by blending manual and automated workflows. Users can let AI take full control or collaborate with it by editing and personalizing generated content. "What's cool now is that when students think of an AI notetaker or AI study tool, we're the first ones that come to mind," Dhawan said.

College Dropouts Take Startup to 5 Million Users in Just 18 Months

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