Two childhood friends who built a $13 million AI startup by age 21 say: Goal was not to build a million-dollar company we did drop out of college for, but to pay for …
Two childhood friends who built an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that has generated more than $13 million in lifetime revenue by the age of 21 say their original goal was different. The founders of the AI startup said in an interview that their primary aim was not to build a million-dollar company, but to create a product they found useful and earn enough to pay for college.Rudy Arora, co-founder of study app Turbo AI (formerly Turbolearn) told Business Insider, “The goal wasn’t to build a million-dollar company we’d drop out of college for. We just wanted to create something we would find useful, maybe market it a little bit, and if it went well, pay for college with the profits.”Arora and Sarthak Dhawan, who met in middle school in the suburbs outside Dallas, launched their AI-powered study app in January 2024 after identifying a problem they faced while taking notes during college lectures. At the time, Arora was a freshman at Northwestern University, and Dhawan was studying at Duke University.According to the founders, the app was generating nearly $500,000 in monthly revenue by March 2025. They decided to leave college after completing their sophomore year to focus on the business full-time.
Turbo AI app was built around a problem they faced in college
The founders said the idea came from their own experience of struggling to listen to lectures while taking notes.“We knew AI was good at turning dense text into more digestible formats because we had used it to help us with studying before. So we decided to make a product that combines all of this into a single workflow. Users can either record their lecture or add something they want to study, and we’ll use AI to turn it into a variety of aids, such as notes, flashcards, and quiz questions,” Arora said.Before starting the AI app, the pair had worked on other projects in high school, including a marketplace connecting customers with Christmas light installers and a grade-checking application. They said those ventures helped them understand product development and customer feedback, even though both businesses were eventually discontinued.
How social media helped the AI startup grow
The founders initially promoted the app by approaching students on campus before shifting their focus to TikTok.“I decided to try posting videos about our app three to four times a day on TikTok. Eventually, one video went super viral. I doubled down, more videos took off, and our growth accelerated,” Arora noted.As demand increased, the company expanded its marketing strategy by hiring creators to post videos about the app. The founders also said AI tools have significantly changed their software development process.“My favourite model to use now is Claude Code. A year and a half ago, I started realizing that more of my day-to-day was trying to plan and describe how things are working at a high level and reviewing the AI-generated code than actually writing my own,” Dhawan added.The company now has 10 full-time employees, including six engineers, and has crossed $13 million in lifetime revenue, according to the founders.
TurboAI founders say they left college after the business gained traction
The founders said they chose to drop out only after the company had established a sustainable business.“We went full-time with our app at the end of our sophomore year, last year. It honestly wasn’t a hard decision. Looking back, I think we dropped out a little late. Despite that, I think it can be a big mistake to drop out too early,” Arora highlighted. He also cautioned against leaving college before a business has demonstrated meaningful progress.“Still, I would caution against dropping out without any real payoff. I see way too many people dropping out with only an idea or at a very early stage of building,” Arora warned.
