20-Year-Old Dropouts Built AI Notetaker Turbo AI to 5M Users
▼ Summary
– Turbo AI is a profitable AI note-taking and study tool founded in 2024 by 20-year-old college dropouts Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan, growing from one to five million users in six months.
– The tool was created to solve the problem of taking notes during lectures by recording and automatically generating notes, flashcards, and quizzes from uploaded content like PDFs or videos.
– It has expanded beyond students to professionals, including consultants and analysts at firms like Goldman Sachs, who use it for summarizing reports or creating podcasts.
– The founders have a history of building viral apps and have raised only $750,000, choosing to remain cash-flow positive and profitable while exploring pricing options.
– Turbo AI differentiates itself by allowing users to take notes manually or with AI assistance, positioning it between fully manual and automated tools in a competitive market.
Reaching five million users and generating eight-figure annual recurring revenue is an impressive feat for any startup, especially one founded by 20-year-old college dropouts Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan. Their platform, Turbo AI, has seen explosive growth, adding roughly twenty thousand new users every day while maintaining profitability. This rapid expansion occurred over just the past six months, skyrocketing from one million to five million active users.
The inspiration for Turbo AI came from a common student struggle. Dhawan recalls his own difficulty in college, explaining, “I constantly found myself torn between listening to the professor and writing everything down. If I focused on taking notes, I’d miss the lecture. When I paid attention, my notes suffered. I started wondering if artificial intelligence could solve this.” This personal challenge led them to develop an initial version called Turbolearn as a side project.
Their tool allowed them to record lectures and automatically produce detailed notes, flashcards, and quizzes. After sharing it with friends, the app quickly spread across their campuses at Duke and Northwestern. Word-of-mouth adoption soon reached other prestigious institutions, including Harvard and MIT, gaining significant traction. The application builds on the standard note-taking process, recording, transcribing, and summarizing, but enhances it with interactive study aids and a built-in chat assistant that clarifies complex topics.
A practical hurdle emerged when live recordings in large lecture halls captured too much background noise. In response, the founders expanded the platform’s capabilities. Students can now upload various materials like PDFs, pre-recorded lectures, YouTube videos, or textbook excerpts. This feature has become even more popular than the original live recording function.
Dhawan highlights the product’s effectiveness, stating, “It’s common to see users upload a 30-page document and then complete 75 quiz questions in a single two-hour session. People don’t invest that kind of time unless the tool genuinely delivers value.” The platform’s ability to save time and improve information retention has made it a favorite among its user base.
The application’s appeal has broadened considerably, prompting a rebrand from Turbolearn to Turbo AI. While it remains popular with students, professionals such as consultants, lawyers, doctors, and even analysts from firms like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey have adopted it. Many use the tool to summarize lengthy reports or convert documents into audio podcasts for listening during their commute.
Arora and Dhawan have been friends since middle school and have collaborated on various ventures over the years. Dhawan previously created UMax, an advice application that topped the App Store charts, amassing 20 million users and generating six million dollars in yearly revenue. Arora brings expertise in social media strategies that drive massive user growth. Despite their prior successes, they felt Turbo AI presented a unique opportunity to build a lasting company, which motivated their decision to leave college.
Although their startup is experiencing rapid growth, the founders are proceeding cautiously with funding. They secured only $750,000 last year, before gaining significant traction. Arora notes, “We’ve received considerable investor interest since then, but we’re not rushing. Our company has been cash-flow positive and profitable from the start.” Their compact 15-person team operates from Los Angeles, intentionally staying connected to student and creator communities at local universities like UCLA.
Currently, students pay around twenty dollars per month for access. However, the team recognizes the need for flexible pricing and is actively experimenting with different models. “We’re running numerous A/B tests to determine the most effective pricing strategy, especially as we expand beyond our initial user demographic,” Arora added.
Turbo AI occupies a unique position in the market, sitting between fully manual tools like Google Docs and completely automated services such as Otter or Fireflies. Users have the flexibility to let the AI handle note-taking entirely or to contribute their own input alongside the system. This balanced approach helps the platform stand out, even as competitors like Y Combinator-backed YouLearn enter the same space.
Dhawan sums up their current standing, saying, “The exciting part is that when people think about AI note-taking or study tools, we’re now the first name that comes to mind.”
(Source: TechCrunch)
