Dear Founders, Builders, and Bold Dreamers,

Meet Arjun Mahadevan, the founder of Doola — a platform that enables anyone in the world to launch a U.S. business, now valued at over $100 million.

His journey is not defined by privilege or shortcuts, but by relentless focus, consistent execution, and a deep understanding of what it truly means to build something from scratch.

Arjun’s story offers powerful lessons for every startup founder navigating uncertainty:

What it looks like to fail with a first startup — and still keep building

How a well-crafted pitch can raise $1 million in just 2 minutes

Why storytelling and building in public are no longer optional, but essential

How mastering a few high-leverage moves can unlock exponential growth

To help distill the lessons, we’ve broken down Arjun’s journey into five founder-first sections, designed to give you clarity, strategies, and actionable insights at every stage of your startup path:

 Founder Framework — dive deeper into the mindset and operating system behind Doola’s $100M climb

 Master the Move — explore five high-leverage strategies any founder can apply to gain traction and scale smarter

 Pitch Perfect — analyze Doola’s Series A pitch deck to learn how Arjun crafted a compelling story that closed capital and built conviction

The Founder’s Edge — watch the interview with key timestamps to see how Arjun thinks, moves, and makes decisions in real time

 Inside the Playbook — access a curated vault of Arjun’s pitch decks, interviews, and strategic insights for further study

Arjun Mahadevan’s $100M Founder Framework

Imagine you're standing on stage.

There are bright lights, a 2-minute timer ticking down, and judges from HubSpot sitting in front of you, deciding whether or not to give you $1 million.

This is exactly where Arjun Mahadevan, founder of Doola, stood — and he walked off with a $1 million check.

❌ Not because he was the most polished speaker.
❌ Not because he had the most complex slides.

But because he understood one thing:

Founder Reflection:

From Failed Startups to a $100M Business

Before Doola, Arjun tried (and failed at) other ideas.

A social fitness app? Didn’t work.

A video messaging tool for remote teams? Crashed — even after getting into Y Combinator.

But every failure taught him something.

 He didn’t quit.
 He rolled the dice again.

And with Doola, he didn’t just find a business idea. He found asymmetric upside — tiny actions that led to massive outcomes.

Founder Check-In:

How He Built a Founder Brand That Fuels the Business

You don’t need to be an influencer.

You need to be a documenter.

Arjun started small — batching tweets on weekends and repurposing them to LinkedIn. Over time, he built a following of 880,000+ people across social platforms.

The outcome?

Think Like a Founder:

How He Uses AI, Systems & Delegation to Scale

Most founders are stuck doing low-leverage tasks.

Arjun made a $3,000 decision: outsource everything about company formation, bookkeeping, taxes, and analytics — and built that as a service for others.

This gave founders back their time to build products, land customers, and grow — not do paperwork.

️ Founder Gut Check:

From LLC to Long-Term Growth

The genius behind Doola wasn’t just helping people incorporate.

That’s a one-time transaction.

The brilliance was in asking customers:

The answer?

Bookkeeping.
Taxes.
 Analytics.

So Arjun built the back-office engine — a full suite of services wrapped in trust, community, and brand.

Founder Decision:

The Truth About Success? Just Keep Rolling.

Arjun believes success in entrepreneurship is like rolling a 100-sided dice.

At first, you may only have 1 green side — and 99 reds.

But every time you roll, you learn.

And every red eventually turns green.

✨ Final Takeaway: Fortune Favors the Bold

If you’re a startup founder, solopreneur, or small business owner — here’s the truth:

You don’t need the best idea.
⏰ You don’t need the perfect timing.
You don’t even need YC.

You just need to take action.

5 Strategies to Level Up as a Founder

Every founder hits a moment where they realize —

This isn’t just about building a product.

It’s about building yourself into the kind of person who can navigate uncertainty, lead others, and create leverage where none exists.

So how do you master your move — especially when every day feels like controlled chaos?

Here are 5 high-leverage strategies founders like Arjun Mahadevan have used to stay sharp, move fast, and build with purpose.

1️⃣ Default to Action

Start small, but start now. If you're unsure whether an idea will work, don’t stew — ship. Whether it's a cold email, a landing page, or a pricing test, the moment you act, you start learning.

 Micro-move: Launch something uncomfortably early. Your next big breakthrough might look like a scrappy tweet or a clunky prototype.

2️⃣ Build in Public

Share your journey online. Not to show off, but to build trust. To attract early users, collaborators, and believers. The bar is low — just 1% of people post, so showing up consistently gives you exponential visibility.

 Micro-move: Post once a week about what you’re learning or building. Repurpose it across LinkedIn and X.

3️⃣ Talk to Your Users — Weekly

Your product roadmap doesn’t come from your head — it lives in your customers’ frustrations, wishes, and workarounds. Doola only grew because Arjun listened deeply and acted fast.

 Micro-move: Schedule 3 customer discovery calls this week. Don’t sell — listen. Ask, “What’s the most frustrating part of your workflow?”

4️⃣ Automate the Back Office, Focus on the Frontline

Successful founders ruthlessly protect their time. Delegate taxes, bookkeeping, admin, and compliance to pros so you can focus on what moves the needle.

 Micro-move: Audit your week. Circle the tasks someone else could do 80% as well. Systemize or outsource them.

5️⃣ Design for Asymmetric Upside

Write the blog post that brings in 1,000 customers. Pitch the podcast that lands your first investor. Say yes to the 2-minute pitch that turns into $1 million. Be biased toward moves that cost little — but could return massively.

 Micro-move: Identify one asymmetric move you can make this week — then go all in.

Doola’s Series A Pitch Deck Breakdown

This pitch deck is a clear example of how simplicity, storytelling, and structure can win over investors. It shows how Arjun Mahadevan positioned Doola’s mission, communicated traction, and framed a compelling vision for the future.

Founders can use it as a reference to craft stronger narratives, sharpen their decks, and raise with clarity and confidence.

Slide 1: Title Slide: Aspirational one-liner

Slide 2: Social Proof: Show our fundraising history

Slide 3: Problem: What is the world today / status quo?

Slide 4: Solution: What does the world look like with doola?

Slide 5-9: Vision: What is our master plan (multiple slides)?

Slide 10: Monetization: How do we make money?

Slide 11: TAM: What is the total addressable market?

Slide 12: Differentiator: What makes us different?

Slide 13: Team: Why is this team special?

Slide 14: Thank You: Outro slide with contact info

Doola’s Series A deck shows that the most effective pitches are the ones that resonate with clarity and conviction. It reflects a strong understanding of the founder journey, a focused vision, and the ability to inspire investor belief. For any founder preparing to raise, this serves as a valuable example of how to combine storytelling with real traction.

Learn Directly from the Source

Why just read about a founder’s journey when you can experience it firsthand?

The Founder’s Edge section is designed to bring startup wisdom straight from the source — in this case, from Arjun Mahadevan’s powerful conversation that breaks down how he built Doola from scratch, raised $1M in 2 minutes, and scaled to a $100M+ valuation.

Watch the full video and follow along with the Founder Compass to go beyond inspiration — and gain real, tactical insight you can apply to your startup journey.

To help founders extract the most valuable lessons, we’ve created a Founder Compass — a curated set of key moments and timestamps from the full interview. These moments spotlight Arjun’s mindset, strategy, pivots, and the systems he used to win.

Don’t miss: Founder Compass – Key Moments with Timestamps right below.

Learn from Arjun Mahadevan’s Winning Moves

Here, we’ve curated the most insightful and authentic resources from Arjun Mahadevan’s journey — including pitch decks, podcast clips, viral posts, and exclusive video breakdowns.

Whether you're launching, scaling, or pivoting, we’ve gathered everything you need to study the mindset, strategy, and systems behind Doola’s rise to a $100M+ company.

1. How Arjun Mahadevan Raised $1M in 2 Minutes (Full Interview)

Watch on YouTube

2. Doola on Y Combinator: From Idea to Global Startup Infrastructure

 Explore on YC

3. How I Raised $1M in 2 Minutes – Visual Breakdown

 Read on LinkedIn

4. The Revenue Room: Learn Sales Psychology from First Touch

 Read on First Touch

5. The Story Behind Doola’s $1M Pitch – HubSpot's Feature Video

Watch on YouTube

6. Arjun’s Winning Pitch Featured by HubSpot for Startups

 Read the Story

7. Doola’s Series A Pitch Deck Breakdown (SlideShare)

 View the Deck

✅ Ready to Step Into Action?

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