Artificial intelligence is opening new doors for young entrepreneurs.
With AI tools becoming easier to use, college students and first-time founders are building startups around everyday problems.
Childhood friends Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan took a similar path.
While studying at Northwestern University and Duke University, they built Turbo AI, an AI-powered study app that crossed $13 million in revenue before they turned 21.
Two Childhood Friends Who Became Founders
Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan had known each other since childhood. Their friendship later became a business partnership when they started exploring technology projects together.
Both were interested in building products and solving everyday problems through technology. While many students use college years to prepare for traditional careers, the two started experimenting with startup ideas.
Their biggest breakthrough came when they identified a problem they personally experienced as students.
From Duke University Classrooms To A Startup
Arora and Dhawan were students at Duke University when they started working on Turbo AI.
The idea came from their own academic experience. Like many students, they found it difficult to manage lectures, notes and revision material at the same time.
They wanted a tool that could make studying simpler and more organised.
Instead of creating something only for businesses, they focused on a group they understood well: students.
That thinking led them to build Turbo AI, an AI-powered learning platform designed to help students study more efficiently.
The Idea Behind Turbo AI
Turbo AI was built around a simple concept: use artificial intelligence to make learning easier.
The platform helped students organise study material and create useful learning resources. It aimed to reduce the time students spent preparing notes and revising content.
The founders started by building a product that solved their own problem. They tested the idea, improved the platform and gradually attracted more users.
What began as a college project slowly started becoming a serious business opportunity.
When A Side Project Became A Full-Time Business
Initially, Turbo AI was something the founders worked on alongside their studies.
The app started gaining attention after the duo shared videos about it on TikTok. The content helped them reach more students and brought new users to the platform.
As the user base grew, the startup demanded more time and attention. The duo eventually decided to leave college and focus on building the company full-time.
They have said that dropping out was not about chasing a million-dollar company. Their initial goal was simply to create enough income to support themselves.
The growth came after they built a product that students found useful.
How They Scaled The AI Study App
A major reason behind Turbo AI’s growth was its focus on a clear audience and a simple use case.
The founders used online platforms to reach students and understand what users needed. Feedback from users helped them improve the product and add features that made the app more useful.
Artificial intelligence also helped them build and improve the platform faster.
With AI tools becoming more accessible, young founders can now experiment, develop products and test ideas with smaller teams compared to earlier startup journeys.
The $13 Million Milestone
Turbo AI eventually crossed $13 million in revenue, making Arora and Dhawan among the young entrepreneurs who built a successful AI company at an early age.
Their achievement gained attention because of both the company’s growth and the age at which they reached the milestone.
However, their journey was not only about revenue numbers. It started with identifying a problem that students faced and creating a practical solution.
