YC Founder Stories

Arjun Mahadevan(doola, YC S20) - Building in a high-competition space, building in public, and educating customers!


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Oct 03 2023 41 mins  
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Today’s guest is Arjun Mahadevan from doola (YC S20), a “Business-in-a-Box” for creators. Mahadevan previously worked at Dropbox as a Product Manager and started doola in 2020.

doola (formerly StartPack) is a “Business-in-a-Box” for creators. We take care of everything creators need to form an LLC, set up their bank account, accept payments, and manage ongoing compliance and tax filings.

We realized how difficult it was to set up the full stack of software and accounts you need to get a business off the ground. This is the same problem faced by online businesses, who begin their business as a side hustle, and just want to focus on growing their business, not annoying administrative work.

That’s why we built doola: to take care of it all. Today, people on every continent have launched companies with doola.


Listen on to learn more about Arjun’s YC application and journey!

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Episode Timestamps:

  • 1:22: What is your startup idea?
  • 3:45: How did you come up with the idea?
  • 5:18: When did you get into YC?
  • 5:30: What are the key elements to focus on when applying to YC?
  • 7:32: Share your YC interview experience in 1-2 sentences.
  • 9:58: Did you pivot your idea during or after YC?
  • 10:10: How did YC help you go from 0 to 1 to N?
  • 12:17: Share a “do things that don’t scale” story in your startup journey.
  • 15:52: How did you get your first 1000 users?
  • 17:50: How was Demo Day?
  • 18:55: Share 3 tips for founders who are trying to get into YC.
  • 21:42: How was your experience pivoting doola?
  • 26:43: How do you educate founders on the company-making process?
  • 31:10: How did building in public help accelerate doola’s growth?
  • 34:30: How did you convince YC and investors that doola is a differentiator, given existing products like Stripe Atlas?
  • 37:25: What advice would you give founders who are building in spaces with heavy competition?
  • 39:55: Any last few thoughts that you want to share before we wrap up?

👉🏼 About the Host:

Sharath is a founder, creator, and community builder. He is also a serial maker who built and shipped 15+ projects using no-code tools. His SaaS product Shoutout generates $30k ARR, which was sold to a UK-based product studio. Prev, Sharath worked for world-changing startups like Product Hunt and On Deck, where he helped build and nurture communities. He also grew his audience on Twitter from 200 to 21,000 using give-first principles and creating high-value content. Currently, he is the Head of Community at Threado and hosts another podcast called The Undefeated Underdogs.

👉🏼 Where to find Arjun:

  • Doola: https://www.doola.com/
  • Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/arjunmahadevan
  • Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahadevanarjun/

👉🏼 Where to find Sharath:

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