I Spent 24hrs with the Most Driven Tech Founder I've Met

0:43

>> 64. We're cooking

0:45

>> $1 million in revenue in just 3 weeks.

0:50

So, this doesn't look very long, but I

0:53

guess it is. Yeah. And in this video,

0:55

we're breaking down exactly how he

0:57

pulled it off. From the founder mindset

0:58

that keeps him motivated to the business

1:00

model that turns Doula's website traffic

1:02

into real paying customers. Now,

1:04

originally, I was supposed to join him,

1:06

move into his office for 24 hours, and

1:08

see if I could survive this challenge,

1:11

but then I got this message. So, for

1:14

Arjun, that means he finally gets to go

1:16

home tonight. And for me, I guess I

1:18

won't be needing this. But I made the

1:21

best of it anyway. I sat down with Arjun

1:23

for a full day to learn what makes Doula

1:25

successful and yes, grill him on how

1:27

many times he fell off the futon.

1:29

>> Twice in 23 days.

1:31

>> Wow. All right. Now that you have all

1:32

that information, let's dive into it.

1:36

>> There's some restriction against

1:37

actually living in the office.

1:39

>> Really?

1:40

>> There might be. Turns out it's a bit of

1:42

a gray area.

1:43

>> So, tell us what Doula is.

1:45

>> We're a business in a box for LLC's,

1:47

LLC, bookkeeping, taxes, e-commerce

1:50

analytics, all in one place. The idea

1:51

for Doula came from a failure. Arjun's

1:54

first startup died under the weight of

1:55

administrative work and he ended up

1:57

losing $30,000 in legal and accounting

1:59

fees. That's when he realized the killer

2:01

wasn't his idea or his effort. It was

2:03

wasting time on all the extra steps.

2:05

>> But the thing that ate me the most was

2:08

what if I didn't waste time on all that

2:09

other stuff? Maybe the company could

2:11

have worked. And then what I wanted was,

2:13

you know, the Staples easy button.

2:14

>> That was easy.

2:15

>> Like that was easy. I wanted that for a

2:17

company. Start it. your bank accounts

2:19

connected, your payments, your

2:20

bookkeeping, your taxes, all in one

2:22

place.

2:22

>> So, how many companies have you helped

2:24

form LLC's for today?

2:25

>> We've done over 10,000 from over 175

2:28

countries.

2:29

>> Okay, so Duel launched in 2020, which

2:30

means if we do the math, we can average

2:32

that to about 2,000 LLC's a year. So,

2:35

getting 1,000 new customers in just 23

2:37

days meant Arjun pulled off about 6

2:39

months worth of growth in just over 3

2:42

weeks, unlocking a whole new level of

2:44

momentum for his business. That line I

2:45

say every single week is talent is

2:47

everywhere but opportunity isn't.

2:48

>> So from a failed startup to helping over

2:50

10,000 entrepreneurs launch their

2:52

companies, Arjun's goal is to one day

2:54

reach a billion founders.

2:55

>> Do you have an LLC?

2:57

>> No.

2:58

>> Not yet.

2:59

>> Not yet. Maybe after today.

3:00

>> Do you have an

3:02

>> If you were to start a business, what's

3:03

like that crazy idea you've never told

3:05

anyone and now you can say it?

3:07

>> My god. Um

3:10

I don't even know. I'll think about it.

3:12

>> Okay.

3:13

Um, can we get a tour?

3:15

>> Yes. The typical actual day is I'll come

3:19

in. I have a work phone and I have a

3:20

personal phone. I keep them over here.

3:22

Even just having my phones here versus

3:24

over on my desk. I don't touch them

3:26

during the day cuz it's just enough

3:27

friction. I took everyone's phones at

3:28

10:30. We put them in a bag. No phones

3:30

during lunch, too. I taught everyone

3:32

about attention residue, which is if you

3:34

look at your phone or look at something

3:35

else, it lingers in your mind. So, we

3:36

went no phones. But, uh, that's like the

3:38

first hack is I'll literally just leave

3:39

my phones in here so that I don't touch

3:40

them during the day. This is the futon

3:43

bed which is now assembled.

3:45

>> And after 3 weeks, he got his futon

3:47

making skills down to a science.

3:48

>> Time to make bed. Ready, set, go. 26

3:52

seconds. 12 seconds. 23 seconds. 21

3:55

seconds. This is the orange room, we

3:58

call it, cuz of orange chairs. We will

4:00

use this for team lunches and if there's

4:03

meetings, too.

4:04

>> Oh, and if at any point during the video

4:06

you're wondering, "Hey, Payton, why are

4:07

there no other employees at the office?

4:09

Where is everybody? It's a holiday

4:11

today. We are hybrid. So folks in New

4:13

York come in Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

4:15

>> And how many people work out of this

4:16

office?

4:17

>> In this office, there are usually on a

4:20

given week 5 to seven people. There are

4:23

over 70 total. Then this room where we

4:26

>> This is where the YouTube magic happens,

4:28

>> right? This is where we can record

4:30

educational content, which goes on the

4:32

Doula channel. And then

4:34

um there's this coffee machine, then the

4:35

espresso machine here. And then in the

4:38

morning, what I'll do is I'll literally

4:39

just make that shake there. I just keep

4:40

a stack of paper here. LinkedIn, you can

4:42

see people's birthdays. We actually do

4:44

this. We'll wish people happy birthday,

4:45

but then I'll actually ask people like,

4:46

"Hey, like I'll I want to send you

4:48

something." And not everyone responds,

4:49

but I'll just write like a little

4:50

handwritten note and we'll send it to

4:52

them. And um I'll give them an LLC for

4:54

their birthday.

4:54

>> Who is this going to? Employees or just

4:56

like anybody?

4:57

>> Could be anyone. Anyone. It's like

4:58

anyone I'm connected with. So,

5:00

>> and guess what? He means anyone. A few

5:03

weeks after I visited, I actually got a

5:05

LinkedIn DM and a birthday card from

5:07

Arjun with a free LLC inside, which

5:09

means I have no excuse to not start my

5:11

own business. I guess I should whip up

5:13

an LLC and see how Doula actually works.

5:15

All right, so I'm about to log into

5:18

doula.com to create my free LLC that

5:21

Arjun gifted me. So I'm going to log in

5:23

here and click create free account. Just

5:26

start typing in my information. Which

5:28

country do you reside in? United States.

5:31

What kind of business are you building?

5:33

What is your desired company name? I

5:36

don't know. I didn't think this one

5:38

through.

5:40

Pack Productions.

5:42

Which state do you want to form your

5:43

business in? New Jersey. For today, I'm

5:47

going to go with the starter plan

5:48

because that's where I want to start and

5:50

that's also what Arjun gifted me an LLC

5:53

for. All right. Here, I'm going to add

5:54

in my code. Usually, you would just go

5:56

and pay and there you go. I have a free

5:58

LLC. The only thing you would have to do

6:00

is pay for the state that you reside in.

6:03

And every state is a little bit

6:04

different. But for the sake of this, I

6:07

live in New Jersey. And now we just keep

6:09

moving forward. All right, we're done.

6:12

It was as simple as that. Thanks,

6:13

Arjent.

6:14

>> And then after that, the thing which I

6:17

do at the pre the end of the previous

6:19

day is I go through my task list and I

6:21

already know what I want to work on. I

6:23

usually do this is I'll go to sleep in

6:24

my workout clothes. So like when I wake

6:26

up, I just don't have to think about

6:27

anything. Um, same way here for work. I

6:29

know exactly what tasks, like at least

6:31

the first couple of tasks I want to

6:32

start working on and then I can hit the

6:34

desk right away there. Or I've looked at

6:35

my calendar the night before. So today I

6:36

knew I had two interviews and can jump

6:38

right into that. All right. Do you want

6:39

to make a shake or we can use the Ninja

6:41

Creamy for protein ice cream?

6:42

>> Let's do a shake.

6:43

>> Shake. Okay.

6:44

>> Within the first 10 minutes of meeting

6:45

Arjun, it was obvious that his

6:47

discipline and routine aren't just

6:48

personal quirks. They're part of what

6:50

makes Doula successful.

6:51

>> Press it once. and he shares that

6:53

mindset with his team, shaping a culture

6:55

that's built around focus and

6:56

consistency.

6:57

>> Does it actually taste good? What do you

6:58

think?

6:58

>> Yeah. No, I think it tastes good. I

7:00

taste the peanut butter. I

7:00

>> I think it's really good. Now, I I have

7:02

an interview in 3 minutes. So, what I'll

7:04

I'll do is when no one's in the office,

7:06

sometimes I'll just do the interviews

7:08

from here. I'll probably just do that

7:09

here. The way we run the interview

7:11

process, it's actually fully based off

7:13

of this is the best book on hiring I've

7:15

read. We took the entire book. That's

7:17

what we just based our entire hiring

7:19

process off of. So, the interview I do

7:20

is the fin it's a focus interview, but

7:22

it's the final round sort of culture

7:23

fit. My plan is to do a final round for

7:26

every single person.

7:27

>> I have a 5:30 a.m. interview tomorrow.

7:29

Is there's a candidate in Europe who

7:31

we're interviewing. So, I offered slots

7:33

as early as I'd be up. So, 5:30 to 10:30

7:36

a.m.

7:36

>> I did an interview on Tuesday. At the

7:38

end, I asked, "Do you have any

7:39

questions?" And the candidate said,

7:40

"How's your futon?" So, they they've

7:43

been they've been watching the

7:44

challenge, too.

7:45

>> That's when I started to realize this

7:46

wasn't just a personal experiment. It

7:48

was a tactical business strategy. By

7:50

vlogging the challenge every day, Arjun

7:52

was creating a story that no one else

7:54

can replicate. And it was doing more

7:56

than just bringing in customers. It was

7:58

attracting investors and new hires who

8:00

wanted to be a part of the company.

8:02

>> They've just learned so much about your

8:03

personality, what the company's doing.

8:05

They see the challenge and they're like,

8:06

"Wow, this seems like a cool place where

8:07

I'd like to work." So, 50 on day one,

8:10

950 remaining, and then we'll we'll add

8:12

the count here as we go. Hey, how's it

8:14

going? Fantastic. Great to meet you.

8:16

Very first question, you could work

8:18

anywhere in the world. Uh, any type of

8:20

company, tech, could be outside of tech.

8:22

Why would you want to work at Doula

8:24

versus anything you could be doing?

8:25

>> I was taking notes on Arjun's interview

8:27

process and there was one specific

8:28

question that blew my mind.

8:30

>> Let's say we do the debrief and we come

8:33

back and we say, "Hey, Criselle, we

8:35

thought there was a good fit, but not a

8:37

great fit. Why do you think that might

8:39

be the case?"

8:40

>> Once the interview is over, I

8:41

immediately needed to know why he asked

8:44

that. The goal of that question is

8:45

actually to one see if people can be

8:49

critical about themselves because no

8:50

one's a perfect fit. So it's actually a

8:52

check on if someone's like there's

8:53

nothing wrong like there's zero that's a

8:55

bit of a red flag.

8:56

>> Yeah.

8:56

>> Um it also gives them a chance to

8:58

directly address what might not be a

9:00

good fit.

9:01

>> Uh so we can address it up front. So

9:03

>> yeah, that was a good question.

9:05

>> Okay. What a morning we're cooking. One

9:08

of my morning commentaries to myself was

9:10

I think that just because it's a holiday

9:12

doesn't mean you don't have to work or

9:13

you can work. But then also the opposite

9:15

goes just because it's a work day

9:16

doesn't mean you can't rest and recover

9:18

too.

9:18

>> On the weekends I I like to do the same

9:20

thing.

9:21

>> It became clear to me that weekends and

9:22

holidays don't change much for Arjun.

9:24

While I'll use Saturday and Sundays to

9:26

ride on my couch and binge Netflix,

9:28

Arjun is still working. His mindset is

9:31

simple. If you love the work you do, you

9:33

don't need to live for Friday. And that

9:35

shaped how he approached every single

9:36

day of this challenge.

9:38

>> I never want to. One of my life goals is

9:40

I never want to live for the weekend.

9:42

That sounds It sounds kind of miserable

9:43

if I have to just wait till Saturday to

9:44

enjoy. Like no, I'll do that on a

9:46

Tuesday. So someone started on Fridays

9:48

in our random channel. And it is cess 2

9:51

Brazilian slang. Sex t o for it's

9:54

Friday. Let's go. Although again, every

9:55

day of the week should be on Friday.

9:57

They started posting on Friday and I was

9:58

like that's awesome, but we shouldn't

9:59

have to wait till Friday. So, I found

10:01

the equivalent for Tuesday and then I

10:02

started posting it on Tuesday.

10:03

>> As I was coming back, I was thinking one

10:05

thing. I know there's going to be

10:06

questions of, "Oh, if you weren't

10:08

filming this, would you actually on a

10:10

Friday be sleeping?" You can ask my

10:12

friends. The answer is most likely yes.

10:15

>> Tell us a little bit about why you

10:16

decided to do the 1,00 LLC challenge.

10:19

>> I think one day I was just on the

10:20

stairstepper in the morning and I tend

10:22

to just get good ideas then because I

10:24

guess I'm moving. The idea was what is

10:26

something we could put out that's so

10:28

unique to Doula no one else can do

10:30

>> and now we'll finish off with the 5-year

10:33

journal

10:34

>> I thought could be content which has

10:36

viral top ofunnel potential I thought it

10:38

was something which I could do now like

10:40

it'll just get harder to do this in the

10:42

future like I don't know if I had a pet

10:44

or kids like if you it's maybe not

10:46

impossible to like very much harder to

10:48

do that then showed some of the team

10:50

some footage and they were like oh damn

10:51

this is we can actually turn this into

10:53

something

10:53

>> was it harder or easier easier than you

10:54

expected.

10:57

>> It was easier than I expected. Most of

11:00

my days before this were very similar.

11:02

The only difference is at the end of the

11:04

day, I would do the same, I don't know,

11:06

brush my teeth, wash my face that I do

11:08

at home, and go to sleep. And then when

11:09

I wake up, I would do the same things

11:11

I'm doing here, just at home in a

11:13

smaller place.

11:14

>> There's a very good chance, folks, given

11:16

the rate that we've seen, we're going

11:18

home in less than 4 weeks.

11:20

I have tried to structure as much of my

11:22

life around the the business working and

11:24

like the business success, but the

11:26

business to me is again the vehicle.

11:28

It's a growth vehicle for us having an

11:29

impact, but a growth vehicle for me too.

11:31

Well, well, well. The count is 84. So,

11:36

that takes us up to -17. It took 23 days

11:40

to hit 1,000. The universe saw and said,

11:42

"I'm going to help you out and help send

11:44

you home." 1,000. Let's go.

11:47

>> Okay. So, we did it. 1,000 new LLC's in

11:50

just 23 days. Now, the question is, how

11:53

does Doula even get customers, let alone

11:56

1,000 new ones in just over 3 weeks?

11:58

Well, I had Arjun show me. For over an

12:00

hour, we sat down as he drew out Doula's

12:02

sales funnel and walked me through the

12:04

journey of a customer. But this is a lot

12:06

and pretty confusing, so I'll make it a

12:08

lot more simple.

12:11

At the bottom of the funnel, there are

12:12

three plans. The starter plan at $297 a

12:16

year, which covers just the LLC. Next,

12:18

the mid-tier plan at $2,000 a year,

12:20

which adds taxes, and the top plan at

12:23

$3,000 a year, which also includes

12:25

bookkeeping. About 80% of people start

12:27

at the $297 plan. But as their

12:30

businesses grow, they realize it's

12:32

easier to let Doula handle taxes and

12:34

bookkeeping, too. So, they upgrade their

12:35

plan later on. Now, let's move up the

12:38

funnel. At the very top, the TAM is

12:40

huge. Anyone with an internet

12:42

connection. That's 4 billion people. But

12:46

in reality, only about 5 million people

12:48

a year are actively starting or planning

12:50

to start a business. And those people

12:52

are entering the funnel in three ways.

12:54

Searching online, stopping their scroll

12:56

on content, and hearing about Doula from

12:58

someone in their network. And Doula

13:00

turns those moments into customers

13:02

through three main channels. One, paid

13:04

search on Google. If you type start an

13:07

LLC, Doula is bidding for a top ad spot

13:09

that leads to their site. Two, referrals

13:12

and partnerships. For example, an Amazon

13:14

FBA YouTuber might send their viewers

13:16

directly to Doula. In exchange, partners

13:18

earn 50% commission on any plan sold.

13:21

All right, let's pause. Doula turned

13:23

partnerships from a nice to have into a

13:25

core growth driver for their business.

13:27

If you want to learn how they built over

13:28

2,000 partnerships that generate six

13:30

figures for top performers, we have a

13:33

bonus video linked in the description

13:34

where Arjun breaks down the entire

13:36

funnel. He explains why it works, the

13:38

commission structure, and the

13:39

relationship strategies he uses every

13:41

day. Grab it down below. Let's get back

13:43

to the video. And finally, word of

13:45

mouth. Duela's strongest channel. It

13:47

costs nothing. Anyone can create a free

13:49

account, get a referral link, and earn

13:51

the same 50% commission. Once someone

13:53

lands on doula.com, they can either

13:55

create a free account instantly or book

13:57

a demo with a team member. But only a

14:00

small fraction converts. Roughly two out

14:02

of every 100 visitors. That meant to

14:04

reach 1,000 new LLC's in 23 days, Doula

14:07

needed about 50 new daily signups, which

14:10

requires about 2,500 people to have

14:13

visited the site every single day during

14:15

the challenge. According to Arjun, it

14:17

was the most LLC's the company has ever

14:19

averaged in a month. And when I asked

14:21

why it happened, here's what he said.

14:23

>> I'd like to think people see the

14:25

challenge, they're like, "Oh, that's

14:26

cool. I now want to go start my company

14:27

with Doula." I think it's it's been too

14:30

soon for that feedback loop to really

14:31

kick in, but I think the universe saw

14:33

we're doing the challenge and said,

14:34

"Hey, let's help out here."

14:35

>> Now, let's talk about money. Normally,

14:37

when customers first sign up, about 80%

14:40

choose the starter plan, and the other

14:42

20% pick a higher priced plan. If those

14:44

numbers had held, Doula would have

14:46

generated around $750,000

14:49

in revenue. But it just so happened this

14:51

time more than 20% of customers went

14:53

straight for the premium priced plans.

14:55

And that pushed total revenue for the

14:56

challenge to just over $1 million.

15:00

>> Are you feeling sad that you have to

15:02

leave?

15:02

>> It's a little bittersweet.

15:04

>> Yeah. Well, if you ever do do the

15:05

challenge again, make sure to invite me

15:07

back.

15:08

>> Well, no. We'll manifest this. I think

15:09

at some point we will have to do 10,000.

15:11

>> It's time to go home.

15:13

>> Journal here. Pillow and blanket stay in

15:15

there. And I got all my supplements

15:18

here. Have you ever used one of these

15:19

masks before?

15:20

>> Never.

15:21

>> We got some good content doing the mask.

15:24

Okay, that is

15:27

everything.

15:28

>> After 3 weeks of sleeping on a futon and

15:30

eating protein shakes for breakfast and

15:32

dinner, Arjun finally got to go home.

15:34

>> We're packing up. So, I decided to tag

15:36

along.

15:37

>> Moment of truth.

15:38

>> Let's see what's inside. Do I leave it a

15:39

mess? Did I leave it

15:40

>> 23 days later and you're home?

15:43

>> And his apartment was nothing like I

15:45

expected. It was small. Really small.

15:49

>> This is way smaller than what I thought

15:51

it was.

15:52

I really don't spend much time here, so

15:54

I didn't want to spend more than I

15:56

really needed to for a bigger apartment.

15:58

Could have spent a bit more and get

16:00

meaningfully more space, but at the time

16:01

I was just like, "This is fine. The

16:02

location's really good." And because it

16:04

is so small, like when I wake up here, I

16:06

just don't really want to lie in bed

16:08

>> cuz I I can look up and everything's

16:09

just here. It's like, "No, I kind of

16:10

want to get out." But then when I come

16:12

home, it's nice cuz I'm just like,

16:13

"Yeah, I'm tired. I'm going to sleep."

16:14

It really is just a place to sleep and

16:15

like wake up and then have the

16:18

essentials. Standing there in his

16:20

apartment, it clicked. Arjun is

16:22

intentional with every decision he

16:24

makes. I mean, from planning his

16:26

mornings the night before to not

16:28

touching his phone in the office to not

16:30

overspending on an apartment he barely

16:31

spends time in. I learned that success

16:34

for Arjun isn't about having the

16:35

fanciest things. It's about building

16:37

systems that make progress inevitable.

16:40

And this is just the beginning. I'm

16:42

Arjun Mahadavan and this is my

16:45

apartment. I have my bed. I have my

16:47

kitchen. I have my bathroom right here.

16:49

Beautiful little tiny thing. And I have

16:53

my scale. There is a nice little balcony

16:56

that I have. Small, but it's mighty.

16:59

Well, that's all we got time for today.

17:01

Thanks for watching this episode of

17:02

Stories of Scale. I'm Payton, and I'll

17:04

be back soon with more founders, more

17:06

stories, and more chaos. All right,

17:09

thanks for watching, and uh don't forget

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to hit that little button in the corner.

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You know what I'm talking about. See

17:14

you.

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