[00:01] Would you lock yourself in your office
[00:02] and refuse to leave until your company
[00:04] hit 1,000 new customers?
[00:09] How many nights you think you'd last?
[00:11] >> There we go. That looks nice.
[00:12] >> And if every night was worth $40,000 in
[00:15] revenue, when would you finally go home?
[00:18] That's exactly what Arjun Maha did. He's
[00:21] the CEO of Doula, a company that helps
[00:23] anyone start an LLC and handle all the
[00:25] other messy stuff that comes with
[00:26] running a business. how many days will
[00:28] it take to form 1,000 LLC's?
[00:31] >> And for 23 days straight, he worked,
[00:34] ate, and slept inside his New York City
[00:36] office. While his mission was simple,
[00:38] form 10,000 LLC's before he could go
[00:41] home, the results were staggering.
[00:43] >> 64. We're cooking
[00:45] >> $1 million in revenue in just 3 weeks.
[00:50] So, this doesn't look very long, but I
[00:53] guess it is. Yeah. And in this video,
[00:55] we're breaking down exactly how he
[00:57] pulled it off. From the founder mindset
[00:58] that keeps him motivated to the business
[01:00] model that turns Doula's website traffic
[01:02] into real paying customers. Now,
[01:04] originally, I was supposed to join him,
[01:06] move into his office for 24 hours, and
[01:08] see if I could survive this challenge,
[01:11] but then I got this message. So, for
[01:14] Arjun, that means he finally gets to go
[01:16] home tonight. And for me, I guess I
[01:18] won't be needing this. But I made the
[01:21] best of it anyway. I sat down with Arjun
[01:23] for a full day to learn what makes Doula
[01:25] successful and yes, grill him on how
[01:27] many times he fell off the futon.
[01:29] >> Twice in 23 days.
[01:31] >> Wow. All right. Now that you have all
[01:32] that information, let's dive into it.
[01:36] >> There's some restriction against
[01:37] actually living in the office.
[01:39] >> Really?
[01:40] >> There might be. Turns out it's a bit of
[01:42] a gray area.
[01:43] >> So, tell us what Doula is.
[01:45] >> We're a business in a box for LLC's,
[01:47] LLC, bookkeeping, taxes, e-commerce
[01:50] analytics, all in one place. The idea
[01:51] for Doula came from a failure. Arjun's
[01:54] first startup died under the weight of
[01:55] administrative work and he ended up
[01:57] losing $30,000 in legal and accounting
[01:59] fees. That's when he realized the killer
[02:01] wasn't his idea or his effort. It was
[02:03] wasting time on all the extra steps.
[02:05] >> But the thing that ate me the most was
[02:08] what if I didn't waste time on all that
[02:09] other stuff? Maybe the company could
[02:11] have worked. And then what I wanted was,
[02:13] you know, the Staples easy button.
[02:14] >> That was easy.
[02:15] >> Like that was easy. I wanted that for a
[02:17] company. Start it. your bank accounts
[02:19] connected, your payments, your
[02:20] bookkeeping, your taxes, all in one
[02:22] place.
[02:22] >> So, how many companies have you helped
[02:24] form LLC's for today?
[02:25] >> We've done over 10,000 from over 175
[02:28] countries.
[02:29] >> Okay, so Duel launched in 2020, which
[02:30] means if we do the math, we can average
[02:32] that to about 2,000 LLC's a year. So,
[02:35] getting 1,000 new customers in just 23
[02:37] days meant Arjun pulled off about 6
[02:39] months worth of growth in just over 3
[02:42] weeks, unlocking a whole new level of
[02:44] momentum for his business. That line I
[02:45] say every single week is talent is
[02:47] everywhere but opportunity isn't.
[02:48] >> So from a failed startup to helping over
[02:50] 10,000 entrepreneurs launch their
[02:52] companies, Arjun's goal is to one day
[02:54] reach a billion founders.
[02:55] >> Do you have an LLC?
[02:57] >> No.
[02:58] >> Not yet.
[02:59] >> Not yet. Maybe after today.
[03:00] >> Do you have an
[03:02] >> If you were to start a business, what's
[03:03] like that crazy idea you've never told
[03:05] anyone and now you can say it?
[03:07] >> My god. Um
[03:10] I don't even know. I'll think about it.
[03:12] >> Okay.
[03:13] Um, can we get a tour?
[03:15] >> Yes. The typical actual day is I'll come
[03:19] in. I have a work phone and I have a
[03:20] personal phone. I keep them over here.
[03:22] Even just having my phones here versus
[03:24] over on my desk. I don't touch them
[03:26] during the day cuz it's just enough
[03:27] friction. I took everyone's phones at
[03:28] 10:30. We put them in a bag. No phones
[03:30] during lunch, too. I taught everyone
[03:32] about attention residue, which is if you
[03:34] look at your phone or look at something
[03:35] else, it lingers in your mind. So, we
[03:36] went no phones. But, uh, that's like the
[03:38] first hack is I'll literally just leave
[03:39] my phones in here so that I don't touch
[03:40] them during the day. This is the futon
[03:43] bed which is now assembled.
[03:45] >> And after 3 weeks, he got his futon
[03:47] making skills down to a science.
[03:48] >> Time to make bed. Ready, set, go. 26
[03:52] seconds. 12 seconds. 23 seconds. 21
[03:55] seconds. This is the orange room, we
[03:58] call it, cuz of orange chairs. We will
[04:00] use this for team lunches and if there's
[04:03] meetings, too.
[04:04] >> Oh, and if at any point during the video
[04:06] you're wondering, "Hey, Payton, why are
[04:07] there no other employees at the office?
[04:09] Where is everybody? It's a holiday
[04:11] today. We are hybrid. So folks in New
[04:13] York come in Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
[04:15] >> And how many people work out of this
[04:16] office?
[04:17] >> In this office, there are usually on a
[04:20] given week 5 to seven people. There are
[04:23] over 70 total. Then this room where we
[04:26] >> This is where the YouTube magic happens,
[04:28] >> right? This is where we can record
[04:30] educational content, which goes on the
[04:32] Doula channel. And then
[04:34] um there's this coffee machine, then the
[04:35] espresso machine here. And then in the
[04:38] morning, what I'll do is I'll literally
[04:39] just make that shake there. I just keep
[04:40] a stack of paper here. LinkedIn, you can
[04:42] see people's birthdays. We actually do
[04:44] this. We'll wish people happy birthday,
[04:45] but then I'll actually ask people like,
[04:46] "Hey, like I'll I want to send you
[04:48] something." And not everyone responds,
[04:49] but I'll just write like a little
[04:50] handwritten note and we'll send it to
[04:52] them. And um I'll give them an LLC for
[04:54] their birthday.
[04:54] >> Who is this going to? Employees or just
[04:56] like anybody?
[04:57] >> Could be anyone. Anyone. It's like
[04:58] anyone I'm connected with. So,
[05:00] >> and guess what? He means anyone. A few
[05:03] weeks after I visited, I actually got a
[05:05] LinkedIn DM and a birthday card from
[05:07] Arjun with a free LLC inside, which
[05:09] means I have no excuse to not start my
[05:11] own business. I guess I should whip up
[05:13] an LLC and see how Doula actually works.
[05:15] All right, so I'm about to log into
[05:18] doula.com to create my free LLC that
[05:21] Arjun gifted me. So I'm going to log in
[05:23] here and click create free account. Just
[05:26] start typing in my information. Which
[05:28] country do you reside in? United States.
[05:31] What kind of business are you building?
[05:33] What is your desired company name? I
[05:36] don't know. I didn't think this one
[05:38] through.
[05:40] Pack Productions.
[05:42] Which state do you want to form your
[05:43] business in? New Jersey. For today, I'm
[05:47] going to go with the starter plan
[05:48] because that's where I want to start and
[05:50] that's also what Arjun gifted me an LLC
[05:53] for. All right. Here, I'm going to add
[05:54] in my code. Usually, you would just go
[05:56] and pay and there you go. I have a free
[05:58] LLC. The only thing you would have to do
[06:00] is pay for the state that you reside in.
[06:03] And every state is a little bit
[06:04] different. But for the sake of this, I
[06:07] live in New Jersey. And now we just keep
[06:09] moving forward. All right, we're done.
[06:12] It was as simple as that. Thanks,
[06:13] Arjent.
[06:14] >> And then after that, the thing which I
[06:17] do at the pre the end of the previous
[06:19] day is I go through my task list and I
[06:21] already know what I want to work on. I
[06:23] usually do this is I'll go to sleep in
[06:24] my workout clothes. So like when I wake
[06:26] up, I just don't have to think about
[06:27] anything. Um, same way here for work. I
[06:29] know exactly what tasks, like at least
[06:31] the first couple of tasks I want to
[06:32] start working on and then I can hit the
[06:34] desk right away there. Or I've looked at
[06:35] my calendar the night before. So today I
[06:36] knew I had two interviews and can jump
[06:38] right into that. All right. Do you want
[06:39] to make a shake or we can use the Ninja
[06:41] Creamy for protein ice cream?
[06:42] >> Let's do a shake.
[06:43] >> Shake. Okay.
[06:44] >> Within the first 10 minutes of meeting
[06:45] Arjun, it was obvious that his
[06:47] discipline and routine aren't just
[06:48] personal quirks. They're part of what
[06:50] makes Doula successful.
[06:51] >> Press it once. and he shares that
[06:53] mindset with his team, shaping a culture
[06:55] that's built around focus and
[06:56] consistency.
[06:57] >> Does it actually taste good? What do you
[06:58] think?
[06:58] >> Yeah. No, I think it tastes good. I
[07:00] taste the peanut butter. I
[07:00] >> I think it's really good. Now, I I have
[07:02] an interview in 3 minutes. So, what I'll
[07:04] I'll do is when no one's in the office,
[07:06] sometimes I'll just do the interviews
[07:08] from here. I'll probably just do that
[07:09] here. The way we run the interview
[07:11] process, it's actually fully based off
[07:13] of this is the best book on hiring I've
[07:15] read. We took the entire book. That's
[07:17] what we just based our entire hiring
[07:19] process off of. So, the interview I do
[07:20] is the fin it's a focus interview, but
[07:22] it's the final round sort of culture
[07:23] fit. My plan is to do a final round for
[07:26] every single person.
[07:27] >> I have a 5:30 a.m. interview tomorrow.
[07:29] Is there's a candidate in Europe who
[07:31] we're interviewing. So, I offered slots
[07:33] as early as I'd be up. So, 5:30 to 10:30
[07:36] a.m.
[07:36] >> I did an interview on Tuesday. At the
[07:38] end, I asked, "Do you have any
[07:39] questions?" And the candidate said,
[07:40] "How's your futon?" So, they they've
[07:43] been they've been watching the
[07:44] challenge, too.
[07:45] >> That's when I started to realize this
[07:46] wasn't just a personal experiment. It
[07:48] was a tactical business strategy. By
[07:50] vlogging the challenge every day, Arjun
[07:52] was creating a story that no one else
[07:54] can replicate. And it was doing more
[07:56] than just bringing in customers. It was
[07:58] attracting investors and new hires who
[08:00] wanted to be a part of the company.
[08:02] >> They've just learned so much about your
[08:03] personality, what the company's doing.
[08:05] They see the challenge and they're like,
[08:06] "Wow, this seems like a cool place where
[08:07] I'd like to work." So, 50 on day one,
[08:10] 950 remaining, and then we'll we'll add
[08:12] the count here as we go. Hey, how's it
[08:14] going? Fantastic. Great to meet you.
[08:16] Very first question, you could work
[08:18] anywhere in the world. Uh, any type of
[08:20] company, tech, could be outside of tech.
[08:22] Why would you want to work at Doula
[08:24] versus anything you could be doing?
[08:25] >> I was taking notes on Arjun's interview
[08:27] process and there was one specific
[08:28] question that blew my mind.
[08:30] >> Let's say we do the debrief and we come
[08:33] back and we say, "Hey, Criselle, we
[08:35] thought there was a good fit, but not a
[08:37] great fit. Why do you think that might
[08:39] be the case?"
[08:40] >> Once the interview is over, I
[08:41] immediately needed to know why he asked
[08:44] that. The goal of that question is
[08:45] actually to one see if people can be
[08:49] critical about themselves because no
[08:50] one's a perfect fit. So it's actually a
[08:52] check on if someone's like there's
[08:53] nothing wrong like there's zero that's a
[08:55] bit of a red flag.
[08:56] >> Yeah.
[08:56] >> Um it also gives them a chance to
[08:58] directly address what might not be a
[09:00] good fit.
[09:01] >> Uh so we can address it up front. So
[09:03] >> yeah, that was a good question.
[09:05] >> Okay. What a morning we're cooking. One
[09:08] of my morning commentaries to myself was
[09:10] I think that just because it's a holiday
[09:12] doesn't mean you don't have to work or
[09:13] you can work. But then also the opposite
[09:15] goes just because it's a work day
[09:16] doesn't mean you can't rest and recover
[09:18] too.
[09:18] >> On the weekends I I like to do the same
[09:20] thing.
[09:21] >> It became clear to me that weekends and
[09:22] holidays don't change much for Arjun.
[09:24] While I'll use Saturday and Sundays to
[09:26] ride on my couch and binge Netflix,
[09:28] Arjun is still working. His mindset is
[09:31] simple. If you love the work you do, you
[09:33] don't need to live for Friday. And that
[09:35] shaped how he approached every single
[09:36] day of this challenge.
[09:38] >> I never want to. One of my life goals is
[09:40] I never want to live for the weekend.
[09:42] That sounds It sounds kind of miserable
[09:43] if I have to just wait till Saturday to
[09:44] enjoy. Like no, I'll do that on a
[09:46] Tuesday. So someone started on Fridays
[09:48] in our random channel. And it is cess 2
[09:51] Brazilian slang. Sex t o for it's
[09:54] Friday. Let's go. Although again, every
[09:55] day of the week should be on Friday.
[09:57] They started posting on Friday and I was
[09:58] like that's awesome, but we shouldn't
[09:59] 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
[17:11] to hit that little button in the corner.
[17:12] You know what I'm talking about. See
[17:14] you.