Launch Now (Rule #1)

In Episode 1 of our 22-part Y Combinator Pocket Guide series, Arjun Mahadevan breaks down Rule #1: Launch Now. Most founders hide in "stealth mode" because they’re afraid of a product that doesn’t work. But the truth is, indifference kills startups, not a messy launch.

Arjun shares the "embarrassing" early days of doola, starting with no backend, no dashboard, and nothing but an Airtable and manual paperwork. This messy start was the only way to prove people would actually pay.
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BUSINESS-IN-A-BOX™ FOR E-COMMERCE:
Your entire E-Commerce back office. All in one platform. We handle all the unsexy yet critical back-office tasks, from entity formation and bookkeeping to business analytics and tax filings, so you can focus on growing your dream business. Schedule your demo today!
https://www.doola.com/?utm_source=you...

CONNECT W/ ME:
X (Twitter): https://x.com/ArjunMahadevan
LinkedIn:   / mahadevanarjun  
Instagram:   / ceo.arjunmahadevan  
Instagram:   / doolahq  
TikTok:   / ceo.arjunmahadevan  

ABOUT ME:
If you’re new to my channel, my name is Arjun Mahadevan. I’m the founder and CEO of doola.com—the Business-in-a-Box™ for E-Commerce. We help entrepreneurs incorporate, get EINs and bank accounts, and handle compliance like bookkeeping and taxes—so they can focus on building. Given this is the internet and anyone can claim anything, I’ll give you some stuff you can google to verify below.

How I got here…

21 yrs old: Graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School of Business with a BA in Mathematics and a BS in Economics with a Statistics concentration.

21 yrs old: Landed a job at Dropbox—my "dream job."

24 yrs old: Realized my dream job wasn’t my dream and left. I had the itch to build.

25 yrs old: Started doola to help global founders launch U.S. businesses.

26 yrs old: Went through YCombinator, pitched at demo day, and raised our $3M+ seed round.

27 yrs old: Raised our $8M+ Series A from investors like Nexus Venture Partners, the YCombinator Continuity fund and more.

29 yrs old: Raised a strategic round of $1M+ in funding from HubSpot Ventures and strategic angels like Codie Sanchez and Graham Stephan,

30 years old: Scaled doola into a global business, with customers in over 175 countries and over 10,000 customers served.

Today: We’re on a mission to help 1B founders start and scale their dream business. Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not, and I’m all in on e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and enabling builders. If you’re a founder who wants to spend less time on admin and more time growing your business, we built doola for you.

To all the entrepreneurs out there building, I’m rooting for you.

Starting an LLC, sending an email, and talking to a stranger are all examples of asymmetric upside, and life is too short not to shoot your shot and do the damn thing.

Keep on climbing cringe mountain.

Keep on shooting your shot.

And ignore the crabs,

Arjun