Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
We first bonded in middle school, initially over basketball and common classes, but our connection soon grew deeper. As our friendship evolved, we discovered shared dreams and ambitions that led us to become business partners.
Quickly, we embraced a philosophy that would guide our entrepreneurial endeavors: always be building. Over time, this simple principle has become more than a motto; it’s a mindset that continues to shape our lives, inspiring us to learn and innovate through every project we undertake.
Our first startup was Workbee Holidays. The idea stemmed from personal experiences after we both noticed how finding a reliable, responsive, and fair-priced Christmas lights installer was a real pain during the festive season. To address this issue, we created an app and partnered with local Christmas lights installers. Instead of endless calls to contractors or frustrating negotiations, WorkBee users simply take a picture of their house, highlight where they want lights installed, and we connect them with reputable installers. No more contractors going from house to house to give quotes, no more endless phone negotiations, and no more trips from store to store to buy the right decoration materials. Our app was designed to streamline the entire installation process, transforming it into a user-friendly experience.
When we first launched Workbee, we thought the most challenging part would be building the platform itself. But we soon realized that the work had only begun. The real journey, and our most valuable takeaway, came from the intricacies of customer service. We found ourselves handling hundreds of sales calls, learning to negotiate, and resolving disputes when installations didn’t go as planned. These hands-on experiences not only shaped our skills but also taught us the importance of empathy and communication in business. As a result, Workbee grew to 1100 users, achieved 50k in sales, and we even managed to raise 12k in funding for it, but the customer service lessons we learned were priceless.
Workbee’s success was thrilling, but what really kept us going was what we did during the off-season. Since Workbee is a seasonal business, we had time on our hands, and that’s where our philosophy of “always be building” kicked in. We had daily calls where we’d discuss business ideas that we could work on during WorkBee’s offseason.
We took inspiration from an episode of Black Mirror. I know… A little psychotic now that we think about it. But we thought to ourselves, why don’t we stuff some hardware into a stuffed cow and connect it to a large language model to create a talking, conversational companion.
We started by watching videos, and learning about circuits, microphones, and speakers. Then we ordered a plethora of parts from Amazon, spent hours stuffing them into a cow plush toy, and to our surprise, it actually talked! We even had some fun with it, telling it to “act like you’re a sarcastic and disgruntled human whose consciousness got transported into a stuffed animal.”
This project allowed us to gain experience fine-tuning a large language model and building a rapid prototype and we even hope to commercialize it once we have more free time.
Then, during a backpacking trip in Wyoming, the idea for Turbo Learn was born. We needed to distract ourselves from a tough hike, so we started brainstorming. That’s when we realized we could use AI to turn lecture recordings into aesthetically pleasing notes, flashcards, and quizzes. The customer support and sales skills we gained from Workbee helped us recruit 25 people to join our marketing team, and our experience with a large language model taught us how to fine-tune and effectively prompt one for TurboLearn.
I won’t sugarcoat our journey by saying that everything we’ve embarked on has turned into a resounding success. Along the way, we faced challenges, encountered setbacks, and yes, even experienced failures. But rather than defeat us, these moments served as teachers, instilling humility and resilience within us. Our diverse skillsets have complemented each other in interesting ways. Sarthak, for example, created Gradify, an app that students use to check grades, reaching 30k users. Rudy had the opportunity to give a TED talk and intern at a VC fund, gaining insights into the startup world.
These experiences aren’t just individual achievements; they’re the building blocks that have shaped our collaboration and fueled our entrepreneurial journey, demonstrating how our distinct skills and passions come together to create something truly unique.
Whether it’s Workbee’s convenience and growth, our quirky talking toy that became a real project, or TurboLearn’s innovation, our journey is a testament to the power of always building, always learning, always growing. It’s a philosophy that has served us well, and we believe it’s something anyone can embrace to keep their creativity alive and thriving. Adopting this mindset forces you to look at your life from a different lens and constantly be on the lookout for solutions to interesting problems that you’re passionate about solving.
Going forward, our aspiration is straightforward yet bold: to become part of Y Combinator in the coming years. We’re driven by the desire to keep constructing projects that can evolve into impactful ventures or at the very least, equip us with the expertise to establish a tech unicorn capable of addressing global challenges. While our paths will diverge—Rudy at Northwestern and Sarthak at Duke—we’ll continue building together. The immediate horizon centers on growing TurboLearn, with our ultimate aim set on driving positive change with technology.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
In our thirteen years of schooling, we’ve encountered a universal problem: note-taking. It’s a skill that’s vital to success, yet many students struggle to find the right balance.
Take our friend Jenny, for instance. She prides herself on crafting detailed, aesthetically pleasing, and visually rich notes. While her notes are works of art, Jenny often laments that the time spent perfecting them causes her to fall behind in lectures.
Then there are students like us, who prefer to absorb information through listening rather than writing. Our notes often lack detail or legibility, leaving us at a loss when it comes time to review lecture material.
And what about those students who, for various reasons, miss classes? They must depend on peers’ notes, which can vary significantly in quality and substance.
These different experiences have made one thing clear: the way students take notes is far from ideal, and there’s room for a solution that addresses these diverse needs and challenges.
So, we came up with Turbo Learn (www.turbolearn.ai). It’s our way of tackling this note-taking dilemma. Open up our app and simply record a lecture, upload a PDF, or even a YouYube video or webpage link and our system transforms it into detailed notes, flashcards, and quizzes. It’s not just about writing down words, either. We generate diagrams, charts, and visual aids to make sure you’ve got everything you need to really grasp the material.
There’s also a community aspect to TurboLearn, allowing students to share and collaborate with others in their class. It’s like having a study group at your fingertips.
We’re really excited about TurboLearn, not just because we think it’s a cool tool, but because we believe it genuinely tackles a problem we’ve all faced. By bridging the gap between those who, like Jenny, create detailed and beautiful notes and those who, like us, struggle to jot down the essentials, we hope to make studying more efficient and less stressful for everyone.
And hey, for those who miss a class or two? Now they’ve got a reliable way to catch up. It’s a simple solution to a universal challenge, and we can’t wait to see how it helps students like us make the most of their education.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Technical Expertise in a Niche Subject: Our foray into AI began with projects like TurboLearn, where we used machine learning to transform lecture recordings into engaging educational materials. We are still in the process of deepening our knowledge by diving into research papers, participating in AI conferences, and experimenting with different AI frameworks. We strongly believe that mastery in a specialized area leads to unique insights and solutions.
The Ability to Constantly Learn New Things: From building Workbee to creating a talking stuffed animal using large language models, our journey has been filled with continuous learning. This includes everything from learning how to negotiate with Christmas lights installers to fine-tuning large language models. Our advice is to stay curious, as you never know where your learning journey might lead you. Embrace new challenges, and don’t be afraid to explore areas outside your comfort zone.
Having a Team with Complementary Skillsets: Our collaboration thrives on our unique, yet complementary skills. From technical expertise to strategic thinking, our diverse abilities allow us to approach problems from different angles. We recommend others to carefully build a team that enhances individual strengths and fills in gaps, as this will create a more successful partnership.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
In the past year, our perspective on success and achievement has dramatically shifted. Initially, we were often praised for our accomplishments in relation to our young age, which made us feel proud. But after engaging with VCs and industry experts, we came to realize that comparing ourselves to our age peers doesn’t provide the whole picture. The true measure of success and impact is not being “good for our age,” but rather being “good for the world.”
This realization has prompted us to think more broadly about our ambitions, our projects, and how we can contribute to solving real-world challenges. We have begun to set our goals and evaluate our progress against global standards, rather than merely our age group.
Our advice to other young people is to look beyond age-based comparisons. Focus on how you can make a tangible difference in the world, and strive to excel on that global stage. Age is just a number; what truly matters is the value and impact you can create.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.turbolearn.ai
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/rudransha and linkedin.com/in/sarthak-dh
