We Just Hit 5 Million Users: Here's Our Story

It's kind of surreal — it's only been about a year and a half since we started Turbo. I still remember those early days: standing awkwardly at the Duke freshman dining hall (before I dropped out), handing out donuts and cookies just to get our first 100 users. Or sneaking into bathrooms with Rudy (my co-founder) to tape flyers on toilet stalls, desperately hoping people would notice us.

We had absolutely no idea what we were doing. But somehow, it worked.

But looking at that big screen in our company house showing a live count of 5 million users at our early halloween event with over 250 people celebrating with us felt genuinely unbelievable.

Whether it's for organic chemistry, med school interviews, or learning a new language — seeing how you all use Turbo every single day genuinely inspires us to keep building.

The Journey So Far

When I started as a freshman at Duke in 2023, I was just a student frustrated with how tedious studying was. We'd sit in the library watching people re-write their notes by hand for the third time, thinking "there has to be a better way." Believe it or not, Turbo simply started as a side project that Rudy and I thought we'd just personally use.

So we built the first version of Turbo (then called Turbolearn AI) in our dorm rooms. It was honestly very janky — but it could turn a PDF into notes & other study tools, and apparently that was enough to get people excited.

Fast forward to today: we've got an incredible team, we're backed by amazing investors, and most importantly — we have you. 5 million students and learners who trust us with their education every day.

Why Turbolearn → Turbo AI?

You might've noticed we recently rebranded from Turbolearn to Turbo AI. It's not just about having a shorter domain (though turbo.ai is pretty sweet). It represents our bigger vision — we're not just a study app anymore.

Turbo is becoming a complete AI note taker and learning assistant, not just for students. Whether you're recording lectures, writing research papers, journaling, or preparing presentations — we want to be there to help you both learn and create faster.

Do not fear though, we will always keep our product simple and clutter-free.

What's Next?

5 million is incredible, but we're just getting started. We're working on features that will completely change how you interact with Turbo:

• •Desktop apps for Mac and Windows (finally!)
• •Revamping our iPad app
• •A LOT of AI features that... well, you'll have to wait and see 😉