Arun Agrahri
How Arcads Hit $10M ARR in 20 Months Bootstrapped

Case Study Growth 11 min read

How Arcads Hit $10M ARR in 20 Months Bootstrapped

The Dogfooding Distribution Playbook

Roma Torres and Dylan, 50/50 co-founders since age 18, built Arcads.ai — an AI tool that generates video ads from text scripts. They validated demand by selling AI-generated ads as a service before building the product, survived a viral moment that crashed their platform, and scaled to $10M ARR with an 8-person team by dogfooding their own product to run 210+ paid ad variations. Three growth channels drove the recent acceleration: paid ads created with their own tool, influencer marketing, and an enterprise sales motion with 6-figure ACV deals. Bootstrapped and profitable the entire way.

Company: Arcads.ai

Result: $0 to $10M ARR in 20 months

Timeline: Jan 2024 first revenue, Nov 2025 $10M ARR

Channels: Paid Ads (dogfooded), Influencer Marketing, Enterprise Sales

  • Service-First: Validate Before You Build
  • The Viral Spike That Broke Everything
  • The Rebuild and the Real Launch

Case Study Map

  1. 1 Service-First: Validate Before You Build
  2. 2 The Viral Spike That Broke Everything
  3. 3 The Rebuild and the Real Launch
  4. 4 Dogfooding as the Ultimate Distribution Strategy
  5. 5 The Marketing-Growth Equation
  6. 6 Enterprise Sales as the Growth Multiplier
  7. 7 What Bootstrap Founders Can Steal from This

Also includes Key Takeaways · Frequently Asked Questions

$10M

ARR in 20 months

8

Person team

6,000+

Paying customers

100%

Bootstrapped