Shaan Arora: How He Built Alia From Zero to $4M ARR

Who is Shaan Arora?

Shaan Arora is the co-founder and CEO of Alia, a SaaS company that helps e-commerce brands with one of the most powerful yet underrated tools in online retail: pop-ups. What started as a small university project grew into a multi-million-dollar business, serving over 1,500 brands, including giants like Nike Strength and Toms Shoes.

But Shaan’s journey wasn’t straightforward. In fact, in the early days, Alia had no clear direction, no product-market fit, and barely any customers. What turned things around was a single book that changed how Shaan thought about positioning. That shift took Alia from $0 to $4M ARR in just one year.

Net Worth

While Shaan Arora’s exact net worth isn’t publicly disclosed, with Alia scaling past $4M in annual recurring revenue, his personal wealth is estimated to be in the multimillion-dollar range, especially as the company continues to grow.

From University Project to Startup Struggles

Shaan’s entrepreneurial spark ignited while he was still in college. He originally built a tool for a fintech club at his university—something closer to a loyalty or education platform. He thought it could be the foundation of a business, so he and his co-founders tried selling it to e-commerce brands.

The results were discouraging. They had only two customers—one was his co-founder’s cousin and the other a classmate. Potential buyers were confused: What exactly was this product? Where does it fit in my tech stack? What do I replace with it?

Shaan and his team were stuck. For months, growth was painfully slow. They managed to get from 2 customers to 20 in about half a year—but traction was weak, and the team felt lost.

The Breakthrough: Positioning Alia as the “Pop-Up Company”

The turning point came when Shaan’s co-founder picked up a copy of “Obviously Awesome” by April Dunford. The book emphasized one crucial question: How do your best customers actually see you?

For Shaan, the truth was hard to swallow. He wanted Alia to be known as an innovative education tool, but customers weren’t using it that way. To them, Alia was simply a pop-up tool.

Instead of resisting, Shaan leaned in. The team doubled down and made “pop-ups” their entire identity:

The website tagline changed to: “The Next Generation of Pop-Ups.”
Sales calls started with: “Hi, I’m Shaan. We do pop-ups.”
Content, social media, and internal language—all revolved around pop-ups.

This clarity transformed Alia’s growth. Suddenly, everything clicked. Sales calls were shorter, conversions improved, and their branding stuck in people’s minds. Within a year, Alia skyrocketed to $4 million in ARR.

Struggles Along the Way

Even with rapid growth, Shaan faced plenty of struggles:

Uncertainty in the early days: With only a handful of customers, it was hard not to compare Alia to competitors with thousands. Shaan overcame this by focusing on small wins—“Get a third customer. Then a fourth. Then a fifth.”
The fear of niching down: Cutting features and focusing only on pop-ups felt risky. What if the market was too small? But the results proved that clarity beats complexity.
Bootstrapping challenges: With no outside funding, the team had to move fast and make hard trade-offs. Speed became their biggest advantage over larger incumbents.

Lessons Learned

From Shaan’s journey, a few key lessons stand out:

Do one thing and do it phenomenally. Alia’s success came when it stopped trying to be many things and became the best at one thing—pop-ups.
Listen to your customers, not your ego. Positioning isn’t what you want to be, it’s how your customers actually see you.
Small steps matter. Instead of obsessing about scaling to thousands of customers, Shaan focused on one new customer at a time.
Speed is a founder’s currency. As Shaan says, big incumbents move slowly—startups win by moving fast.

Alia Today

Today, Alia powers over 1,500 brands worldwide, helping e-commerce companies boost conversions with optimized pop-ups. With a team of 12 (including his co-founders Cory and Bill), Shaan continues to scale the company while holding on to a simple mantra:

“Alia will be successful—even if it means pivoting and starting over. Because we’ll always stick together and adapt.”

Final Thoughts

Shaan Arora’s story is a masterclass in the power of positioning. A single mindset shift turned a struggling side project into a multi-million-dollar SaaS company. His journey is a reminder to every founder: clarity, speed, and focus can change everything.