Levan Kvirkvelia and Daniel Dhawan’s journey from financial hardship to early stage startup success reads like fiction, but every twist is real. After exhausting their savings and racking up credit card debt, they managed to earn one hundred thousand dollars in just five days thanks to a viral post about their tool that lets anyone create mobile apps with a simple prompt.
Their company, Rork, opened with little fanfare but quickly attracted attention when a supporter praised it publicly as better than rival product Bolt, causing the app’s popularity and revenue to surge. This influx of users was closely followed by a rush of investors, including Andreessen Horowitz’s Speedrun program and several notable venture capitalists.
Turning the Tide Against the Odds
Both founders were nearly out of options after self-funding their project, even taking side jobs and sleeping in borrowed spaces just to keep it afloat. Only after a tweet from a trusted angel investor garnered more than a million views did the first investment roll in, sparking a cascade of offers totaling hundreds of thousands within a single day.
This apparent overnight triumph came only after years of entrepreneurial effort for Kvirkvelia and Dhawan, both of whom had made popular mobile apps as teenagers but had spent their accumulated earnings on previous projects. During the tense weeks before their breakthrough, they watched other startups like Lovable seize the spotlight while they struggled to get Rork ready for launch.
After a direct competitor, Bolt, introduced a similar product, the founders responded by launching Rork the same day, determined not to lose out again. The viral endorsement helped them secure a spot in Speedrun, a program offering mentorship and up to a million dollars in funding, along with essential credits from industry leaders.
The Speedrun opportunity arrived just as Dhawan was negotiating with other investors, prompting Andreessen Horowitz to move quickly and secure the deal. Since then, not only has the app achieved impressive recurring revenue, but the founders have begun to reap the rewards of perseverance, innovation, and well-timed social media buzz.
Today, Rork’s rapid growth continues as paying subscribers fuel a projected annual run rate exceeding half a million dollars. What started as a make-or-break leap for two underdogs is rapidly turning into one of the year’s most notable startup comeback stories.
