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Alia is a Shopify popup app that helps merchants capture email and SMS subscribers through a faster, more conversion-focused experience.
about 3,000 merchants
“There are no shortcuts, no hacks. It is just pure work.” Alia reached its first 100 customers through direct outreach, then grew through agencies and merchant referrals.
Fewer bars = easier, cheaper, or faster for an AI-assisted solo builder. Editorial judgments based on the case details.
Alia is a Shopify app for email and SMS popups. Shaan Arora and his co-founders first launched a loyalty product in April 2023, then pivoted toward popups after merchants responded more clearly to that use case. In the interview, the host cites successive ARR milestones of $1M, $4M, $5M, and $8M; Arora discusses the company’s bootstrapped growth, early customer acquisition, competitive opening, and team expansion. He describes a focused product strategy: make the popup experience substantially better than the forms embedded in email service providers. Alia reached about 3,000 merchants, and the company had 24 people at the time of the interview, up from six one year earlier. The company’s momentum also benefited when a large competitor was acquired, creating an opening with larger Shopify brands.
Alia’s first two customers came through personal relationships: a co-founder’s cousin and a university friend. Arora then used cold email to invite prospects into a closed beta, framing the invitation around the fact that the team already had two customers and was opening only a few more slots.
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Data credibility: The podcast host reports Alia’s ARR milestones based on Shaan Arora’s public LinkedIn milestone posts; the interview includes founder discussion, but no audited financial statements or third-party revenue verification. Customer and team figures are founder-reported.
Alia launched first as a loyalty program, then pivoted to popups in January 2024 after noticing that some customers already interpreted the product as a popup tool. That change gave the founders a clearer product to sell: a specialized lead-capture app inside Shopify’s app ecosystem.
Alia’s early flywheel started with satisfied merchants, then extended through agencies that already advise Shopify brands. Arora said reaching 30–35 customers who liked the product created a base for direct referrals; from around 40 to 100 customers, agencies and partnerships became important.
Alia’s earlier loyalty product had an unclear position: prospects were unsure whether it was a loyalty program, a widget, or a popup. The founders used customer response as a signal, then committed to the simpler popup identity.
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