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How Caktus AI Hit $10M+ in Revenue by Automating Homework
Two college students built Caktus AI in 6 weeks and turned it into a multi-million dollar education tool. Here’s how they did it—and what came next.
Marco Fazio
April 14, 2025
How Caktus AI Hit $10M+ in Revenue by Automating Homework
In late 2022, two college students launched a website that would quickly become a lightning rod in both education and AI circles: Caktus AI.
Its pitch was simple — use AI to automate your homework. And despite (or because of) academic pushback, it worked. Within a year, the platform crossed $10 million in revenue.
Here’s how they pulled it off.
1. A Niche GPT Wrapper That Nailed Its Audience
Unlike generic chatbots, Caktus AI focused relentlessly on student-specific tasks:
Essay generation with cited sources
Math problem solvers
Coding homework with explanations
Foreign language tools
Flashcard and studying features
It wasn’t just ChatGPT with a new coat of paint — it reframed the UX around actual academic outputs, removing friction and increasing perceived value.
2. Controversy Was a Feature, Not a Bug
Academic institutions hated it. Teachers warned students.
Administrators issued bans.
And Caktus AI rode the wave.
Every time a school cracked down, students googled "Caktus AI."
The virality was built-in. Controversy created curiosity.
The team leaned into it — with bold landing pages, TikToks, and even a homepage headline that said:
“Finally. A real alternative to ChatGPT — built for students.”
They turned resistance into reach.
3. Freemium → Paid Conversion Engine
Caktus offered limited free access — just enough to get students hooked.
Then came the pricing:
$9.99/month basic
$14.99/month pro (more generations, fewer limits)
With millions of students trying it out and constant TikTok exposure, their paid conversion rates exploded. No ads, no enterprise deals — just individual users at scale.
They monetized like a B2C SaaS startup with explosive virality.
4. AI Infrastructure: Built on GPT, Polished Internally
Caktus is powered by GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, like most AI startups.
What made it special wasn’t the model — it was the UX layers on top:
Prebuilt templates per subject
Citations for academic writing
Auto-formatting for submissions
Contextual hints and improvements
They productized GPT, not just embedded it.
5. From College Dorm to Global Business
The founders — college students themselves — built something they wished existed.
That authenticity helped them connect with the audience, speak their language, and grow through TikTok, Reddit, and word of mouth.
The result?
A bootstrapped business that went from zero to eight figures in revenue in under 18 months — by focusing on one thing: helping students cheat smarter.
Takeaways
Find a high-friction niche where GPT adds massive time-saving value
Design UX for outcomes, not prompts
Controversy can be a moat, especially in education
Product-led growth can still dominate in AI if the experience is 10x
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Marco Fazio Editor,
Latestly AI,
Forbes 30 Under 30
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