Shaan Arora

Shaan Arora is an American technology entrepreneur and the Co-founder and CEO of Alia (Alia Software, Inc.), an AI-powered pop-up and on-site engagement platform built for Shopify merchants. In March 2026, at age 24, he sold Alia to the London-listed Dotdigital Group plc (AIM: DOTD) for up to $60 million, having built the company without raising outside venture capital.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Arora co-founded Alia in April 2023 with Cory Gill and Bill Wohlers while studying at Northeastern University, where he earned a dual degree in computer science from the Khoury College of Computer Sciences and business administration from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business, graduating in 2023. He and Gill were named to BostInno’s 25 Under 25 list for Northeastern’s class of 2023. The company grew out of a campus project that rewarded students for learning about financial technology, and Arora has also credited the idea to helping his mother sell her Indian clothing online after her Shopify conversion rate fell. An early version won the Hult Prize competition hosted by the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club. Before Alia, he had interned in quantitative finance, including at Credit Suisse and the hedge fund Crestline Investors.

Alia is a Shopify-focused pop-up and list-growth platform that helps e-commerce brands turn website visitors into email and SMS subscribers. Arora and his co-founders built it entirely bootstrapped, starting from his parents’ home and winning the first customers, who paid about $20 a month, through direct outreach. The product began as a loyalty and education tool that rewarded shoppers for learning about a brand, then developed into a data-driven pop-up platform that optimizes itself after setup, with much of its later growth coming through word of mouth and agency partnerships rather than paid sales. The company’s name comes from a Latin word meaning different.

Under Arora’s leadership, Alia scaled to serve more than 5,000 Shopify merchants and generated over half a billion pop-up views each month, growing annual recurring revenue past $13 million by 2026 while holding a 4.7 out of 5 rating on the Shopify App Store. Its clients have included AG1, Nike Strength, Peloton, ILIA Beauty, Victoria Beckham Beauty, and Veronica Beard.

Dotdigital acquired Alia Software in a transaction announced on March 4, 2026, with initial consideration of $30 million and total consideration of up to $60 million based on performance. Arora continues to lead go-to-market strategy for Alia within Dotdigital, where the team has grown to more than 50 people as the platform scales as part of the group. He has described bootstrapping as a way to learn the market first and keep control, and has said he expects to remain a founder over the long term.

Arora is based in New York City.