From 2 to $3 M ARR: How Tally's 8-Person Team Won with ChatGPT Traffic

When Marie Martens and her co-founder started building Tally in 2020, they had a simple belief: forms could be better. A lot better.

Five years later, their tiny team of 8 has built a form builder used by over 800,000 creators, marketers, and startups worldwide — reaching $3 million in annual recurring revenue five months ahead of schedule.

But here's the plot twist: ChatGPT became their biggest growth driver.

The accidental AI growth hack

"We didn't see this coming," Marie admits. In early 2025, something shifted. ChatGPT suddenly became Tally's #1 referral source, driving over 2,000 new signups per week.

The reason? GPT-4o's rollout with default web browsing meant AI tools were now surfacing niche tools like Tally based on user intent. When someone asked for "simple form builders" or "clean alternatives to Google Forms," Tally kept showing up.

Why Tally won in AI search

Marie's team had been unknowingly preparing for this moment for years:

• Authentic presence in forums: They answered questions on Reddit, participated in discussions, shared learnings openly
• Building in public: Every milestone, feature, and lesson was shared transparently
• User-generated content: Happy users naturally mentioned Tally in blog posts and social media
• Clear positioning: "Simple, beautiful forms" — exactly what people search for

The power of staying small

While competitors raised millions and hired hundreds, Tally stayed lean by design:

• 4 full-time + 4 part-time employees
• No VC funding — bootstrapped from day one
• Ruthless prioritization — saying no to 99 things to nail the 1 that matters
• MVP everything — ship small, learn fast, improve in public

"Constraints became our superpower," Marie explains. "We had to build smart, not big."

The compound effect

Tally's growth chart tells the story:

From $0 to $3M ARR in under 5 years, with the steepest growth coming after AI search took off. Their onboarding surveys now show AI tools as a major discovery source:

Lessons for AI-powered growth

Marie's advice for founders looking to ride the AI wave:

1. Show up authentically in places AI pulls data from (forums, Reddit, blogs)
2. Research prompt gaps — what are people asking AI that you can answer?
3. Double down on community — real conversations create the content AI surfaces
4. Stay close to users — their language becomes your SEO

"We're not trying to game the system," Marie emphasizes. "We're just building something people want to tell others about."

What's next

With AI search driving explosive growth, Tally is researching prompt patterns and investing more in community:

"We honestly don't know where the ceiling is," Marie says. "But we're more excited than ever."

Read the full story on Tally's blog