I Built A $1M App In 5 Hours
Summary
TLDRDawson, a solo software developer, built a million-dollar Ethereum airdrop app called nfy in just a few hours. After gaining 10,000 organic signups within 48 hours, he innovated a monetization strategy that earned him over $100,000 a month. Despite challenges with free users and corporate disillusionment, Dawson's focus on quality and strategic marketing led to success. Eventually, he sold nfy to Bankless and now lives a nomadic lifestyle, emphasizing community and open-source projects. His story highlights the potential of solo development and the importance of enjoying the entrepreneurial journey.
Takeaways
- 🚀 Dawson built a million-dollar crypto app in just 4 to 5 hours, showcasing the potential of rapid development for a significant impact.
- 🌐 The app, named nfy, helps Ethereum users find and claim unclaimed airdrops, highlighting the niche opportunity within the crypto space.
- 📈 Dawson leveraged a viral marketing strategy that resulted in 10,000 organic signups within 48 hours, demonstrating the power of social media in user acquisition.
- 💡 The initial challenge was monetization, as the influx of users did not initially translate to revenue, prompting Dawson to devise a monetization strategy.
- 💰 Dawson implemented an 'anti-email' strategy, only sending emails when users had real money to claim, which significantly increased open rates and engagement.
- 🔒 Trust was a key differentiator for nfy, as the app's focus on quality and accuracy in identifying unclaimed funds built a strong reputation in the crypto community.
- 🏆 Being an early entrant in the space and focusing on quality allowed nfy to establish a lead that competitors struggled to match.
- 🛠 Dawson's tech stack included TypeScript for full-stack development, using Node.js, React, and Next.js, emphasizing the importance of speed and efficiency in web development.
- 🏆 The app was eventually acquired by Bankless, a significant achievement that validated Dawson's work and provided a life-changing event.
- 🎉 Post-acquisition, Dawson experienced a mix of celebration and uncertainty, emphasizing the emotional journey that comes with such a significant transition.
- 🔄 Dawson's current focus includes consulting, open-source projects, and engaging with communities, showing his continued passion for technology and innovation.
Q & A
Who is Dawson and what did he create?
-Dawson is a solo preneur software engineer who created a web 3 startup called nfy, which helps Ethereum users find and claim unclaimed airdrops.
How did Dawson manage to build the nfy app in such a short time?
-Dawson built the nfy app in about 4 to 5 hours during a hackathon, leveraging his software engineering skills and a clear idea of the problem he wanted to solve.
What is an airdrop in the context of Ethereum?
-In the context of Ethereum, an airdrop is a distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin, usually for free, to numerous wallet addresses to promote a new coin or project.
How did Dawson's app nfy help its users?
-Nfy provided a simple website where Ethereum users could input their Ethereum address and instantly receive results on their unclaimed airdrops, potentially worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.
What was the monetization strategy that Dawson came up with for nfy?
-Dawson implemented an anti-email strategy where he only sent emails to users when they had a significant amount of money to claim. He also introduced a paywall for airdrops, which contributed to the app's revenue.
How did Dawson's viral marketing strategy help in the initial growth of nfy?
-Dawson crafted a tweet that went viral, which included a video demonstrating the app's functionality and teasing the potential airdrop amounts. This resulted in 10,000 organic signups within 48 hours.
What was Dawson's background before building nfy?
-Dawson was a software engineer who worked at companies like Uber and had a background in math and science. He also had an interest in hackathons and had traveled the world as a digital nomad.
How did Dawson's experience at Uber influence his decision to build nfy?
-Dawson felt disillusioned with the inefficiencies of large corporations and the traditional office space. His experience at Uber led him to seek a more direct impact and led to the creation of nfy.
What was the significance of the Twitter campaign '25 Days of Christmas' in nfy's growth?
-The '25 Days of Christmas' campaign involved tagging people on Twitter and publicly announcing their unclaimed airdrop amounts, creating a sense of urgency and community pressure to claim the funds, which helped in driving more users to the app.
How did Dawson differentiate nfy from competitors in the crowded crypto space?
-Dawson focused on quality, ensuring that notifications were only sent for high-dollar value claims, which built trust among users. Being early to the scene and maintaining a good reputation also helped nfy stand out.
What advice does Dawson have for his past self as a software engineer at Uber?
-Dawson advises his past self to enjoy the process more and not to worry too much, as all experiences, even perceived missteps, are valuable lessons that contribute to personal growth and success.
What is Dawson's current lifestyle and how does he spend his time?
-Dawson is living a van life, balancing time with friends, skiing, and working on his computer. He also spends time at co-working spaces and attending meetups to stay connected with communities and ideas.
Outlines
🛠️ Dawson's Million-Dollar Crypto App Journey
Dawson, a solo developer and software engineer, shares his experience of building a crypto app called nfy, which helps Ethereum users find and claim unclaimed airdrops. He built the app in just 4-5 hours and managed to get 10,000 organic signups within 48 hours using a viral marketing strategy. However, initially, these users did not generate any revenue. Dawson then devised a monetization strategy that scaled his app to over $100,000 a month. The video also introduces Pat Walls and the Starter Story platform, which offers a library of case studies and business idea breakdowns for aspiring entrepreneurs.
🚀 From Hackathon Success to Million-Dollar Annual Recurring Revenue
Dawson's nfy app took off after he published a tweet showcasing its functionality, which went viral. He optimized the app's landing page with clear call-to-actions and eye-catching design elements to encourage email sign-ups. This led to a significant user base growth. To monetize the app, Dawson implemented an 'anti-email strategy,' sending emails only when users had substantial amounts to claim, which resulted in high open rates. He also utilized social proof by tagging users on Twitter and attending conferences to build trust and reputation. Dawson's focus on quality and being an early entrant in the market helped nfy stand out from competitors.
🏔️ Life After Selling a Million-Dollar Business
After selling nfy, Dawson experienced a mix of celebration and uncertainty as he had to find new meaning and direction in life. He embarked on a van life, balancing time between socializing, skiing, and working on open-source projects and consulting. Dawson emphasizes the importance of community and shared experiences, which he found were essential for his sense of purpose. Despite the challenges of solitude, he continues to engage in activities that bring him joy and fulfillment, such as co-working and attending meetups, while also considering future entrepreneurial ventures.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Crypto App
💡Solo Developer
💡Ethereum
💡Airdrops
💡Monetization Strategy
💡Viral Marketing
💡Anti-Email Strategy
💡Liquidity Event
💡Hackathon
💡Digital Nomad
💡Community
Highlights
Dawson, a solo developer, built a million-dollar crypto app in under a day.
The app attracted 10,000 organic signups within 48 hours using a viral marketing strategy.
Dawson utilized an 'anti-email' strategy for monetization, scaling to over $100,000 a month.
NFY helps Ethereum users find and claim unclaimed airdrops, growing to 250,000 free users and 5,000 paid users.
Dawson's early hackathon experiences sparked his interest in software development.
He lost interest in software during his degree but regained it through hackathons.
Dawson's experience at Uber made him disillusioned with large corporations and office spaces.
After leaving Uber, he became a digital nomad, traveling the world for a year.
Meeting people in Australia who used Ethereum for financial aid reignited his passion for technology.
Dawson's idea for NFY came from his participation in hackathons and understanding of user pain points.
He emphasized the importance of quality and reputation in differentiating NFY from competitors.
Being early to the market and maintaining trust were key factors in NFY's success.
Dawson's experience as a solo developer allowed him to make decisions quickly but also felt lonely.
He recommends enjoying the process and not worrying too much about making mistakes.
Dawson's favorite coding tools include TypeScript, Node.js, React, and Next.js.
After selling NFY, Dawson felt a sense of celebration followed by a need to find new meaning.
He now sees himself as a serial entrepreneur and has returned to building projects and consulting.
Dawson's advice for his past self is to enjoy the journey and not to worry about the outcome.
Transcripts
this is Dawson and he built a million
doll Pere crypto app all by himself and
the crazy part is he built it in less
than a day I basically went and start to
finish I think four or 5 hours total he
invited us into his van home in Colorado
to show us exactly how we built this
thing and the viral marketing strategy
that got him 10,000 organic signups in
just 48 Hours what I really leaned into
was but there was a problem all of those
users didn't pay him a single dollar
then Dawson came up with a genius
monetization strategy that scaled him to
over $100,000 a month yes so I came with
this idea of an anti- email strategy in
this video Dawson will share the exact
ideation marketing and monetization
blueprints he used to build a $1 million
app as a solo developer I'm Pat walls
and this is starter
story Dawson thanks for having me we're
in your Sprinter van right now in
Boulder Colorado tell me about who you
are and what you built yeah of course
thanks for having me uh my name is
Dawson I am a solo preneur software
engineer I made a company called nfy and
nnfi helps ethereum users find and claim
money they didn't know they had I grew
Eary to over 250,000 uh free users 5,000
paid users and that was over a million
dollars ARR and then had a liquidity
event took my exit and moved into this
van doing a little exploring doing a
little Consulting but mostly just skiing
nice tell me a little bit more about nfy
this web 3 startup that you built if
you're a user of ethereum you're going
all over the place investing in things
trading swapping voting in governance
but you don't know about these things
called aird drops now aird drops are
like coupons it's like uh hey come use
this thing we'll give you an airdrop
free money honestly so N5 is just a very
simple website if you put in your
ethereum address on the homepage you're
going to get instant results of what are
your unclaimed airdrops and it's very
common to get hundreds or thousands of
dollars in these if you're even
moderately active in ethereum the
average user over the course of the
entire website was getting
$750 by being a customer all right let's
talk about your backstory what were you
doing that led you to starting this
amazing business really when I was a kid
I was I was really into video games and
I was really into just being a dork
honestly with math and science and that
really paid out well in middle school I
had a friend who taught me how to start
programming I wrote these programs that
actually helped us cheat on our geometry
tests people started plugging and
sharing the program that was my first
taste of you know like product Market
fit and having people like the thing you
code or build but that path was not very
straightforward for me so when I was a
student I actually lost a lot of
interest in software the degree found a
way to kind of take the excitement away
for me after my first 2 years I I wanted
to drop out but instead of dropping out
I got a taste of hackathons hackathons I
think are so fun because it gives you
the opportunity not just to create
something fast but also you can build
products that real people use you can
build things that real people want if
you do it right you can put on a website
and have real users at the end of the
weekend yeah and I was addicted from
then on really on uh understanding that
software could go change the world yeah
so you were working as software engineer
at Uber and some other big Tech
Healthcare companies what was that
experience like yeah working at a
company like uber obviously the salary
is pretty lucrative from the outside
it's a booming successful startup I was
there in 2016 I was there preo that was
the hot place to be and yet while there
I I just saw the downsides of large
corporations just ineffective teams
honestly and that was a bit sad to be a
part of cuz I really want to make direct
change in this world and so in addition
to just being disillusioned with big
Tech then I was also disillusioned with
kind of the office space and just not
wanting to show up every day I needed to
get a break and get away so what I did
actually is I left and I just Nomad I
just traveled the world for a year and I
I almost just had to reach the point of
like I don't need software for now I'm
just going to be a nomad I'm just going
to travel and and do yoga and see the
world you know what was that experience
like of deciding to quit and and drop
everything and and go do this Nomad
thing how did you feel in that time yeah
so I felt really scared I felt really
worried to kind of step out of that
Comfort this was a pretty risky move to
leave not just a great startup but also
to leave San Francisco I felt like all
of software existed there but during
that year of travel I met some folks in
Australia who were Distributing
financial aid for nonprofits through
ethereum and it was just the the most
Niche Out of This World experience to
cross paths with those folks while being
outside of San Francisco and and outside
of the tech bubble they almost like
pulled me back in to realize technology
can be used for good technology be can
be impactful and that got me really
interested all over again in in software
in ethereum and making something in
crypto yeah what happens next how do you
come up with the idea for NY when I came
back to the US it took me over a year to
kind of reassimilate to being in the US
being American and knowing that I wanted
to base my life here as I did that I
just started competing in more and more
of these hackathons was a 1 month long
hackathon and crypto was popping off it
was getting very hot as a user in this
community I knew the pain points I
already knew which problem I wanted to
solve but I love waiting until the ideas
are really clear and so sometimes I'll
take the first two or 3 weeks of a
month-long hackathon just letting the
ideas bounce around in my brain so that
when I do hit the computer I have tons
of conviction once I have that
conviction the idea just flows a lot
more easily and that's what happened
here is that I waited till till almost
the last second from then it was just
building the solution I needed once I
hit the hit the code base and started
writing this I basically went start to
finish I think four or five hours total
wow Dawson is proof that just one person
can start a million-- dooll business in
just a few hours but that comes with
knowing the right information and
finding the right problem to solve now
imagine there was a place that gave you
all this the problems to solve the
blueprints to solve them and the
strategies that turn simple ideas into
million-dollar online businesses well at
starter story we have a library of over
4,000 case studies and business idea
breakdowns where you can access this all
backed by data from real entrepreneurs
so if you're serious about building a
profitable side project head to the
first link in the description and we're
going to give you 50 solo developer
ideas just like Dawson's so you can get
started on your journey now let's get
back to how Dawson actually launched
this business peace so you build this
thing in basically 5 hours in the
hackathon and it starts taking off can
you tell me more about that yeah I
shipped the website put it on a public
URL and Publishing this tweet that just
went super viral about the website
crafted this tweet just really
intentionally I I included a nice little
video of how the the searching worked
for an address that had a ton of
airdrops for it so of course it's kind
of teasing folks letting them know this
is what's possible out there and I think
there was almost a bit of a charitable
feeling where folks were like I want to
help other people find the money they
didn't know they had also hitting
retweet was such an easy thing to do I
had 10,000 organic signups at the end of
that 48 hours wow and how did you get
those signups yes I got those signups by
optimizing this page for the call to
actions to sign up for the email both in
the header and in just a massive button
above the fold using drop shadows and
borders properly to draw the user's eyes
towards these buttons it felt incredible
I almost was was losing faith before
that is you know I've always been
shipping stuff but never had that many
eyes on what I've what I've built I
thought you had to be already at the top
to get eyes on your your content but I
realized if you just add a lot of value
for people that you can rise to the top
that way as well yeah so you got this
app it's getting a bunch of free users
how does this turn into a thing that
makes a million dollars ARR I came up
with this idea of an anti- email
strategy and this is just rooting from
the fact that I hate getting spam emails
and so I just never sent an email unless
the email was you have matched this
amount of money you have this to go
claim the open rate was through the roof
just everyone wanted to always open
these emails if they got one and then
what I just did is I decided one day
every single airdrop from now on is
going to be pay walled so you'll see
okay you have
$793,000 so a lot of crypto people hang
out on Twitter and I used to do these
really kitchy fun campaigns where I did
one called 25 Days of Christmas every
single day for 25 days I would tag
someone publicly on Twitter and say the
amount of dollars they had unclaimed
with a screenshot it was basically
saying like you're an idiot if you don't
go claim this and they would be tagging
them and all that yeah even there' be
this community pressure that was
actually healthy of other people seeing
it being like why wish I had that to go
claim I also just became a fiend for
going to conferences showing up in
person and letting people know about
what I was building led to even more
signups as well cool but yeah crypto is
a crowded space anyone could build an
app like this technically how did you
differentiate nfy the thing that made NY
so different is just how obsessive I was
about quality and that led to this
really good reputation again where if
someone got a notification they knew it
was a high dollar value that they could
go claim right then and any competitors
who were trying they were including too
much that too much led to lower quality
and then people didn't trust and trust
is so big because of how much hacking
and fishing there is within crypto yeah
another part is just being early that's
not always advice you can replicate but
if you can that's obviously going to be
helpful you can be first to the scene
and then provide so much quality that no
one can even catch up yeah so you built
this as a solo developer as a solo
preneur tell me what that experience was
like yeah SOLO has a lot of pros and a
lot of cons one of the pros is you get
to take it where you want you don't have
to ask permission and you get to ship to
users directly any team is going to slow
you down a bit on that yeah but of
course the cons are it can be lonely you
can also think something's a great idea
when it's not and so you got to stay
around in communities if you can I did a
bit of co-working at the time and these
conferences I mentioned in order to
bounce off ideas from other people and
make sure I wasn't just in an echo
chamber in my head yeah you're a
software engineer what are your favorite
tools and coding languages what do you
build with yeah finally the best part so
what I love to code in is typescript I
use typescript full stack we've got no
js on the back end we've got react on
the front end and I pull this all
together with a framework called nextjs
so nextjs makes really fast websites
having speed and having all of this
website just load so fast for everyone
was also part of what helped me grow I'm
a Big Mac guy I have a maxed out MacBook
Pro I have a split keyboard just super
nerdy I can get good posture and just a
huge 32 31in monitor to make sure that
my eyes are resting all day as well for
code editor I use vs code anyone out
there who does typescript knows that's
probably going to be the best choice
anyways so you got this successful
profitable business and then something
crazy happens can you tell me about that
so I got a Twitter DM from from David
Hoffman he one of the podcasters and
this large podcast called bankless I had
been watching and listening to bankless
for years in fact bankless helped me get
into ethereum I had a bucket list item
that was to get my name mentioned on
Bank list not only did I get my name
mentioned but I ended up being the CTO
and so it just a dream come true but I
never considered the acquisition route
until they reached out and I realized
how realistic that was we talked for
several months about some of the
specifics and yeah after 2 years of
growing the company alone it was
acquired by bankless you sell your
company you have this life-changing
event tell me what that experience was
like yeah I felt like there was a huge
celebration but then right after that
kind of wears off the dopamine wears off
it's a bit of a freef fall feeling this
used to be your passion it used to be
how you spend every day and then after
that you've got to discover what your
new meaning is going to be I feel that a
bit with with travel with Fitness with
skiing with this van when you say that
it sounds like the dream oh of course I
want to ski seven days a week of course
I want to go wherever I want whenever I
want but actually that's not the dream
it only took me a couple weeks to really
feel how dark that could be cuz yeah you
can SK every day but what you're
spending 7 Days alone up in the
mountains you're not sharing experiences
with other people and it turns out a lot
of my meaning is through Community it's
through social stuff it's through
spending time with people and making
memories with people do you see yourself
starting another company or doing work
or are you working now I do yeah so I
see myself as a serial entrepreneur this
is just one of hopefully many and at the
moment I have started some Consulting
I'm really doing a lot of Open Source
projects as well back on Twitter again
I'm also on farcast
which is this website that is a
decentralized social media platform and
so just publishing and building in
public is is already what I've started
doing again all right well you're living
this van life right now tell me what a
day in the life like is for you living
out of this van working and skiing yeah
A Day in the Life is you know I manage
spending time with friends and I manage
spending time up in the mountains and I
man manage a little bit of time on the
computer so I kind of balance these
three things besides that I spend a lot
of time at either co-working spaces
putting myself around other people or
going to these meetups making sure I'm
still around these ideas a lot but
really doing it from a different place
mentally because I want to I'm doing it
for the fun of it I'm not doing it cuz I
have to find customers or I have to find
the next idea necessarily yeah that's
great okay one final question if you
could sit on Dawson's shoulder when you
were you know a software engineer at
Uber kind of really trying to figure out
what you wanted to do when you're a
digital Nomad uh what advice would you
have for him yeah if I were to talk to
my old self I think I would just say
Enjoy the process more I wouldn't want
to change what got me to today anything
that seems like a misstep was actually
something that taught me a lot but it's
just that during that process don't have
as much anxiety don't have as much worry
cuz it will all work out you know like
look at me now it pned out pretty well
all right man well thank you thank you
for having us follow this advice and
you'll build a million dooll ethereum
airdrop
app hey guys Pat here I really hope
Dawson's story inspires you and
motivates some of you to go ahead and
start your own thing if you're curious
about doing something similar but you're
still looking for an idea well I have
something for you right now you can
download our Deep dive solo developer
report for free it breaks down 50
different solo developer ideas including
their business models how much money
they make and tons of other stuff you'd
want to know just click the first link
in the description and if you're serious
about finally building your own idea
consider joining starter story and we'll
help you do that much love I'll see you
guys in the next one
[Music]
peace
استعرض المزيد من الفيديوهات ذات الصلة
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qa5naLZGi-0/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEXCJADEOABSFryq4qpAwkIARUAAIhCGAE=&rs=AOn4CLA2UyYfg713F9VgK2vLKUOr7xe2hQ)
Million Dollar Weekend Summary (Noah Kagan) — Start a 7-Figure Business in the Next 48 Hours 🚀 💰
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OKl0C3zg0LU/hq720.jpg)
I Made $2.5M Selling A Digital Product
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7LZ0MTkNr34/hq720.jpg)
I Make $1M/Year With One Website
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GsuB1yVst5Y/hq720.jpg)
Dave Shanley on Content Creation and SEO for Growth Marketing (Full Interview)
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ih3ReFNDHsI/hq720.jpg)
How I Cured My Anxiety Forever (My Emotional Story)
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5L9cilUWOrE/hq720.jpg)
How I Growth Hacked Mint.com From 0 to 1,000,000 Users in 6 Month
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)