I Built A $1M App In 5 Hours

Summary

Dawson, 一位独立的软件工程师，仅用4到5小时便开发出一款名为Nfy的应用，帮助以太坊用户发现并领取他们不知道的空投资产。该应用迅速吸引了10万用户注册，尽管最初没有盈利，但Dawson通过创新的反电子邮件策略和付费墙模式，实现了每月超过10万美元的收入。他的故事激励了许多人，展示了即使是一个人，也能在短时间内建立起价值百万美元的业务。

Takeaways

• 🚀 个人创业的力量：Dawson 仅用4-5小时就独立构建了一个百万美元级别的加密货币应用。
• 🌐 病毒式营销策略：通过精心设计的推文和视频，Dawson 在48小时内获得了1万名有机用户注册。
• 💰 盈利模式的创新：尽管最初用户没有支付，但Dawson通过反电子邮件策略和付费墙成功实现了月收入超过10万美元。
• 🔍 发现问题并解决：Dawson发现以太坊用户不知道自己有未认领的空投资金，于是创建了NFY来帮助他们找到并认领这些资金。
• 🛠️ 技术背景：Dawson从小就对视频游戏、数学和科学感兴趣，并在中学时期就开始学习编程。
• 🏢 大公司的经历：在Uber等大公司工作让Dawson意识到他更希望直接改变世界，而不是在大公司内部无效的团队中工作。
• 🌍 数字游民生活：Dawson选择离开大公司，成为数字游民，旅行世界一年，这段经历让他重新认识到技术可以用于善事。
• 🏆 早期优势：作为早期进入者，Dawson能够建立高质量的声誉，使NFY在加密货币领域脱颖而出。
• 💡 创新的启示：Dawson通过参加黑客马拉松和不断学习，保持了对新技术的敏感度，并在适当的时机将想法转化为实际产品。
• 🛋️ 工作和生活的平衡：即使在成功之后，Dawson也意识到与他人共享经验和建立社区的重要性，这对他的生活意义重大。

Q & A

道森是如何在不到一天的时间内构建出一个百万美元的加密应用的？

道森通过参加一个为期一个月的黑客马拉松，在最后关头，凭借对以太坊用户未认领的空投问题的深刻理解，用大约四五个小时的时间编写代码，完成了这个应用的开发。

道森的创业项目NFY是做什么的？

NFY是一个帮助以太坊用户发现和认领他们不知道存在的资金的Web 3.0初创公司。用户只需在NFY的主页上输入他们的以太坊地址，就能立即获得未认领空投的结果。

道森在推广NFY时使用了什么营销策略，使其在48小时内获得了1万个有机注册用户？

道森精心制作了一条推文，包含了一个展示搜索功能的小视频，并有意识地在推文中加入了呼吁用户行动的元素。这种策略成功吸引了用户的注意力，并激发了他们分享推文的欲望。

尽管NFY吸引了大量免费用户，但用户并没有支付给道森任何费用，他是如何解决这个问题的？

道森提出了一个反电子邮件策略，即只在用户有匹配金额可认领时才发送电子邮件。这种策略极大地提高了邮件的打开率，并最终通过每次空投都设置付费墙，成功实现了盈利。

道森在构建NFY时面临了哪些挑战，他是如何克服这些挑战的？

道森面临的挑战包括如何在短时间内构建出一个功能完善的应用，以及如何在加密货币这个竞争激烈的领域中脱颖而出。他通过深入理解用户痛点、保持对质量的执着追求，以及早期进入市场，成功克服了这些挑战。

道森在创建NFY之前有哪些职业经历？

在创建NFY之前，道森曾在Uber等大型科技公司担任软件工程师，并在一些大型科技公司和医疗保健公司工作。

道森是如何从一个对软件失去兴趣的学生转变为一个成功的创业者的？

道森在大学期间重新找回了对软件的兴趣，这主要归功于他参加的黑客马拉松活动。这些活动让他体验到了快速创造产品并得到真实用户反馈的乐趣，从而激发了他对软件和技术创新的热情。

道森在卖掉NFY后的生活是怎样的？

卖掉NFY后，道森经历了一段时间的自由落体感，他开始探索新的生活意义。他发现自己的意义来自于社区和社交活动，而不仅仅是独自旅行和滑雪。目前，他已经开始了一些咨询项目，并在开源项目和去中心化社交媒体平台上进行公开发布和构建。

道森在开发NFY时使用了哪些编程语言和工具？

道森在开发NFY时使用了TypeScript全栈，后端使用Node.js，前端使用React，并通过Next.js框架将它们整合在一起，以实现快速的网站加载。

道森对于想要成为独立开发者的人有什么建议？

道森建议独立开发者享受过程，不要过于焦虑和担忧，因为最终一切都会好起来。同时，他建议保持与社区的联系，参加合作工作和会议，以确保自己的想法不会陷入孤立。

道森在卖掉公司后如何找到新的生活意义和目标？

道森发现他的生活意义来自于社区和与人交往。他通过旅行、健身、滑雪和住在房车中寻找新的生活意义。他也意识到，与人们共享经历和创造回忆是他生活中重要的一部分。

Outlines

00:00

🚀 独行侠Dawson的百万加密应用之旅

Dawson独自开发了一个名为NFY的加密货币应用，该应用帮助以太坊用户发现并认领他们不知道的资金。通过一个高效的病毒式营销策略，他在48小时内获得了10000个有机注册用户。然而，最初的问题是这些用户没有为他支付任何费用。Dawson随后提出了一个天才的盈利策略，使他的收入在一个月内超过了10万美元。Dawson分享了他作为独立开发者构建这个价值百万美元应用的创意、营销和盈利蓝图。

05:01

🌟 从零到英雄：Dawson的创业故事

Dawson在科罗拉多的面包车中向我们展示了他是如何构建NFY的。NFY是一个Web 3初创公司，通过一个简单的网站，用户可以输入他们的以太坊地址，立即获得他们未认领的空投结果。Dawson通过参加黑客马拉松和与社区互动，逐渐发展了NFY，最终实现了25万免费用户和5000付费用户的增长，创造了超过百万美元的年度经常性收入(ARR)。他还分享了自己从Uber软件工程师到数字游民，再到成功创业者的转变过程。

10:01

🛠️ 技术与创业：Dawson的工具和策略

Dawson分享了他作为软件工程师的最爱工具和编程语言，以及他是如何使用TypeScript全栈、Node.js后端、React前端和Next.js框架构建NFY的。他还提到了自己的工作设备，包括MacBook Pro、分体式键盘和大型显示器，以及他选择Visual Studio Code作为代码编辑器的原因。Dawson的成功不仅在于他的技术能力，还在于他对质量的执着，这为NFY赢得了良好的声誉。他还强调了早期进入市场的重要性，并分享了自己如何通过社区参与和公开建设来保持创新和动力。

Keywords

💡Dawson

Dawson是视频中的主角，一个独立的软件工程师和创业者，他通过自己的努力和创新思维，建立了一个名为NFY的Web 3.0初创公司。Dawson的故事展示了个人通过技术实现创业梦想的可能性，并且激励观众去追求自己的目标。

💡NFY

NFY是Dawson创建的公司，专注于帮助以太坊用户发现和认领他们不知道的加密货币空投。这个平台通过提供一个简单的网站，用户输入他们的以太坊地址，就能看到他们未认领的空投，这些空投可能是数百或数千美元。

💡以太坊

以太坊是一个开源的区块链平台，允许开发者创建和部署智能合约和去中心化应用。在视频中，Dawson的NFY平台正是基于以太坊技术，帮助用户发现和认领空投，这些空投通常是由各种项目通过以太坊网络分发的。

💡空投

空投在加密货币领域是一种营销手段，项目方通过向用户的钱包地址发送代币或硬币，以吸引用户关注和使用他们的服务或产品。在视频中，NFY平台的核心功能就是帮助用户发现和认领这些空投，这些空投可能来自不同的项目和活动。

💡黑客马拉松

黑客马拉松是一种编程竞赛活动，通常在短时间内聚集一群开发者，围绕特定主题或技术进行创新和开发。Dawson通过参加黑客马拉松，找回了对软件开发的热情，并最终在其中一次黑客马拉松中快速构建了NFY平台。

💡数字游民

数字游民是指那些利用数字技术远程工作，不受地理位置限制，可以在全球任何地方生活和工作的人。Dawson在离开Uber后，选择了成为数字游民，环游世界一年，体验不同的生活方式。

💡反电子邮件策略

反电子邮件策略是Dawson为NFY平台设计的一种营销策略，旨在减少垃圾邮件，提高用户参与度。这种策略下，除非用户有实际的金钱匹配需要认领，否则不会发送电子邮件。这导致用户对收到的邮件非常重视，因为它们通常意味着有实际的价值等待认领。

💡社区压力

社区压力是指在一定的社交群体中，成员之间相互影响，形成一种推动或促使个体采取某种行动的力量。在视频中，Dawson通过在Twitter上公开标记用户并告知他们的未认领资金，创造了一种社区压力，促使用户去认领他们的空投。

💡品质

品质指的是产品或服务的质量水平，通常与用户的满意度和信任度直接相关。Dawson对NFY平台的品质有着极高的要求，这使得平台获得了良好的声誉，用户信任NFY的通知，因为他们知道这意味着有高价值的空投可以认领。

💡早期优势

早期优势指的是在某个市场或领域中，最早进入的参与者能够获得的优势，如品牌认知、市场份额等。Dawson的NFY平台因为早期进入市场，迅速建立了品牌和用户基础，这为其后续的成功奠定了基础。

💡独立开发者

独立开发者是指那些独立进行软件开发和维护的个人或小团队，他们通常需要具备全面的技术能力和自我管理能力。Dawson作为一个独立开发者，从零开始构建了NFY平台，并成功地将其发展成为一个盈利的业务。

💡收购

收购是指一家公司购买另一家公司的全部或部分股权，从而获得对该公司的控制权。在视频中，Dawson的NFY平台被Bankless收购，这是一个对他个人和他所创立的企业都具有重要意义的事件。

Highlights

Dawson 独自在不到一天的时间内构建了一个百万美元级别的加密应用

该应用通过病毒式营销策略在48小时内获得了10000个有机注册用户

尽管用户数量众多，但最初并没有为Dawson带来任何收入

Dawson提出了一个天才的盈利策略，使他的收入达到了每月超过十万美元

NFY是一个帮助以太坊用户发现和认领他们不知道的钱的Web 3初创公司

NFY的用户增长到了25万个免费用户和5000个付费用户，年收入超过百万美元

Dawson从小就对视频游戏和数学科学感兴趣，这为他后来的编程之路打下了基础

在Uber等大公司工作的经历让Dawson意识到他更愿意做出直接改变世界的产品和服务

Dawson通过参加黑客马拉松重新点燃了对软件和加密技术的热情

NFY的差异化在于对质量的执着和早期进入市场的优势

Dawson作为独立开发者，使用TypeScript全栈开发，并对网站速度有严格的要求

NFY在两年的独立运营后被Bankless收购

Dawson在卖掉公司后，选择了一种结合旅行、滑雪和社区生活的生活方式

Dawson将自己视为连续创业者，目前正在做一些咨询工作和开源项目

Dawson建议年轻的自己更多地享受过程，不必对未来过于焦虑

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