Big congrats to @Nutlope who joined @vercel as a Dev Advocate today!
He was raised in Africa, built a 6-figure remote business (while in high school!) and he's only 23.
We should celebrate amazing developers like him more.
Here's his story.
Thread.🧵
He was raised in Africa, built a 6-figure remote business (while in high school!) and he's only 23.
We should celebrate amazing developers like him more.
Here's his story.
Thread.🧵
Back in 2013, Hassan was playing Team Fortress 2.
He noticed gamers spending $100s on virtual cosmetics.
Wanting his character to look fly, he started trading $.05 skins for $.10 skins (with folks who had duplicates of them).
After a few months, he had a few hundred $$.
He noticed gamers spending $100s on virtual cosmetics.
Wanting his character to look fly, he started trading $.05 skins for $.10 skins (with folks who had duplicates of them).
After a few months, he had a few hundred $$.
TF2's currency could be traded for real money.
So Hassan started targeting people who quit and had a lot of items they couldn't sell quickly.
He'd buy their items for 60% of their value. Then he'd take his time selling them for 80% of the value.
Cash-out. Rinse and repeat.
So Hassan started targeting people who quit and had a lot of items they couldn't sell quickly.
He'd buy their items for 60% of their value. Then he'd take his time selling them for 80% of the value.
Cash-out. Rinse and repeat.
After 5 months, he wheeled in $4k.
But the game slowed in growth and he went back to chatting it up with his gamer community.
He noticed a bunch of them complaining...
about how difficult it was to get their games on @steam to sell them.
But the game slowed in growth and he went back to chatting it up with his gamer community.
He noticed a bunch of them complaining...
about how difficult it was to get their games on @steam to sell them.
So he decided to try to help these small devs get their games on platforms like Steam to sell them.
The plan?
Grow a community thru free game giveaways. And then have community members vote on the game to help them get accepted.
Here's what it looked like!
The plan?
Grow a community thru free game giveaways. And then have community members vote on the game to help them get accepted.
Here's what it looked like!
To grow as quickly as possible, he focused on keeping the giveaways free, consistent, and high quality
His Steam group grew from 1 member to 40k several months later
Before he knew it he was managing five steam groups totaling 500,000 members!
Who knew people loved free games?
His Steam group grew from 1 member to 40k several months later
Before he knew it he was managing five steam groups totaling 500,000 members!
Who knew people loved free games?
For this first year, he made $0.
Yes, $0. :-)
He had just focused on value, growing his base, and building credibility.
Once the audience was there, he started placing ads for games on the bottom of giveaways.
And he grew it to be worth $100k! 🤑
Now... the $90k mistake.
Yes, $0. :-)
He had just focused on value, growing his base, and building credibility.
Once the audience was there, he started placing ads for games on the bottom of giveaways.
And he grew it to be worth $100k! 🤑
Now... the $90k mistake.
After graduating high school in Africa he moved to the US for university.
And
He slowly lost interest and ended up watching his communities lose users and activity.
Three years later, he listed it on @microacquire and sold it for $10k.
(Not bad! And still better than me! lol)
And
He slowly lost interest and ended up watching his communities lose users and activity.
Three years later, he listed it on @microacquire and sold it for $10k.
(Not bad! And still better than me! lol)
His tip to you?
"If a student with no business background could start and run a semi-successful startup with no resources in a developing country, you can definitely do it."
And today he's joining @vercel as their Dev Advocate!
What a journey this kid has had!
"If a student with no business background could start and run a semi-successful startup with no resources in a developing country, you can definitely do it."
And today he's joining @vercel as their Dev Advocate!
What a journey this kid has had!
We should celebrate developers like him more!
If you want to celebrate Hassan, retweet the first tweet in the thread to share his story. ❤️
If you want to celebrate Hassan, retweet the first tweet in the thread to share his story. ❤️
And if you have any interest in building NextJS websites with @stackbit, DM us for invites to our Early Access Program!
– Over and out
– Over and out
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