#2 - How to build a successful Shopify App 🚀

In the last email, I told you that I didn't start with Shopify Apps. Before my first Shopify App, I built 2 projects.

They failed miserably. 😁

And for both of them, I thought they would make me rich. Well... I guess I was wrong!

For the first one, I was 16, and it was called: Parents vs Enfants (it means Parents vs Children in French).

The goal was for parents to write anecdotes about children and for children to write anecdotes about parents. Like little stories. And people were able to like the stories.

On the website, I showed who, between parents and children, was winning based on the number of anecdotes and likes. The idea was funny, and I spent a lot of time building the website.

I wasn't the best developer (and I'm still not), so it took me months to build it. The idea came from that famous French website called "VDM" which is the abbreviation for "Vie de merde" (Shitty life in English). People could write anecdotes and little stories about something that happened to them. And every story ended with "VDM".

2 friends had built this website when they were still students at 17 years old. They had a lot of users, and they were making so much money. I was impressed. And these 2 guys became my references. I wanted to be like them!

That's why I built a website similar to what they created! But they had something I didn't have: users.

Why didn't anyone show up on my website when I built it? I even made a Facebook Page (that still exists 😂 https://www.facebook.com/parentsvsenfants)

1st lesson learned: It's not because you've built it that they will come

I have to say that it was an incredible and valuable lesson, but I didn't know it at that time.

I was just doing my things and thought it was easy: "Look at all the success stories!". But it's just that we don't hear about failures.

I didn't make the same mistake. Waiting for them to come. And I took my inspiration from something else.

You know that movie about Facebook? The Social Network.

That was my new inspiration! And damn, I loved that movie. Watched it too late. So guess what I wanted to build? A social network! What a fantastic idea!

Notice something, the 2 projects I wanted to build when I started and the projects people usually want to make when they first start as entrepreneurs are platforms.

Everyone wants to create platforms! Nobody wants to develop tools.

So what's the difference?

Tools can work even if you only have 1 user: Notion, Shopify, Klaviyo, etc...

But platforms need more than 1 person to bring value: Airbnb, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc...

And it's more complicated! So why does everyone want to build a platform? Because it's sexy! And this is what comes to our mind when we think about successful websites!

Like Mark Zuckerberg, I started this project called Packeys with 2 friends in our engineering school. The goal was to replace Facebook Groups.

We actually started with a problem. That was a good move! School associations needed a tool to manage the members, the events, and stuff like that. They were using crappy websites that were not optimal.

And after talking with one of the association presidents, I came up with this idea.

But the next move wasn't really good. I spent 2 months, summer holidays, every single day, building the platform. I didn't talk to the people who would use the platform. I had the idea in mind and wanted to make it perfect.

But guess what, after I finished Packeys, they were not happy with it. It wasn't clear. Features were missing and other stuff they didn't like.

And I slowly lost interest in it.

2nd lesson learned: It's not because you know people want what you're building that you will get users. Making it "perfect" doesn't work.

But it was too much for my little heart. I decided to stop building stuff. 🥲

We're in June 2017. I finally got my 1st internship in a big French company. I was going to work in IT.

That is my other dream. Either it is building a business on the internet OR joining a big French company as a developer or something.

And here we are, September 2017, starting my 2-month internship. I felt a little stressed and impressed. I was sitting on that chair the 1st day, waiting for someone to take me up. A lot of buildings and people.

It was exciting and scary! What a strange feeling.

The first week was great. You learn many things. But then the excitement went down.

"That's it? Is it what I wanted? I know I'm just a trainee, but hey, I thought it was more exciting. It's what I wanted! Big company, IT. But it's not the feeling I expected."

And at this exact moment, I knew: I didn't want to work in a company. I want to be my own boss.

But I stopped building projects because I wasn't successful! What will I do?

And in September 2017, Dropshipping was trendy in France. And I started to read and watch content on how to earn money or run a business. You know the typical "How to get rich?". 😂

So I watched some videos about e-commerce, and I liked it. People were making money. This hustle and all those people with the same dream: to be financially free!

I joined my first French Facebook group. 500 people. Everyone talking about this new opportunity: Dropshipping.

And the 2 admins of the group? They made $1,000,000 in a SINGLE year! They were only 24 years old! I was shocked! How can you make that much money? At a young age?

So I started to build a Shopify store. But something was wrong. I didn't really like it. I loved the people, the hustle but making a Shopify Website, huuum, no. That wasn't for me.

But people in the group had needs. They were not developers. They were merchants. They needed to add things to their store, change the design, etc... So I helped them! I really loved engaging with everyone, so I did it for free!

I was even giving scripts for free on the group to everyone.

And it happened. The admin noticed me and sent me a message.

"Hey, we have a script in mind that can be helpful for everyone, but we don't know how to create it. Can you do it for the group?"

I said to myself:

"Daaamn, they sent me a message, and they made so much money!"

Of course! Man! That is fantastic! I felt honored! I was only a student and these 2 guys, making millions, asked me to do something!

So I did it, and we shared it in the group.

And it happened. Euphoria. These kinds of moments you don't want to end. People loved the script and loved the content I put.

They even gave me a name: The Crazy Coder. The guy who can code anything.

And it didn't end. The 2 admins prepared a meetup in Paris at the end of November 2017. It was free, and the goal was to talk about e-commerce.

You already know it, but I attended this meetup.

And the best part? The 2 admins, AKA the 2 millionaires asked me for dinner right before the meetup to talk about something they had in mind.

I said yes, of course!

And so that day I sat with them at that table, just to the left when you enter the restaurant. I remember it precisely. I was shaking. 😂

And I invited a close friend, someone I brought on the e-commerce adventure. I guess I was too afraid to have dinner with the two admins alone.

Then we started to eat together, and they said that mythic sentence:

"We have an idea. A Shopify App idea."

...

This email is already soooo long! So you know what, I'll continue next week, and you'll have all the details about the 1st Shopify App I created and the learnings.

I needed to tell my story before starting with the value. And since this newsletter is like a diary, it was vital for me.

If you liked this email, please write a tweet, tag me @DsMatie, and tell me what you thought about it!

Now wait for the next email, and until then... Have a great week!

Mat