我是如何打造的：月入2万美元的Chrome扩展 | 创业故事

学会如何开发扩展程序，并在两三天内就推出了我的第一个扩展。

Learned how to build an extension and launched my first extension within like two or three days.

而如今它的月经常性收入已达到约2万到3万美元。

And today it's at about like 20 to $30,000 MRR.

一个人怎么能通过一个简单的浏览器扩展每月赚取超过2万美元？

How does one guy make over $20,000 a month with a simple browser extension?

嗯，这是因为他正投身于当前商业中最热门的领域——人工智能。

Well, it's because he's building in the hottest niche in business right now, AI.

Syed Ezzati的旅程始于在企业美国的不同初创公司担任员工近十年。

Syed Ezzati started his journey as an employee working for almost a decade in corporate America in different startups.

但现在他是一名独立创业者，在从事自己热爱的副业项目的同时，过着相当不错的生活。

But now he's a solopreneur, making a pretty good living while working on a side project he's passionate about.

所以我花了一个多小时与他交谈，全面了解了他每月2万美元的人工智能业务。

So I spent over an hour talking to him and getting the complete scoop on his $20,000 a month AI business.

事实证明，这其实相当简单，而且并不像你想象的那么饱和。

Turns out, it's actually pretty simple and is not as saturated as you might think.

仍然有很多机会。

There's still plenty of opportunity.

你只需要知道去哪里寻找。

You just need to know where to look.

在本视频中，Saeed分享了关于构建人工智能的大师课程，包括如何找到好点子、在哪里实现这些点子，以及一些独特的变现方式，即使你是初学者。

In this video, Saeed shares a master class on building an AI, where to find good ideas, where to build those ideas, and some unique ways to monetize those ideas even if you're a beginner.

好的。

Alright.

我们开始吧。

Let's get into it.

我是帕特·沃尔斯，这里是创业故事。

I'm Pat Walls, and this is starter story.

欢迎你，赛义德。

Welcome, Syed.

很高兴你能来。

It's great to have you.

请介绍一下你自己和你创立的这个业务。

Tell me about who you are and this business that you built.

我叫赛义德。

My name is Syed.

我是一名软件工程师。

I'm a software engineer.

我开发的ChatGPT扩展叫超级ChatGPT。

ChatGPT extension that I built is called superpower ChatGPT.

本质上它是一个浏览器扩展，为ChatGPT添加了许多额外功能。

It's a browser extension basically that adds a bunch of extra feature to ChatGPT.

我大约一年半前开始做这个，现在月经常性收入在2万到3万美元左右。

I started this about a year and a half ago, and today it's at about like 20 to $30,000 MRR.

这个扩展一直只有我一个人在开发。

I'm the only person who's been working on the extension.

下载量已接近26万次，扩展的周活跃用户数大约有15万。

It has been downloaded close to like I think 260,000 weekly active users for the extension is around, like, 150,000.

好的。

Okay.

所以你开发了一个Chrome扩展程序，月收入超过2万美元。

So you built a Chrome extension to over $20,000 a month.

你认为对于想要效仿的人来说，最佳策略是什么？

What do you think is the best strategy for someone to do something similar?

我考虑的有两种方式：要么为现有的大型平台开发，比如Gmail、Roblox、Facebook、YouTube或Twitter。

Two ways I'm thinking about this either building for an existing really big platform like Gmail, for example, or like Roblox, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter.

这些平台已经拥有大量用户。

They already have all these users.

你只需要开发扩展程序，那些用户自然会找到你。

All you need to do is to just build the extension and those users will find you.

Twitter拥有数亿用户。

Twitter had like hundreds of millions of users.

即使只有2000人需要这些功能，也足以让你获得可观的收入维持生计。

And if only like 2,000 people wanted features, that's like a good amount of like revenue for you to just live off of.

我推荐的另一种方式是选择那些已有应用市场但用户基数较小的平台。

The other thing I recommend is going after platforms that have like an existing marketplace, but a smaller user base.

比如Zoom或Salesforce，在这样的市场里竞争会容易得多。

Zoom or Salesforce, it's a lot easier to compete in a marketplace like that.

它们的用户数量较少，但同时为这些平台开发产品的人也较少。

They have less number of users, but at the same time, they have less number of people building for those platforms.

这也是开发产品的一个好方向。

That's another good place to build some products.

我们来谈谈在市场上构建插件的机遇。

Let's talk about the opportunity of building plugins in marketplaces.

这比推出一个拥有独立网站的传统SaaS产品有什么优势？

What makes this better than launching a traditional SaaS that has its own website?

大多数人开始项目时，只考虑需要哪些表单，一个独立的平台，比如拥有自己前后端的网站。

Most people, when they want to start a project, they're just thinking about forms to have, a standalone platform, like a website that has all of its own back end and front end and everything.

与互联网上所有人竞争，远比在小型市场中与有限玩家竞争困难得多。

Competing with like everyone on the internet is a lot harder than competing with like a limited number of players in a smaller like marketplace.

而且这对产品验证也大有帮助。

And it also helps a lot with validating the product.

比如开发一个运行在用户浏览器上的简单扩展要容易得多。

Like it's a lot easier to build, like, a simple extension that runs on a user browser.

这样你至少能知道这个想法是否可行，是否值得投入更多时间。

That way, you can at least know if that idea is going to work out or not, and if it's worth, like, spending more time on it.

明白了。

Got it.

所以为现有市场开发产品要快得多。

So building for an existing marketplace is a lot faster.

竞争不激烈，验证想法也更容易。

It's less crowded, and it's a lot easier to validate your idea.

你能告诉我们如何为市场平台构思创意吗？

Can you tell us how to actually come up with an idea for a marketplace platform?

当ChatGPT推出时，我已经有一些想法，发现了一些缺失的网页功能。

When ChatGPT was launched, I already had some ideas, some web features missing.

最初，当我开发这些功能时，主要是为了自己使用这个扩展程序。

And initially, when I was building these features, I was mainly building the extension for myself.

后来我尝试去寻找我的用户们经常出没的地方。

And later I tried to go find the places that my users will hang out.

Reddit的子版块就是其中之一。

Subreddits are one of them.

Discord频道是另一个选择。

Discord channels are other one.

Slack群组也是一个好去处。

Slack groups is another one.

Facebook群组同样值得关注。

Facebook group is another one.

我就是喜欢加入所有这些群组，开始倾听人们的声音，试图了解大家希望在ChatGPT中看到什么功能。

I just like joining all these groups, and I started listening to people and trying to figure out what features other people want to see in chat GPT.

我认为这可能是产生创意的最佳方式之一。

I think this is probably one of the best way to like come up with idea.

直接去你的潜在客户聚集的地方，看看他们需要什么，然后努力实现它。

Just go where your potential customers hanging out and see what they are asking for and just try to build that.

这实际上可能是我对这个扩展程序应用的最大增长策略。

And this was actually one of my probably biggest like growth hack that I applied to this extension.

就是倾听人们的需求，尝试实现功能，然后回去告诉他们：'看，我做到了'。

Just listening to people what they want, trying to implement the feature, and then going back and telling them that, okay.

我已经添加了这个功能。

I added this feature.

你可以使用这个扩展，并将该功能作为ChatGPT界面的一部分。

You can use this extension and have that feature as part of the ChatGPT interface.

Syed是精明互联网建设者的完美典范。

Syed is the perfect example of a crafty Internet builder.

他通过花时间研究来寻找创意。

He finds his ideas by spending time researching.

在社区中研究，通过自身问题和挫折进行研究，最重要的是研究其他企业，看看是否能打造出更好的产品。

Researching in communities, researching through his own problems and frustrations, and most importantly, researching other businesses to see if he could build something better.

那么，如果有一种更简单的方法能跳过所有这些研究环节呢？

Now, what if there was an easier way to shortcut all of this research?

这就是我们制作这份独立开发者深度指南的原因。

Well, that's why we made this solo developer deep dive.

它详细解析了50种不同的独立开发者商业创意，包括商业模式、客户画像、构建平台，以及你想了解的其他各种酷炫内容。

It breaks down 50 different solo developer business ideas, including their business models, their customer profiles, the platform they built on, and a whole bunch of other cool stuff you'd want to know.

如果你真的像Saeed一样想打造一个盈利的副业项目，请点击描述中的第一个链接，我将免费提供50个开发者创意的深度解析，希望能帮助你找到自己的灵感。

So if you're actually serious about building a profitable side project like Saeed, head to the first link in the description, and I'm gonna give you the deep dive of 50 developer ideas for free, and hopefully, it helps you find your own idea.

现在让我们回到Syed的故事。

Now let's get back to Syed.

好的。

Okay.

我们已经知道在哪里构建和构建什么，但具体该如何构建呢？

So we know where to build and what to build, but what about how to build it?

你需要学习哪些经验或编程语言？

What kind of experiences or coding languages do you need to learn?

如果你知道如何构建一个网站，那么你也就知道如何构建一个浏览器扩展。

If you know how to build a single website, you'll know how to build, like, an extension.

JavaScript、HTML、CSS。

JavaScript, HTML, CSS.

我就是这样构建出最初版本的。

That's how I built the very first version.

它非常简单。

It was very, very simple.

基本上只有两个功能，但其实我之前从未构建过任何浏览器扩展。

Only had like two features basically, but actually I have never built any browser extension.

在我学会如何构建扩展后，我基本上在ChatGPT发布后的两三天内就推出了我的第一个扩展。

Before I had learned how to build an extension and launched my first extension within, like, two or three days, basically, after ChatGPT was launched.

所以我并不是说每个简单的项目都能成功。

So I'm not saying, like, every, like, simple project could work.

时机在这里非常重要。

Timing is really important here.

我行动得非常非常早。

I will really, really early.

好的。

Okay.

所以你能很快地找到方向、构建并发布产品。

So you can find, build, and launch a product pretty quickly.

但你是如何真正获得用户或让产品受到关注的呢？

But how do you actually get users or eyeballs on your product?

我没有为这个扩展做过任何广告。

I have not done any ads or anything for the extension.

所有这些都是通过口碑或我自己在不同平台上的发布自然发生的。

And all of it happened organically by word-of-mouth or by me, like posting on like different platform.

我记得最初是在Reddit上发布的。

Like I think the very first place that I posted it was on Reddit.

我记得它当天就登上了那个子版块的顶部。

I think it went like to the top of that subreddit that I posted for that day.

但与此同时，社交媒体上的人们开始撰写类似'十大聊天扩展'这样的评测文章。

But at the same time, like just people who like are on social media started writing reviews about like top, like 10 chatty pt extension, for example.

而我的扩展基本上都具备这些功能。

And my extension had those features basically.

这些评测不是我写的。

I didn't write them.

我也没有花钱请人写。

I didn't pay for them to be written.

我从未真正付钱让任何人写过文章。

I've never, like, actually paid anyone to write any article.

这一切都是自然发生的。

And it was all organic.

人们开始发现它，开始使用它。

People started finding it, started using it.

他们喜欢这个创意。

They liked the idea.

他们很喜欢这些功能，并开始将这些想法分享给他们的受众。

They liked the features and started sharing those ideas with their audience.

这对用户增长帮助很大。

And that helped a lot with growing the, user base.

哇。

Wow.

所以你们没在营销上花一分钱。

So you didn't spend any money on marketing.

是的。

Yeah.

显然早期入场帮助很大，但我觉得最突出的是人们自发为你的插件做推广，因为你做出了真正优秀的产品。

Clearly being early helped a lot, but I think what stands out is that people basically started marketing your plugin for you because you built a really great product.

现在观看视频的人还能抓住哪些早期机会？

Are there any other early opportunities that someone watching this could take advantage of right now?

如何在这些细分领域打造出众的产品？

And how can you build standout products in those niches?

AI确实很强大，但现在还处于早期阶段，医生们可能还没考虑将AI引入工作，如果你先行动，那里存在大量机会。

AI is really powerful, but it's still very early and doctors maybe are not thinking about like bringing AI into their job, but if you do, there are a lot of like opportunities there.

我最喜欢的事情之一就是和用户交流。

One of my favorite thing is to talk to my users.

每次和用户交谈时，我都尽可能了解他们的工作、背景以及如何使用ChatGPT。

And every time I talk to any users, I try to learn as much as I can about them, what they do, what's their background and how they use ChatGPT.

了解律师如何用ChatGPT简化工作，或是医生如何用它提高效率，这是为不直接使用AI的人群构思新产品的最佳方式之一。

Learning about how a lawyer is using ChatGPT to make their job easier or a doctor is using ChatGPT to make their job easier is one of the best way to come up with new ideas and build new product for people who don't directly use AI.

好的，我们来谈谈变现问题。

Okay, let's talk about monetization.

我们知道如何构建产品并获取用户。

We know how to build it and how to get users.

但你们实际上是怎么赚到第一块钱的？

But how did you actually make your first dollar?

最初大概有九个月时间，这个扩展是完全免费的。

First for the first nine months or so, the extension was completely free.

就是说，扩展的所有功能都是100%免费的。

Like, every feature of the extension was 100% free.

现在回想起来，我觉得应该更早开始变现的。

If you ask me today, I think I should have, like, monetized the extension earlier.

但同时我也觉得，免费策略确实帮助我快速积累了用户基础。

But at the same time, I do feel like it helped a lot with like growing my user base.

所以我想抓住这批用户，开始为他们编写新闻通讯。

So I wanted to capture that audience, and I started writing a newsletter basically for like the user base that I had.

这大概是在我开发扩展三四个月后的事。

And this is like three or four months after I started the extension.

我还在一些可以接赞助的网站上发布了新闻通讯。

I also posted my newsletter on some of the website that like you can get a sponsor for.

结果一两周内，我就迎来了第一个赞助商，付了几百美元让我在通讯里登广告。

Like within like week or two, I had like my first sponsor paying me like a few $100 to just post their ad on the newsletter, basically.

刚开始写新闻通讯时，每天要花我大概六七个小时。

When I first started writing the newsletter, it would take me, like, maybe six or seven hours every day.

现在写一份简报大概需要两小时左右。

Now it takes, like, maybe two hours or so to write a newsletter.

哇。

Wow.

所以你走了一条非常规路线，先通过简报赚钱。

So you took a pretty unconventional route and started making money from the newsletter first.

但你是如何通过Chrome扩展本身盈利的呢？

But how did you monetize the actual Chrome extension?

大概在头九到十个月之后，我开始考虑为扩展添加新功能，并让人们为这些额外功能付费。

After, like, that, like, first nine or ten months, I started to think about new features that I can add to the extension and ask people to pay for those extra features, basically.

所以我没让任何人支付扩展已有功能的费用，所有基础功能都保持免费。

So I didn't ask anyone to pay for any existing features that the extension had, and all of those features stayed free.

我尝试了不同的定价策略。

And I tried, like, different pricing.

比如我实验过高价位、低价位，最终找到了一个我认为最适合扩展定价的中间值。

Like, I experimented at, like, higher price, lower price, and I, like, kinda found, like, a middle ground there that I think was the best way to price the extension.

作为独立创业者，你使用哪些编程语言、工具和软件来开发？

So what are the coding languages, tools, and software you use to build as a solopreneur?

我大部分时间都在用VS Code。

I spend most of my time inside Versus Code.

这是个代码编辑器。

It's a code editor.

我所有项目的代码都在那里编写。

That's where I write all of my code for all of my projects.

当我开发那个扩展时，我回归到了纯粹的JavaScript，没有使用任何框架。

When I was building the extension, I went back to like pure JavaScript with no frameworks.

我所有的后端都使用AWS，基本上我的整个项目都运行在AWS上。

I used AWS for all of my back ends, all of my project basically live on like AWS.

至于新闻通讯，我用的是Beehive。

For the newsletter, I use Beehive.

Beehive的一个优点就是他们的变现功能。

One of the nice things about Beehive is their monetization feature.

他们有个叫Boomsd的功能。

They actually have this thing called Boomsd.

你只需在新闻通讯里放些链接就能赚钱。

You can just include some links in your newsletter and make money from it.

我用的是passion fruits。

I use passion fruits.

人们通过这个平台找到我并联系我赞助新闻通讯。

That's where people find me and reach out to me to to sponsor the newsletter.

好的。

Alright.

在结束之前，我想聊聊AI领域一个有争议的话题。

Before we wrap things up, I wanna talk a bit about a controversial topic in the AI space.

你看，你把这个产品做到了月入2万多美元，但它只是个ChatGPT的封装。

You know, you built this product to over $20,000 a month, but it's a chat GBT wrapper.

对吧？

Right?

这样做有什么缺点吗？

Is there any downside to this?

你对此有过担忧吗？

And do you worry about this at all?

OpenAI随时可以叫停这个产品。

OpenAI can tell this product any day.

我对此已经恐惧很长时间了。

I've rather scared of that for a very long time.

到现在这个阶段，我反而有点麻木了。

And at this point, I kind of feel numb to it.

我今天不想再为此烦恼了。

I don't want to like worry about it today.

说实话，如果我的插件某天突然不能用了，我可能会尝试为其他主流平台开发新插件，但这会让我的生活变得困难许多。

Literally, if my extension stopped working at some point, I probably gonna try and build other extension for one of these other major platforms, It's gonna make my my life a lot harder.

好的，Syed。

Alright, Syed.

最后一个问题。

Final question.

对于刚起步想建立自己软件业务或在市场平台开发插件的人，你有什么建议？

What advice would you have to someone just starting out who wants to build their own software business or plug in inside of a marketplace?

尽可能快地验证项目可行性。

Try to validate the project as fast as you can.

先做出第一个版本并发布，看看是否能吸引到用户。

Just build a very first version and launch it and see if you get some users from it.

试着去做吧。

Try to do that.

还有我之前提到的另一点，专注于你的优势。

And the the other thing I mentioned this earlier, focus on your strengths.

就我而言，就是打造一个产品，免费分享给大家，并由此获得最初的一些用户。

In my case, it was building a product, sharing it with people for free, and, like, getting my first few users from that.

所以在我看来这两点是最重要的。

So those two things are the most important thing in my opinion.

嘿，伙计们。

Yo, guys.

真心希望你们喜欢这个视频，并从Syed那里获得了一些实用的建议和宝贵经验。

I really hope you enjoyed the video and got some hopefully good tips and golden nuggets from Syed.

但我有句话要马上说。

But I wanna say something real quick.

归根结底，这些视频的目的是向你们展示各种可能性。

At the end of the day, the point of these videos is to show you ideas and show you it's possible.

但更希望你们能运用这些想法，开创属于自己的盈利事业。

But hopefully, you take these ideas and go start your own profitable thing in your own successful business.

虽然学习这些知识很重要，但真正能改变你人生的是付诸行动。

While learning this stuff is important, taking action is the thing that's actually gonna change your life.

所以花时间研究、学习、寻找创意，然后尽快把想法变成现实。

So spend time researching, learning, finding ideas, but then go build that thing as fast as you can.

如果你现在还有些迷茫，点击描述栏的第一个链接，就能获取我们免费提供的《独立开发者创收指南》——里面都是当下真正赚钱的点子，助你即刻启程。

If you're still feeling a little lost on this right now, well click the first link in the description and you're gonna get our free report of solo developer ideas that are actually making money right now so you can get going on your thing.

满满的爱，我们下期再见！

Much love, and I'll see you guys in the next one!

再见！

Peace!