Gefei Hangzhou Offline Sharing - July 19

This Hangzhou offline sharing was added temporarily. Gefei didn’t originally plan to come to Hangzhou, but ByteDance’s invitation was hard to refuse, especially since it was completely free and included various gifts. So this Hangzhou offline event came to be.

1. Overview

Coming to ByteDance Hangzhou felt like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. As someone who’s worked at small companies for 7 years, I haven’t seen much of the world and naturally yearn for big companies like BAT.

ByteDance’s campus requires advance reservation and entry with a confirmation message.

During the intermission, I took two iconic photos:

2. Sharing Topics

2.1 Sponsor Advertisement Time

As usual, the beginning featured the sponsor’s advertisements. ByteDance was very generous - the venue, tea breaks, and various services were all excellent, so Gefei didn’t need to charge us, and we participated for free.

2.2 Advertising Strategies

This guest was very capable, but at my current stage, I still didn’t understand much.

2.3 An Ordinary Programmer’s Growth Story

Like Kajiwa from the Shanghai event, Hangzhou also had guests sharing ordinary programmer success stories. This is my favorite segment - after all, those big shots started too high for us common folks to catch up with. I prefer these down-to-earth stories that I can reach if I work hard.

This guest is called Jinguo Laozhang, who graduated with an ordinary undergraduate degree in 2017 and is an ordinary programmer with 8 years of experience. He joined Gefei’s community in mid-2024 and achieved monthly income of $10,000 in just one year.

Laozhang’s presentation style was very humorous and engaging. He started with four interactive questions asking about education, work experience, and identifying fellow “ordinary workers” like himself.

Key Takeaways:

Getting First Dollar:

• Made through a gaming site using Google Adsense
• Beginners should target new keywords with low competition

Monthly $1000:

• Focused on AI tool sites with subscription models
• Key tips: optimize keyword density (3-5%), build backlinks, focus on user interactions

Monthly $10,000:

• 0 to 1 is hard (took 4 months), but 1000 to 10,000 was easier (took 1 month)
• Shows the compounding effect worth long-term investment

2.4 AI Era: Exploring Independent Developer Boundaries

Qiufeng shared experiences about independent development, with a GitHub open-source project on the art of indie hacking. He emphasized that social media is the lowest-cost cold start method.

His approach is more industrialized, using AI and workflows to complete much of the work, with a well-organized infrastructure for serverless services and resource management.

2.5 Quickly Launching AI SaaS Websites with ShipAny

Douzong is a celebrity in Gefei’s community. Besides promoting his ShipAny product, he brought his new book “This is MCP”.

Key points about AI SaaS websites:

• Low barrier to entry, quick to start
• Combined with SEO for fast positive feedback
• Traffic monetization opportunities

2.6 Need Discovery Methods Everyone Can Learn

The finale was naturally Gefei, whose appearance brought the offline event to its climax. However, offline events are mainly for guest sharing, with Gefei’s essence still in the community through weekly irregular small classes.

3. Summary

The path of overseas websites is difficult, and going alone is even harder. After the Shanghai event, I was energized for a few weeks, actively following new keywords and building a website. But then I became slack again. This Hangzhou event is another boost. The revolution is not yet successful; comrades must continue to work hard!