How to Make Millions on Discord

I would like to give you $20 million. Well, not directly. Instead, I’d like to tell you about an opportunity that could get you that money relatively easily. It isn’t quite growing on trees, but it’s pretty close. 

First, I’m going to share the theory behind the idea. Then, the idea itself. 

When I’m evaluating a tech company, one of my most important filters is distribution—the way a company grows. Does the founder have a novel, repeatable way to acquire customers? Is there a channel, like Facebook ads, that is unusually cheap and the market hasn’t yet utilized? This distribution advantage can present itself along the following variables:

1. Size: Is the total addressable market large?
2. Product-distribution fit: Does the product, through its very usage, have distribution built in? An example is how social sharing is a core part of social media platforms’ usage pattern.
3. Propensity to spend: Does the market you are distributing to have a previous history of buying products with similar utility? 
4. Competitive density: Are there competing products with high switching costs? Are they currently being distributed on your chosen channel? 

You can justify building a product if just one of these questions has a strongly positive answer. The idea I’m proposing is so good it ticks all four boxes. I’m talking about a $20 million opportunity called Discord Activities.

For the unfamiliar, Discord is a communications app where people chat via text, voice, or video on private servers. It had 183 million users in 2022 and is home to communities far beyond its original domain of gaming. Crypto, AI, and pop-culture fandoms of every shape and size congregate on its purple-green servers. 

To supplement the service, over the last year Discord has been adding activities for users to engage in during voice chats. There are mini-golf games like Putt Party. 

There are whiteboards on which you can draw on with your friends.