Building on the 900,000,000 corner of the internet

Every time I visit China, I’m shocked how easy it is to use - and spend money - on WeChat. Want to get hot pot with friends? No problem, you can find the best reviewed spot, pick your table and order food ahead of time, get a cab (from 20 different providers), and share these details all without leaving the app. There’s entire ecosystems of app developers that have built multi-billion dollar companies off the back of creating for WeChat (See: 37Games which has mini-app games of >100m users).

And it’s easy to see why this works: Integrating messaging, payments, and apps creates a flywheel where the best apps can grow virally and the user dropoff to $ spend is reduced with lower friction.

The app layer play on top of messaging platforms is a clear winning strategy that’s underappreciated in Western circles. Probably because there hasn’t been a winner in this category outside of China yet.

So now that Telegram has pushed their product roadmap in this direction, I wouldn’t be surprised to see multiple unicorns sprouting from Telegram mini-apps. And find even more success than WeChat.

We’ve already seen several TG mini-apps grow to multi million userbases off fairly simple concepts. Hamster Kombat for example has reached 150m users in about 2 quarters since launching around March 2024. It’s a tap to earn mechanic that allows users to upgrade their hamsters and move throughout the game story.

Couple reasons why you should be building on Telegram:

• Cracked core development team

• Global TAM of audience leading to faster viral growth

• Native crypto payments

Telegram’s Founder & Core Devs Are Cracked

Telegram has gotten to 900m MAU unlike any tech company out there:

• The entire team consists of 30 developers

• There are zero people in HR

• Total marketing spend: $0

• The founder Pavel Durov is the only product manager and makes sole decisions

Telegram’s team is the anthesis of whatever this culture is that Big Tech has birthed:

@olima_omega

Terrible Day at the Office 😫 #office #bootsandaslickbackbun #viral #dance #work @SHOWPO IG// tbhskincare

Pavel Durov already is a legend who previously founded Russian social networking app VK, similar to Facebook - Durov has been called the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia” by many. His brother who he works closely with, Nikolai, is a multiple winner of international math and programming competitions. Again, totally cracked dev team that is purely focused on product.

What’s very relevant to the core value proposition of Telegram is the story of how he left VK and started Telegram. The TLDR: Russia wanted to censor posts which he refused to, leading to his ouster. Privacy, encryption, and freedom of speech are core foundations of Telegram - elements not found in other messaging platforms and why so many have organically flocked to Telegram.

This is a big reason why a product driven team here is winning market share - I highly recommend checking out Durov’s interview here:

The iteration cycles and product shipping from Telegram is faster than any other team I’ve seen. And given they do zero marketing, their model is skewed to highly favor early adopters.

This is a huge opportunity for developers on top of their new platform. If you pay attention to new features and releases, become an early developer using these tools, then you can differentiate or grow much quicker. If you want the cheatsheet to stay on top of their releases, check out their page.

For example, I have been playing around with Telegram Ads for my AI News Channel (Link) - the CPM I bid on is ~$0.70 per thousand impressions. Roughly 2-3x cheaper than other traditional channels like Google / Facebook that have professionals that have optimized everything.

Global TAM of Audience

Telegram has experienced viral growth in its userbase, reaching 900,000,000 in 2024.

What are the unique features that have contributed to the viral growth of TG?

• Privacy and Security Focus:

  • Telegram places a strong emphasis on privacy and security. Pavel Durov has multiple public statements on privacy including: "Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed." (and he backed this up by giving up a lot of $$ at VK to protect privacy)

  • The platform offers end-to-end encryption for secret chats and voice calls.

• Independence:

  • Telegram is privately owned and not affiliated with large tech companies, unlike WhatsApp (owned by Meta/Facebook) or WeChat (owned by Tencent).

  • Durov has stated: "The main reason why we started to monetize is because we wanted to remain independent."

• Cloud-Based Architecture:

  • Telegram uses a cloud-based system, allowing users to access their messages from multiple devices simultaneously.

• Large Group Chats and Channels:

  • Telegram supports large group chats (up to 200,000 members) and channels with unlimited subscribers, which is unique among messaging apps. It is convenient for both 1:1 chats and 1:Many broadcasts.

• Bots and API:

  • Telegram offers a robust bot platform and API, allowing developers to create various automated services and integrations.

• File Sharing:

  • The platform allows sharing of large files (up to 2GB per file), which is more generous than many competitors.

• Open Source:

  • Telegram's client-side code is open-source, allowing for independent security audits.

• Innovative Features:

  • Telegram often introduces new features ahead of its competitors, such as self-destructing messages, which it implemented before WhatsApp. See above: Cracked dev team

If we combine these features, particularly on (1) Privacy and security (2) Large group chats and channels (3) Bots and API - the potential for Telegram to be a true global phenomenon is much greater vs other apps. Particularly as governments across the board seek to assert greater surveillance techniques.

Crypto Payments

Part of the reason why can have true global integration is its focus on crypto based payments. If you’ve ever spent any time in the traditional payments space, you’ll know just how messy it is to offer payments around the world - it’s slow, expensive, and difficult to coordinate.

With Telegram, every user gets a crypto wallet integrated on the TON chain.

What does this mean for developers?

• Crypto Incentives for Growth: One of the most powerful mechanisms coming from crypto is buying CAC through forward tokens instead of cash. Promising airdrops can be a financial engineering tool for growth instead of traditional VC backed fundraises.

• Faster Liquidity: Launching a token on the back of a successful app can lead to faster founder and investor liquidity.

• Better Economics: Traditional distribution platforms like Apple / Android take ~30% on in-app purchases. Because Telegram benefits from market cap appreciation of $TON, there is less need to monetize off developers from take rates here.

• Ads: Developers everywhere can earn from Telegram’s ads network share as payouts are easier with crypto

• Cross-border Userbase: App developers do not need to geotarget like they do on iOS / Android listings. And any user can pay easily.

Beyond that, where I see potential for apps to really innovate here is through the combination of crypto dApp mechanisms and traditional web2 type games or tools.

For example: Counter Strike’s secondary marketplace for its skinned guns has already passed $1B in volume. Adding DEX type mechanisms or NFT trading venue mechanisms could be something possible on Telegram that you don’t see on other places like WeChat.

What’s the Playbook for Founders?

The app ecosystem for Telegram apps is still quite young. Looking at the categories of most popular apps on WeChat, I think there are huge opportunities in:

• E-Commerce and shopping: Online shopping especially with gifting and social shopping cross border could be huge

• Financial services: Telegram offers not just traditional payments but also crypto mechanisms like defi

• Productivity: Business communication, collaboration, and copilots can be useful particularly with professionals who use TG for deals (eg crypto professionals)

• Lifestyle: Restaurant, dining, travel, etc are categories that can be reinvented especially with AI on the back end

• Gaming: Games already are popular on Telegram and there is room for innovation on quality

I think it’s also especially important to keep in mind when building the app to integrate product features enabling viral growth:

• Easy to send gifts (eg, gifting armor in a game)

• Personalized notes (eg, sending restaurant booking details)

• Referrals off the shelf

• Points and token earning mechanisms