I'm that multi-millionaire app developer who explained what it's like being rich after growing up poor. AMA!

Allen, what percentage % of your app downloaders pay for the upgrade?

Roughly 1-5%.

Interesting. Is this a common percentage for all apps that offer upgrades or in-app purchases?

Yes, because when my apps were say #10 in the paid apps and #10 in the free apps, the ratio was roughly 1:100 in downloads.

Hello Allen, where did you go to college and what did you major in?

I have a computer science and engineering degree from UCLA.

What skills did you learn from college and what skills did you have to learn on your own?

College indirectly taught me how to learn other coding languages on my own. This is because I was too busy with my side business creating mods for online video games to sell. And I didn't have enough time to go sit and listen in the classes. So instead, I had to do all the homework by reading the textbook myself. I got into the habit of reading the textbook and learning everything without a lecturer showing me how it's done. And then I basically developed the skills to learn things on my own. And that helped me learn app coding on my own when the App Store came out shortly after I graduated.

This is the most valuable skill I learned from being homeschooled. Being able to teach yourself opens so many doors.

Which is why I emphasize in my speeches to those Harvard undergrads: You have to learn how to learn.

Which is kind of weird, because I bet most of them sitting there were smarter than me and already knew how to learn on their own.

Shit man, this is what I'm trying to do. Makes me feel like this is possible.

It's possible even without the degree if you know how to learn things on your own.

Two questions if I may:

When or how do you know to pursue the idea? Basically do you try making every app you think of, and if not, how do you know which ones may be successful?

Also, do you feel like having a povertous upbringing has made you more/less generous with your money? Do you feel more/less likely to give money to friends and family due to money being a scarcity in your childhood?

Thank you!

I look at the top app charts almost everyday to have a look at what people are downloading these days. That gives me a good idea of what people would want. I actually don't make that many apps anymore. When I started, I made almost anything I could think of. That's because I was chasing every dollar that I could get, and also it let me try out different marketing approaches. Now I just create things that would make my own life easier. For example, I create the Remote S for Tesla app, because I wanted to make a better app than Tesla made. I have a hunch for when an app would be successful by how often I would use the app myself, and I would get feedback from customers as well so that I could constantly make the app better until they liked it.

My upbringing probably made me more generous because I knew what it was like to struggle growing up. Even back then, it pained me to see someone struggle financially when I couldn't help them out financially myself. Now that I can do something about it, I do what I can. Plus, I noticed that spending money on myself doesn't make me as happy as I can make someone else happy with the same amount of money.

You're a good person.

A few years ago, I earnestly asked that Redditors work together to make each other just a little bit happier. I don't know whether Allen ever saw that - I'm sure very few people ever did - but just know, Allen, /u/regoapps, that you're doing people a world of good. You've gone through hell, and not only made a success out of yourself, but kept your sanity and ideals intact. Bless your soul, and I hope that you have continued success, personal happiness, and generosity.

Bless you, too, for what you do. Let's all be excellent to each other instead of trying to find the negatives in everything.

insert Bill and Ted gif here

But seriously man, that's an awesome outlook. Just wanted to pop in and say that I've had 5-0 Police Scanner on my phone for literally years. Downloaded and first used it in college when there was a hostage situation on my campus. Thanks for the memories.

Thanks! It's customers like you who help me save my mother indirectly. You see, it was toxic for my mother to keep living in that crappy NYC house especially after my father had just passed away. Nothing I did was helping her snap out of her psychotic episode. She refused to take the drugs that her doctor prescribed her because she didn't think anything was wrong with her. So I had to save her with other means. With the funds I made from the apps I moved her out of the house into a much nicer living space. And then from there I nursed her mental health back to health by taking her to Disney World and zoos and parks. I don't think she would have gotten better if she was still living in that dump. So thank you and the other people for downloading my app and helping save my mother.

Always been curious, how do you know how to communicate with other people's software? Did Tesla publish information on how to interface with it's car? If not, how would you find out how to do that?

Someone hacked the official app and figured out the API. They did it by decompiling the APK.

One mental trap that I have seen a lot of wealthy people fall into is that they start to think that everyone who grew up poor like them should have become rich like they did.

I encourage you to remember that not everyone can be as smart/motivated as you are. And that while you overcame adversity if some random things in your life had been a little bit different you would not be as successful as you are today.

By maintaining that mindset you can avoid the trap of becoming detached from most people. But it seems that you are already good at staying grounded!

I know how hard it was to climb that social-economical ladder after having to climb it first-hand. I'm not one of those people who tell others to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I'm more of a "come into my boat and let's all float up together" kind of guy.

I also leave many clues as to how I made it on my own as well. I've outlined the path I took many times, whether through my various AMAs through the years, or my YouTube videos, or my Facebook posts, or my autobiography. After climbing to the top, I threw the rope down for anyone else who wants to and is capable of climbing up as well.

I don't think everyone can or will do it, and I don't think everyone should be programmers (that's only one path out of many). But there might be that one kid out there reading this AMA and getting the inspiration to actually make something of himself and create something, too. If you've ever seen the PMs I get or the Facebook comments I get, you'd see that there are many times when people would come back years later and tell me that my AMAs got them into technology or programming or apps. And they're now successful because of it. One person now works at Google. Another created the super popular #1 app Cycloramic. Another got into Stanford U after the university got impressed by the app she created. That's what gives me encouragement to do these AMAs every once in a while, even though my fingers are now hurting from all this typing.

There's literally a dad who posts a comment on my Facebook profile every once a while to give me updates about his son's progress and success with the game his son created after learning about me and reading my book. It's very cute how proud he is of his son. I like seeing his updates pop up every once in a while, because I'd like to think that that's what my dad would have felt about me if he was alive today to see what I've created.

I think it's great that you're so good to the people around you, but how do you deal with people who take advantage of your kindness? It seems like someone like you would attract a lot of people looking for a free lunch or to save them from their poor financial decisions. Do you draw the line somewhere? Do you only do it for those who you've known since before you were rich? I'd love to help people too if I was rich (but I'm not :/) but I think I'd have a hard time dealing with people coming out of the woodwork asking for money all the time

Not Rich here: But on occation , I play the lotto. I have a carefully constructed plan on what to do if I would win. First I would see an attorney. Then I would quietly pay off my 6 figures of student loans and my husband's student loans. Then creating a sham organization with my attorney, I would "randomly" have my sister's medical bills paid off. I would pay off my brother's mortgage all but 1,000 so he can feel the joy of a last payment. My other sister would randomly have all of her debt erased. We would continue to live in our very small rental and I would be "Virtual Assistant" for someone...aka living off interest but not having to work. My husband could take a job he loves (teaching!) for a less salary. We would later buy a modest home and slowly remodel it. I'd pour myself into my art. WE COULD AFFORD TO IVF/ADOPT! My nieces/nephews would win obscure essay contests for scholarship money. and no one would ever know!

I've noticed that some people don't want to take money from me for whatever reason they have. So here's an example of what I did: http://regoapps.com/collegefund

It was my way around to giving money to that girl. Other things I did was code the app ideas of other people, and then gave them the money that app "made". In reality, the apps didn't make much money, but it gave me an excuse to give them a lot of money without them feeling like they owed me or that I gave them a handout. I helped my family members and close childhood friends this way.

what programs do you use to code your applications?

Xcode.

Here's how to get started on iOS apps: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/referencelibrary/GettingStarted/DevelopiOSAppsSwift/

Here's how to get started on Android apps: https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html

Do you write in swift?

Nope, Objective-C. That's because I'm old school. Don't want to learn Swift when Objective-C still works perfectly fine. I rather spend that time learning Android dev.

Did you learn by yourself? Using what books?

How much time do you spend usually to build a simple app?

Yup, I learned by myself by studying online tutorials. The ones I used are all outdated by now and replaced by much better ones. If you look around, a lot of people are posting links to places to learn programming if you really want to learn.

Simple app? It takes less than a weekend to figure out how to code a simple app.

How long did it take after publishing your app to make a significant profit?

Depends on what you mean by significant. About a few months into it, I was already making $600 a day. By the end of the year, I had already made my first million dollars. But this was back in 2009 when the app store was pretty empty and almost any decent app you churned would make profits. It's much harder to pull that off now.

I remember a while back that you preferred not to program for Android because of...previous reasons (explained in the YouTube videos). Does this mean you're getting back onto the Android Platform?

Yes, because people keep bugging me about when I'm going to put my apps on Android.

Hey Allen. Long time follower here. I remember watching your video of picking a friend up from her High School in a Lambo my Junior year of HS. That was about 4 years ago. That video really touched me deep down and led me to do a lot of research about you. This ended up sparking my interest in CS and now I am close to graduating from Iowa State with a Software Engineering degree. You helped me find something I really enjoy doing and have given me a great direction in life. I can't really think of much for a question, but I'll try...

How do you determine which projects to spend time on? For example, I recently made a Discord bot for some friends and myself but over the past month it has acquired a user base of around 50k users over 1500 servers. I really enjoy working on it but this summer I will have a lot more time to work on projects and I do have a interesting idea I want to pursue. The idea is a lot more profitable. Would you suggest trying to balance two projects or go all in on one? Thanks!

Oh yes, that was 4 years ago, and that video now has 13.3 million views and raised tens of thousands of dollars for the girl. Thanks for watching it and helping raise the ad revenue. I'm proud to say that she's graduating later this month and I have a nice surprise graduating gift for her.

Thanks for your kind words. When people like you tell me that I inspired you to get into CS and then actually finish getting a degree in it or creating a program with it, it really makes me glad that I came out of my private life into the spotlight to tell my life story. I come from a very traditional family, and I was taught to keep things low-key and not to brag and not to show off. That's why it was weird position for me, because I didn't want to go against my culture, but I also knew that if I told my life story, I could possibly help out the next generation of kids growing up. So stories like yours help me feel like I made the right decision.

I would balance both projects until one becomes a clear winner. I was juggling several projects when I first started apps and I spend more time on the ones that made me the most money. That just makes sense to me. But of course I have projects like the Tesla app, which I spend time on because it has sentimental value to me.

Firstly, Thank you for responding. It means a lot.
I am thinking of trying to balance them as much as I can. Getting the income would be a huge plus and hopefully I can get to that point.
I have a few follow up questions too if you are still answering them.

How do you feel about different monitization models on mobile applications? (examples: Paid, Paid/Free tiers, Ads only) I have always wondered if a strategy like how for example Snapchat started with no ads and free for maximum user adoption would work.
Also I am much more proficient at Android and have never tried Obj-c. I want to make an app on both platforms. Do you have any experience porting from android to iOS or vice versa? Is it very time consuming?
P.S Seriously, Thanks and keep up the awesome work!

Each monetization model works for different kinds of apps. I wouldn't say that one model is better than the other, because it depends on the app and/or how much funding that app has. I will say that free apps with ads make more money in the long term vs paid apps.

Snapchat was losing a lot of money in the beginning from paying server bills without displaying any ads. So unless you have rich investors, you might want to monetize your apps first if the app is going to cost you money. I don't have experience porting apps, and I actually have no experience with Android. So it's going to be interesting for me to learn Android starting from nothing.

Allen, how often are you on Reddit and what are your favorite subreddits?

I have about a dozen websites that open automatically each time I start my browser. Reddit is among one of them, so it's something I go to almost everyday. Favorite subreddit is /r/blackpeopletwitter

What are the websites you open automatically when you start your browser?

Google finances, google news, slickdeals, metacritic, imdb, facebook, reddit, and a bunch of websites which I am ashamed of.

Man a coworker told me about slickdeals 3 years ago, love that place. Cool to see that a multi-millionaire still also keeps an eye out for good deals.

Don't forget ebates, too, before you make a purchase!

You're the one posting the "$100,000 watch on sale for $75,000" threads.

Lol, I do buy my big TVs, speaker systems, and cameras off slickdeals

I run milmolabs.com. I've been inspired by your story and got around to making apps with friends. I've had an app Clown Spotter hit #1 all time free charts, with ads and 100k+ downloads. Yet, we only raked in ~4k$.

My question is, do you think the app market is dead relative to when you started? I'm a full time student and also working side jobs to pay off my student bills and pay off the mortgage, as my parents are immigrants that landed with no money. And so I gotta hustle and save both my ass and the rest of the family financially, respectfully. I find that the app market is super saturated, and not worth my time. Do you also share the same value? Should I still pursue making apps with milmolabs?

What do you think is the wisest decision if you were in my place? For context, I am in college and going onto University in a year to study software engineering.

Thanks Allen.

That's awesome! Yea, many other people have told me similar stories because I've done AMAs on here 2 years ago and 5 years ago.

It's pretty impressive if you got that many downloads and made that much money on your first app. My first apps didn't make much. Are you optimizing your ad revenue with waterfalls and mediation?

It's definitely harder to make a hit app now in the current app market than it was when I first started. Back then, Apple gave a boost to all new apps because they had a "new apps" tab just for new apps. Now (I think after iOS 6 came out), you don't really get any free boost from Apple, and have to get the marketing boost yourself.

I mean you made $4k from one app. You don't have to keep updating that app much anymore. It's passive income. Why not just make more? And then all that passive income from multiple apps will start adding up.

You're already way ahead of where I was because I didn't start apps until after college. I can't tell you what to do with your life. Since you're young, you're lucky enough to go experiment and make mistakes and come out fine. I think you should try to do that before the adult responsibilities start hitting you and then you don't have a risk-free chance to try something new anymore.

Thanks, this helps a bunch, albeit don't be fooled by my small response to your large paragraph reply. :)

What do you mean by waterfalls and mediation?

Ad mediation is when you rotate your ads between a bunch of different ad companies. Then they all compete to show their ads on your app. I find this to be the best way to optimize how much you make from ad revenue. For example, you can have AdMob, Mopub, MobFox, etc. all competing with each other to put ads in your app. You can have admob do the mediation or mopub or mobfox. They all have mediation built into their SDKs. Waterfalls are part of mediation. Waterfall meaning that you display the highest paying ads first, then drop down to the second high paying, etc.

I understand how to learn coding, but how did you learn stuff like that? It seems like coding an app is the easy part, it's marketing and savvy ad sales that's hard

You learn from other app developers, just like how you just learned it from me. You can also be told this by an employee at Admob or mopub for example, and he can teach you how to make more money.

As for marketing, it's a lot of trial and error, and figuring out how other people's marketing works or doesn't work.

Also I want to add that I hope you are setting eCPM floors. This is a good way to get the eCPM that you want. I have a ton of eCPM floors so that most of the ads I display only get displayed if they're wiling to pay me a certain amount. Otherwise you get a lot of bottom of the barrel ads. That is a good thing if you have a low fill rate. But you shouldn't have trouble filling in ads if you use mediation and have a ton of ad companies competing with each other to show their ads in your app. Hope that helps! Good luck!

1. How is your mom doing now? Hope she's better
2. How is your health? I know you had surgery a few years ago.
   

1. Much better now. Haven't had any major episodes for a few years now. Fingers crossed.

2. Basically 100% now.

Thanks for asking.

Congrats. She is lucky that there has been no relapses.

I'm actually quite surprised as well. Throughout her life, she would have psychotic episodes that would last a few days or a few weeks. And it would happen once a year or so. So this is a welcoming surprise that she hasn't relapsed in over three years now.

Hello Allen, what are your favorite apps to use?

Off the top of my head: Uber, Yelp, Waze, Snapchat, Messenger, Snapseed. I also caught all those Gen 1 Pokemon in Pokemon Go (minus the ones that weren't released yet), before I got bored and stopped playing it.

How did you learn about business side of development such as forming an LLC and finding an attorney? At what point during 5-0 Radio Police Scanner's success did you realize those were necessary?

From my accountant. As for attorneys, I made a lot of attorney friends by having my Lamborghini. People forget that the Lamborghini is a networking tool for wealthy and successful people. I've met many many wealthy people, including celebrities such as NBA and NFL star players via the car. For example, I've been inside Dwight Howard's home in Orlando (he has a movie theater inside his house and a waterfall/dock in his backyard).

I actually had successful apps before 5-0 Radio, so when I created 5-0 Radio, I had already formed an LLC beforehand. The apps I had before weren't as successful as 5-0 Radio, but it was enough for me to realize that apps were a big money maker. I think I was making $600/day when I decided to form an LLC. And that was over half a year before I made 5-0 Radio.

To be clear to others though, as a lawyer who regularly picks up the shattered pieces of business ventures that were deemed not to require lawyers (not startups, but established businesses), PLEASE get a lawyer if your are doing any kind of business, if you have partners, or if you are entering into any kind of contracts. If you're just doing business as yourself and someone comes after you, all of your personal stuff is on the table.

I've been patent trolled before, so I understand. I do have several lawyers as friends who I can talk to anytime.

Thanks. I'm not try to tell you anything as you're clearly a relatively sophisticated player at this point. I don't want to see a bunch of young entrepreneurs screw up their businesses.

Good looking out. As for your username, watch Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong movie), if you haven't seen it already.

Two questions: 1 Do you have an engineering background or did you start from scratch and self-taught everything?

2 How many people were involved in the development of your first successful app?

1. I have a computer science and engineering degree from UCLA, but I actually self-taught myself coding when I was maybe 12 or something (and HTML and javascript even before then). By the time I got to college, I knew all the basics of programming already. I self-taught myself how to code apps, because when I went to college a decade ago, the iPhone didn't come out.

2. All of my apps are mostly just me doing everything from the coding, graphics, and marketing.

Do you think it matters what college you graduated from or is that irrelevant at the end of the day if the person has the skills and willpower?

My GPA from UCLA is probably like a 3.0 only, so it goes to show you little college really mattered for me. Work experience becomes more important in my opinion, at least for my degree. Showing that you have profitable apps definitely stands out more than an impressive college resume.

Apps weren't actually invented when I graduated, but what impressed the tech companies was that I had a successful side business selling World of Warcraft mods. I also was part of a start-up for a new social media website. I think it's more important to show that you're good at contributing to a team rather than to show that you're a genius programmer. That's because companies want to know how well you'll jive with the rest of the workforce as much as how much you know how to code.

But if you're talking about being a self-employed programmer, then obviously none of that really matters, because I learned coding apps on my own, and I could have done it without going to college if the app store came out when I went to high school.

Where did you make the bulk of you money? How much does an iOS developer make on the app store?

I've been following you for a while now. Your posts are super inspiring to me. Keep it up man!

Most is from ads that I put in my free apps.

How much an app developer makes depends on how well the apps do. But if you are freelance, you could make anywhere from $25 to $150 an hour, depending on where you live.

How do you sniff out golddiggers when dating around?

See how often they take out their wallets, or if they even have wallets...

If you lost everything today, do you think you could become a multimillionare again?

With time, yes. For example, I coded the Tesla app about two years ago, and it already made six-figures. When the Model 3 comes out, that app would much much more. I don't doubt that it will make seven-figures in its lifetime. A year before that I coded a sneaker app, and that yielded six figures as well.

Do you find creating phone apps rewarding (fun) excluding the financial boon, or was it a means to an end for you?

When you first started were you ever worried that your efforts would be fruitless, or did you feel you had reason to believe this would be the most beneficial way to spend your time?

I created apps as a hobby when I first started. And now I still do. They're just fun to make. For example, I'm the first (and probably only) person in the world who can talk to Siri on my Apple Watch and make my Tesla drive to me. That's just cool to code.

Nothing I do is considered fruitless. I don't regret anything I do. For example, I tried having an acting career once, and that failed. I don't regret trying, though, because I wouldn't have known it wasn't for me until I've tried. I rather not have that looming "what if" question haunting me all my life. So I try a lot of things and have fun with it. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

How did/do you maintain your energy level while binge coding? Do you literally just sit for 10 hours straight and code, or get up and walk around every few minutes?

Every time I added a new function to my app it made me excited because I was getting closer and closer to a finished product. That excitement gave me the fuel I needed to keep on going.

I actually have coded 100 hours straight before with only two 4-hour naps during those 100 hours. That's when I created SongBot, which is the app I released for free during this AMA, and is the app I was talking about during that Harvard speech.

I only got up to pee or grab food/water.

You need more fiber in your diet if you only peed in 100 hours!

He didn't mention poop as a "break", because you can code while pooping.

Source: Software engineer here.

Yes. This is why I never touch a software engineer's keyboard.

I'm a personal assistant and estate manager for a very nice but scattered wealthy developer. He's a good guy. Hell, he paid for my wedding and stood with me and my wife.

I've worked for him for ten years and I'd like to ask: what are special nice things I can do for him to let him know that he is appreciated/ reduce stress?

It seems like no one remembers his birthday, no Christmas gifts, nothing. I get that time is the ultimate commodity but I'm already compensated well to help with that.

Thoughts?

Maybe treat him to something nice? I mean, I don't know the guy, so I don't know what he likes. But I've gotten used to being the guy among my friend circle who pays for everyone's meals and stuff. It's always nice when a friend refuses it and instead pays for my meal or whatever activity we're doing. It means a lot to me when for once someone treats me to something.

One time I was walking around in crutches in Disney World because I broke my legs, and this old couple came up to me and asked if I needed help. I said that I was tired, but I'd be fine. They then paid for an electric wheelchair rental, let me have it, and then walked away. I was very touched. It was a random act of kindness that I often give to others but have rarely experienced for myself.

So a random act of kindness to him will probably touch him. I don't know how you can duplicate that, because he knows you, so it wouldn't really be that random. But maybe you can figure it out since you know him.

How long did it take to make your first million? How old are you? And what advice you have to entrepreneurs starting from nothing?

Made my first million the first year of app development.

I'm in my early 30s now.

Watch some of the speeches I gave at the colleges. I listed them in the description of this AMA.

Pure freedom in your early thirties. You are living the dream life of many people. Remember to cherish that.

Everyday.

Damn, 6+ hours later and still replying in comment chains? What a champ.

In my last AMA, I lasted 17 hours. I just looked at my orangered envelop and it's now at 980. I have a long way to go to get to everyone's questions. I'm actually curious as to what happens after 999.

Edit: It says 1k+ after 999

Do you like ponies?

Now that I think about it, I've never actually seen a pony in person before. I've seen baby tigers, alligators, and hippos before, but not a single pony. I love riding horses, though, so I probably would like ponies.

How does one get to be a multi-millionaire by writing a police scanner app? Is the ad revenue in the app market just gangbusters or what?

Yup! There were tens of millions downloads for the police scanner apps, and there's always a huge uptick when a manhunt is going on (like that manhunt for those Boston Marathon bombers). You can average around $1 for every 1,000 ad views you get for banner ads. And then full-screen video ads get around $5-10 per 1,000 views. So you can see how that money can really add up. Also the paid version of the 5-0 Radio Pro app has been the #1 news app for almost a decade now, and has been in the top 200 paid apps for all that time, too.

Allen, what are your favorite TV shows and movies?

Rick and Morty, South Park, and Archer are my favorite shows that are still running right now. Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Dexter, and the first season of True Detective were some of my favorites in the past.

Pixar (such as Up), Chris Nolan, Damien Chazelle, Leon, Ghibli movies are some of my favorite movies. I even went to the Ghibli museum in Tokyo to watch some of their exclusive short movies.

Might be a dumb question to ask: Was the Video of getting a Pagani huayra an April fools joke? If yes you got me REALLY good. I was the guy who played GTA with you once when heists came around, another Guy asked what it is like to be able to daily drive a Lamborghini. Correct me if I am wrong but as far as I remember you told him that it gets repetitive/boring after a while, Just like a Child getting a new toy and Not playing with it after a while.

Yes. Oh snap, yes, I remember. That was when I posted on my Facebook asking if anyone wanted to play some GTA online with me. Must have been like 2 years ago or so.

I don't remember what I talked about then, but yes, that does sound like something that I said during that time.

Allen, what are your hobbies outside of work?

Too many to name. Horseback riding, jetskiing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, powerwashing, table tennis, watching broadway plays, writing, gardening, reading, traveling, long walks on the beach. Must love dogs. No fat chicks. Wait, which website am I on again?

You didn't list photography 😐 you're a pretty good photographer too.

Haha thanks! I learned from the best ;)

Allen, thanks for doing an AMA! My question is... Shin Ramyun or Mama noodles?

I never actually tried Mama noodles. But I do like Shin Ramyun. Actually I used to not even be rich enough for that stuff. Had to eat that cheap Top Ramen stuff in college. They use to sell Maruchan Instant Lunch for $1 at the hot dog stand outside my high school (Bronx Science), and I'd put hot sauce and onions in it just to give it more flavor.

A dollar for Maruchan is a complete ripoff.

It used to be 50 cents. But then they got cheap and increased it to $1, because they knew that us high school kids were desperate and would pay anyways. It was actually the cheapest thing they had there and kept you full until the rest of the day.

I'm not sure how rich you are exactly. But do you ever just pay for strangers stuff when you see them struggling?

When I have the "won the lottery" dream it is usually just me and my wife and kids finding ways to brighten other peoples' day or future. Groceries, calling local repo stores and paying for random cars about to be repossessed, paying for people I knows college without telling them it was me, etc.

Yes, but I don't want to say how, because my inbox is already full of people asking me for money right now. Let's just say that I like random acts of kindness. I like finding the people to help and doing it anonymously (like living a big tip and then walking away). I don't like when people online ask me for money because you don't know if they're being truthful or not or if the money is really going to something good.

This really resonates with me and my current lifestyle choices. I started a business sixteen months ago. I actually read a post on reddit that inspired me to try working for myself. We see a few posts with people thanking reddit for inspiring them to take a risk and work for themselves. I decided to take the chance myself.

Last month I took home just under ten thousand dollars. This is double the most I have ever earned in a month. I am still working part time for someone else because it gives me the feeling of security. I have four kids all under ten and security is important.

The ten thousand I earned happened in April 2017. January, February and March 2017 I earned the same amount (10k combined over three months). So the business is getting stronger and it's happening fast. I am living less by a clock and even though I am earning more in less time... I still feel like a deadbeat because I have so much free time because I'm making more in less time and I'm earning all the profits. I keep waiting for that sign that I can do it full time without a legit employer for security.

Do you have any suggestions for knowing when I can take the risk and go on my own full time? Or should I even consider doing it? It is so much different working for myself and no one has ever taken this risk in my family. I'm the first to have an income generating business in my family. It just feels so unnatural not working ten or fifteen hours a day for an hourly wage.

Thanks for your post. It makes my experiences feel normal and lately I have found it hard to relate to others.

Oh man. I remember when I was in that tough spot, too. I was working full time at Columbia and got decent pay from there. But then again my apps were making me $600/day at the time so it was getting harder and harder to justify staying with the current job.

After I quit, I had those same feelings of guilt like I was skipping class or something because I wasn't working a full workday anymore. For a few years I had a reoccurring nightmare where I was back at school and had to take a final exam but I haven't been going to class or doing the homework, so I'm anxious about the exam.

It feel very unnatural. I would suggest just easing into it and seeing where it takes you.

Going into the whole self-employed business is very stress inducing because you lack that security. But it'll be like jumping out of the plane. At first, you're very scared of jumping. And then after the first few seconds of jumping, you're wondering if you made a huge mistake. But then after a while, you get used to it, and then you feel amazing because you are like a free bird.

Whether or not you'll land safely or fall on your face, I don't know. I don't know your business and situation. Just know that eventually you'll get used to whatever you choose to do. And you can always seek employment afterwards if everything fails.

Do you speak cantonese or mandarin?

Cantonese

<3 super crush on you

How you doing?

Allen, which charities should Redditors support and why?

I'm a big fan of charitywater.org because clean water should be available to everyone and this charity says that 100% of the donation goes to getting clean water to people. I'm a big fan of donorschoose.org as well, because the education is very very important, and I think learning is one of the majority reasons for my success. We should really teach kids to learn how to learn, and make them want to learn.

Allen! How important do you think a bachelor/master's degree in computer science is for an aspiring app developer? Do you think it's worth it to stay in school to gain knowledge (C++ for me currently) or would it be more time efficient to teach yourself like you did? (Also currently taking a Swift course)

Thanks Allen!

Not important, but you better know how to learn programming on your own.

More time efficient to learn it on your own. College teaches very abstract computer theories. Unless things changed recently, a lot of the practical languages that I learned (like PHP and javascript), I had to learn on my own.

How did you self-teach yourself how to develop apps? Are there any programs, videos, or sites you would recommend?

There are many many tutorials online available for free (and paid). But I mostly learned using the free resources available and didn't need to pay for a class.

Here's how to get started on iOS apps: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/referencelibrary/GettingStarted/DevelopiOSAppsSwift/

Here's how to get started on Android apps: https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html

From what I've heard, the Stanford U intro to coding iOS apps is a great resource. The videos are available at iTunes U for free.

Allen, do you have you any pets? If so which types, how many and what are their names?

I have just one Havanese named Sir Lambert III. Or Lambo for short. Here's him and me going on a roadtrip, greeting kids who sit in my car during charity car shows, and making friends with other Lambo owners.

Are you still living in NYC with your mom, move back to LA, or living somewhere else?

I've been living in NYC during the warm half the year and Orlando during the cold half the year for the past 8 years. Here's something I wrote a few years ago about why I do this:

Some of the random people who message me sound like they could only be happy if they were rich. If this sounds like you, then let me show you a bit of my childhood:

This is a picture of the bedroom that I slept in throughout middle school and high school. If it looks small, it's because it was. Behind the bed is only about a foot or two of floor space. I didn't complain, though, because this was "normal" to me. I was born into this life. And I can't even say that I was "poor" back then, because I never felt that way. I had a mother who took care of me, a brother who watched out for me, and a father who provided for me. That was enough for me to be happy. I didn't take what I had for granted.

I'm now back to my childhood home to live here for a few months while driving my mom's Corolla (my Lambo is in storage). And if you wondered how I'm able to keep my ego in check, it's this. When I'm in Florida, I feel like I'm dreaming or on vacation, and I don't want to get used to it. When I'm in my hometown, I unplug from all of that and reset. I go back to hanging out with my childhood friends, and back to living the life that I had prior to all of the riches and fame. And I'm still happy, because I'm back to a place that I call "Home".

So I hope it was worth breaking away a bit of my privacy to illustrate my point. There are many things in your life to be thankful for. It's all about seeing it from the right perspective.

I've followed you for quite a while on Facebook and it''s so good to see one of few rich people who are so humble, kind and quick to help others.

What's your next project? what are you up to?

I'm going into Android dev.

What are your thoughts on making money from Android vs iOS? I've read that iOS users are more likely to pay for apps, but if most of your revenue is from advertising do you think your Android revenue be about the same as iOS?

I don't know anymore. Android has more users, but Apple has more wealthy users is what I've always heard. I'll find out when I actually release Android apps.

Are average joes able to build apps of your type? Like, your Remote S for Tesla app, I don't own a Tesla; How do I go about building an app for something I can't use? Is there a gated "developer world" of sorts for high ballers like yourself?

I would suggest that you not code a Tesla app unless you have a Tesla to test with. It's not impossible, but it's super hard, because you have no idea if your app works or not.

There's no gated baller world that I know of. I am friends with other app developers who are millionaires too, though.

Hi Allen, I have two questions:

1. What prevents big companies such as Facebook from creating their own police scanner or monopolizing the entire category of apps that might put developers like you out of business?

2. What would happen if every apps are cornered just like your police scanners and Remote S. How does one beat that kind of competition?

Thanks!

1. I've cornered the police scanner market. The thing is, the App Store (and probably the users too) tend to favor the apps that came first and became popular first. It's like asking why Facebook doesn't make a Snapchat alternative. They actually have. It's called Poke. You probably never heard of it, because it never became popular. That's because nobody really likes knock-offs.

2. Actually 5-0 Radio wasn't the #1 police scanner app in the beginning. Another app was, and he was about to corner the market. But then I use something I call the "Hail Mary" marketing technique that made 5-0 Radio outsell the other guy's app by almost 100 folds. That was enough to dethrone him, and the rest was history. If you want to read about it, it's detailed in my book. I don't want to talk about that technique publicly, because it's unfair to the people who bought my book for my marketing tricks.

What are your thoughts on automation and artificial intelligence and how they may affect society in the upcoming years?

Do you think universal basic income would actually be viable?

Some YouTube videos for reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ6QmZ48jY4 https://youtu.be/7Pq-S557XQU https://youtu.be/mQO2PcEW9BY

Have too many questions to answer to have time to watch those videos, but automation and AI are probably going to wipe out the working class at some point. Every human should have at least their basic needs met, and we should explore the various ways we can do so. I think automation and AI is a good thing because it would create more wealth for the global economy, just like how the assembly line help the world produce more with less workers. But most of that wealth will head the top earners already under current policies, and that could make it harder and harder for many of the working class to survive on.

What is your diet like having grown up poor? Do you still eat the same things you did back then or have you changed it up? Secondary to that one, what habits have you still retained from having been raised in such tough circumstances?

Eating much less carbs/sodium/sugar now than before. Grew up on a rice and heavy on sodium diet before.

I still have saving habits and usually only buy things when they're on sale.

In your experience working with charities and community support, how many impoverished circumstances seem to be related to lack of healthcare, particularly mental health care?

I noticed a lot of the homeless population is a result of lack of mental health care. For example, if I wasn't around to take care of my mother, I don't think she would have survived on her own. There's no safety net for mental health patients I've noticed. Especially since a lot of them don't think that they have a mental health problem, so they don't seek help.

What mods did you make in WoW? And what did you main?

Nothing that Blizzard gave blessings to... Let's just leave it at that. My main was a gnome warlock which had the same look and similar name as my college gf's gnome warlock. We went into arenas together in 2v2 and it confused the heck out of the other team, because we looked and did exactly the same things. So the other team wasn't sure who to focus fire on.

Do you have any plans on getting rid of the Aventador for an Aventador S?

No. I am waiting for Lamborghini to create a successor to the Aventador. I don't really feel compelled to by the many variants of an Aventador. They're all pretty much the same except for a few mods.

What was the first expensive thing you bought for yourself when you got rich?

My first expensive thing was a brand-new lime-green Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. It was the first car I ever bought, and I was still living at my mother's house at the time (taking care of her). I didn't have a garage for it, so I street parked it. Then I realized that I should probably get a garage for it, so I bought a new house next to my mother's house just to have a garage for the car.

Hey, Allen, I hope you are great, just imagine you have to start all your businesses from scratch, what are the steps that you are going to take in order to achieve your goals?

If I don't have a computer and internet connection, I'd first get a job somewhere to make enough to get those things.

Then I'd learn coding by reading free tutorials online.

And then I'd practice. And then I'd practice a lot more.

And when I think I finally have a somewhat good app, I'd publish it to Apple or Android for $100 a year.

Then I'd see that it makes a few dollars a day. It's not much, but it's enough motivation to keep going.

I'd put even more apps into the app store, with each one more complicated than the previous ones.

And then all of the apps would hopefully collectively earn enough to have a decent wage.

Then I could finally quit my other job, and focus on apps full time.

And I'd keep looking at the app store's top charts for inspiration on what apps to make.

Then I'd keep looking at how the top apps are marketing their apps. I'd play with their apps and see what they do in their apps to get new customers. Uber gives free rides if you refer a friend? Instagram forces you to have an account to view other people's pics? Snapchat lets you send cute videos to other people and thus making your friends ask how you did that?

And then I'd use those same marketing techniques on my own apps and well as create some of my own.

And that's how I did it.

Wow, congratulations on your success. I'm 17 years old who's also living poor. I don't have wifi or a big house, and I have to share my room with my brothers.

I'm jealous how your life turned out because I know it will never happen to me. I don't even know what to do or who I should become. Could you give me any suggestions or a lesson perhaps? Anything would be useful right now tbh.

I always fantasized of being rich so I can move my family out of this dumphole, but I know what the harsh reality is. I'm sorry If I sound depressed, it's been hard lately. Thanks.

Here's something I wrote 3 years ago when I was already a multi-millionaire. I think it will help you:

Some of the random people who message me sound like they could only be happy if they were rich. If this sounds like you, then let me show you a bit of my childhood:

This is a picture of the bedroom that I slept in throughout middle school and high school. If it looks small, it's because it was. Behind the bed is only about a foot or two of floor space. I didn't complain, though, because this was "normal" to me. I was born into this life. And I can't even say that I was "poor" back then, because I never felt that way. I had a mother who took care of me, a brother who watched out for me, and a father who provided for me. That was enough for me to be happy. I didn't take what I had for granted.

I'm now back to my childhood home to live here for a few months while driving my mom's Corolla (my Lambo is in storage). And if you wondered how I'm able to keep my ego in check, it's this. When I'm in Florida, I feel like I'm dreaming or on vacation, and I don't want to get used to it. When I'm in my hometown, I unplug from all of that and reset. I go back to hanging out with my childhood friends, and back to living the life that I had prior to all of the riches and fame. And I'm still happy, because I'm back to a place that I call "Home".

So I hope it was worth breaking away a bit of my privacy to illustrate my point. There are many things in your life to be thankful for. It's all about seeing it from the right perspective.

Did you work while you were college?

Yes, I made game mods for World of Warcraft and a bunch of other popular online games back then.

As someone who lacks motivation for life, how did you keep going even though things looked dark?

The thing that helped me get through all the dark times was that I knew that at the bottom, it could only get better. And that's what kept me going. I knew that the only direction my life could go was upwards. And was a rollercoaster ride of ups and down after that. But each time I sank down again, I knew that it was going to get better. And so I kept fighting. Each day I would promise myself to at least do one thing productive. And soon it became a habit to accomplish something new each day.

Allen, what are seem things (besides weapons) in technology today and in the future do you find scary about technology?

That AI and robots would replace the working class, and then the working class wouldn't have jobs.

How has dating changed for you before/after your success?

I've noticed that the attractiveness of girls who would date me has gone up significantly after my success.

Do you think that now it's still possible for someone to make it in the app business at the level you did made it?

Also you seems very smart and know how to find great ideas that people want, why don't you create a tech company / startup and build a big tech company? Do you want freedom? Do you think you may do this later on in life?

It's not impossible. But it's also very hard.

There are many new apps blowing up and going viral. I mean Pokemon Go blew up last year, and that came out of nowhere. That made that Ingress guy super wealthy (more wealthy than me I bet). It's still possible if you have the right ingredients.

Freedom is more important to me than making money at this point. Nobody lies on their deathbed wishing that they had worked more in their lifetime.

Allen, how do you promote and Advertise your apps?

By doing Reddit AMAs...? Oh! You mean in general? By getting people to talk about me or my apps. For example, I have tens of millions of views on my YouTube channel. And they all are subtle ads for my apps, because people wondering who I am, and what I do for a living. Then they find my apps and maybe download them. People think I run these social media because I'm bragging or showing off as though I'm insecure and need it for my ego. But it's really all just branding and marketing. Ever wonder why my cars always have my company names on them? That's right. It's branding. No celebrities wants to admit it. They probably dislike doing interviews and going on talk shows. But they know that in order to market their movies/products/shows, they have to get people talking about them.

That's just one strategy. There's more. It's not really all just one thing I do. I do many things because marketing is such a complex beast. That's why I say it's 50% of what makes an app successful. I talk more about what I do in my YouTube speeches and book.

I bought your book a while ago. Do you plan on writing a new one with updates on what you've done since you wrote your last one? That would be awesome!

I do plan on writing a second book. I'm glad you liked the first one. What do you want to read about in the second book, since I covered a lot of my life in the first book already?

Hey regoapps... I had a conversation with you in a thread maybe a week or so before your best of comment where I recommended that people use the request feature on venmo. At the time, you insinuated that this is stupid, and that if a friend forgets once in a while to pay you back, they aren't your friend. You also called me a coward for not cutting them off... We had a few more comments after that where I said you were a bad friend yourself, and to counter, you bragged about being rich, linked me to your YouTube channel to show off your subscriber base, and sent me a screenshot of your Facebook friend requests to prove how you have too many friends to keep around the ones around who make mistakes... I believe you said, "I don't have time for people who make mistakes."

Unfortunately, I can't give a direct quote because you deleted all your comments shortly after... So my question is really this: why?

Sigh. I guess you didn't see the sarcasm in what I wrote. I saw your username and I was doing a Donald Trump impression. I even said obvious things like, "I have the best friends, the smartest friends, the highest IQ of any group of friends." It's crap that Donald Trump would say. I thought you would get the joke because of your username. You even asked me if this was all a joke. I then realized that you didn't get it, so I gave up and deleted the comments.

This is going to be a long shot but worth it. I'm a guy that had my own business for 10 years, moved cross country after mostly closing said business and am working for someone again. But I've relaunched my podcasting ventures (mostly for fun but I'm working towards something with them). One of the shows is called self/Made. It's a laid back approach, real conversations with business owners, coaches, and people of all walks of success in the decisions they've made, the good and the bad. I find your story incredibly fascinating and would love to have you on.

I've booked about 20 guests for the relaunch and conduct most of them through Skype. It's already on iTunes and my first guest was Gary Vaynerchuk of that means anything. Anyhow, would love the opportunity. Will check out some of your apps as well (I'm an I.T. guy and I also review apps, etc so doubly intrigued).

So I Was wondering if you'd be interested in being a guest on the show?

I'll have a listen to a podcast and decide from there

What mobile games do you recommend?

I don't play many mobile games. I mostly play PC and console games. I got hooked on Plants Vs Zombies Heroes at some point, though. I also had a lot of fun with Hitman: Sniper at some point. Also played a lot of Pokemon Go when it was popular.

Awesome. Thanks for the reply. What specific PC games do you play? Also, on your public speech at Harvard, what was the video game that you mentioned that you played an unhealthy amount in college?

I play all the AAA titles. But recently I really like VR gaming. I have a HTC Vive, and it really takes gaming to the next level. Very immersive. I just wish the resolution in the VR gets high enough that I cannot tell that it's not real. When that happens, it'll be really game changing.

In college? World of Warcraft. Starcraft. Dota.

You should totally stream on Twitch! We'd love to watch <3

Really? If there's really a demand for it, I'd do it. I do have pretty powerful gaming rigs and good internet connection to stream with. Hmm...

Allen, what are your favorite pizza toppings, beer, and candy bar?

Pepperoni. But also I like ranch sauce and curly fries with my pizza. That's how I became a fat ass at UCLA.

Don't drink, because I'm allergic to alcohol.

Candy... I like the taste of malt (like malt milk shakes), so I like Whoppers. I also like Kasugai Japanese Gummy Candy, green tea Kit Kat, and Oreos dipped in Whole Milk. Even better if the Oreo is deep fried... mmm... man, I feel like I need to go on a diet now just saying all that.

Hi Allen!

First off, thanks for doing this. I'm a long time fan and really respect your grind.

1) How many miles are on the Aventador now? Any maintenance complaints? 2) Any plans for another hyper/ super car? 3) I drove a P100D a few weeks ago. Absolutely loved it. Any complaints about the model S? Do you have a model 3 reserved?

Thanks again man!

1. 13,000 I think? No complaints. I recently had its annual service for $6000, and it runs like a brand new car now.

2. Probably whatever new thing Lamborghini or Tesla comes up with.

3. No complaints about the Model S. I don't have a Model 3 reserved. I rather wait for a Gen-2 or Gen-3 Model 3. Let them work out the kinks first, like how the early Model S's had problems.

Hello Allen. Did you forget to put a cool round square icon/avatar to the left of you posting(it helps with viewer visability) ?

And did you forget to link / cross post your AMA to r/technology, r/entrepreneurship, r/business, r/NYC, r/teslamotors, r/apps, r/programming, r/windows, r/ios, r/android(I'm sure those subreddit users would love it and it would help feed more people into the AMA)??

1. I thought the mods had to add that? I'm not sure how to add it myself.

2. I haven't. I don't normally cross-post.

what do you think about the situation in venezuela?

From what I've seen in the news, it's very tragic. I don't know enough about the economics and politics in that region to say more about it. Sorry.

Allen, what are the Funniest & strangest things you saw in LA and NYC?

I saw a dude dressed like a wizard walking down Manhattan like he does it everyday. Later that year, I saw a video with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog where he also encountered this person during the premier of one of the Star Wars movies. That's when I realized that he probably does dress like this everyday.

Would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses, or 1 horse sized duck?

100 duck sized horses. That sounds adorable. Also probably easier for me to run over with a car.

With your financial freedom and lifestyle have you ever thought about vlogging?

It seems like the best vloggers are the ones who already have money and aren't doing it for financial gain, like Casey Neistat or Jon Olsson.

Been following you since the first iama and also read your book. Thanks for always inspiring me.

My YouTube channel is somewhat of a vlog. But other than that, most of my "blog" thoughts are put in my Facebook. I don't like being on camera because I don't want people to recognize me on the streets. I like that I still have that kind of privacy when I walk the streets.

Star Trek or Star Wars?

I watch both for different reasons. Star Wars seems more fun to watch. Star Trek seems more dramatic. But I liked the recent Star Wars films more than the Star Trek ones.

Allen, what do you think should be done to get more girls and ladies involved with technology than there are now?

Getting more famous tech people to encourage girls to get into tech. I, for one, very much encourage girls to into tech, because tech is really where it's at in the future. I'm seeing programming to be more and more important than say, learning Calculus.

Allen, have you ever had anyone contact you and thank you for an app?

Plenty of times. Usually the police scanner app and Tesla app gets the most thank yous. The police scanner app is mostly life-saving thank yous. The Tesla ones are mostly about convenience.

Allen, how do you de-stress after work?

Hot bath. Sleep. Drink something refreshing. Watch some stand up comedy or funny TV shows or movies. Go on Reddit.

Thanks for the AMA, will you be doing any tutorials in ios soon?

I don't have any plans on doing so, because I can see that there are already many many tutorials online available already. So it doesn't really make sense for me to make my own.

Tits or Ass?

Brains and face. But between T&A, I'm more of an ass man myself.

Two questions Do you know where I can start to learn the basics of programming? Besides Lambos and tesla what other cars you like?

I like the McLaren P1, LaFerrari, Ford GT, Paganis, Koeneggseggs and Porsche 918 Spyder.

For your first question, I'll copy what I wrote to the other guy who asked this:

There are many many tutorials online available for free (and paid). But I mostly learned using the free resources available and didn't need to pay for a class.

Here's how to get started on iOS apps: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/referencelibrary/GettingStarted/DevelopiOSAppsSwift/

Here's how to get started on Android apps: https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/index.html

From what I've heard, the Stanford U intro to coding iOS apps is a great resource. The videos are available at iTunes U for free.