Written by: Curry, Deep Tide TechFlow

Three post-95s spent 1000 yuan and created an app in less than a month.

It is now valued at 10 million. A ten-thousand-fold increase.

This app is called "Are You Dead?" Its function is absurdly simple: open it daily and tap to check in, proving you are still alive. If you don’t check in for two consecutive days, the system automatically sends an email to your emergency contact.

Is that it?

Yes, that’s it.

On January 8, it topped the Apple paid app chart, available for download at 8 yuan. Founder Mr. Guo said that in the past few days, the number of paying users has increased by 200 times and is still rising.

Capital has approached them. Mr. Guo said they plan to sell 10% of the shares for 1 million. By this calculation, the valuation is 10 million.

The name "Are You Dead?" comes from a popular internet meme a few years ago.

Someone asked on a social platform: What app does everyone need and will definitely download?

A highly upvoted answer: Are You Dead?

Mr. Guo and his team saw this discussion and thought it had potential. They registered the trademark and found that no one had registered it.

So they made it.

Why can such a simple thing become popular?

The number of people living alone in China has exceeded 120 million in 2024. By 2030, it is expected to reach 150 to 200 million. These people live in rental apartments in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, sharing a common, very real anxiety:

If something happens to me at home one day, how long will it take for someone to find out? So for 8 yuan, you can buy a confirmation that "someone knows I’m still alive."

"Are You Dead?" became popular in less than 24 hours, and a knockoff appeared.

An app called "Are You Alive?" was launched in the Apple Store, with identical functions and free to download.

In response, Mr. Guo remained calm: the advantage of this product is not in technical barriers, but in discovering user needs.

Translated, it means you can copy the function, but you can’t take my name.

Indeed. The three characters of "Are You Dead?" are the most valuable part of this product. If it had been called "Solo Living Safety Guard," it would probably still be gathering dust in a corner of the App Store.

Looking back, is a no-technical-threshold app that costs 1000 yuan and has a valuation of 10 million expensive?

Then you might want to look at how valuations used to work in the crypto industry.

In 2025, there was a crypto project called Fuel Network, which was a "modular blockchain execution layer." The VC valuation was 1 billion USD, which is about 7 billion yuan.

"Are You Dead?" is valued at 700 times that.

What does Fuel Network have?

A white paper, a roadmap, endorsements from a bunch of Tier 1 institutions, and videos of the founder speaking at major conferences.

But not many people are actually using it.

What is Fuel Network's market value now? About 16 million USD. It has dropped 99% from its peak.

I’m not saying all crypto projects are scams.

What I’m saying is:

In the crypto world, a project can have no users, no revenue, and no one really using it, yet still be valued at 1 billion USD.

Whereas in the world of "Are You Dead?", you have to get people to actually pay 8 yuan to download it for it to count.

One values first and finds users later. The other has users first and then discusses valuation.

Which is more reasonable? I don’t know.

What’s more absurd is that the logic of "Are You Dead?" is almost heretical in the crypto world.

You tell everyone: We have real users, real payments, and we solve a real need.

They will definitely ask: What’s the narrative? What about the token economic model? What’s the FDV?

You say: No tokens, just selling the app, 8 yuan each.

They say: Then why should I invest in you?

This isn’t a joke. The valuation system in the crypto industry operates like this.

Users don’t matter, revenue doesn’t matter; what matters is whether the story is sexy enough, whether the token can go public, and whether the unlock schedule is long enough for early investors to cash out.

If "Are You Dead?" were to issue a token, create a "Solo Living Chain," and paint a big picture of a "Global Loneliness Economy," it might really achieve a tenfold valuation.

But then it might not have real users anymore.

Perhaps "Are You Dead?" became popular precisely because it serves those who have this anxiety but don’t actually need it that much.

The people who truly need it might not be able to use it.

This is quite similar to the crypto industry:

Those who truly need "financial inclusion" are often the ones who can’t use DeFi at all.

Ultimately, whether 10 million is expensive or not depends on what yardstick you use.

Using the internet's yardstick, a month of development, a three-person team, no funding, no burning cash, and reaching the top of the paid chart, 10 million is not expensive.

Using the crypto yardstick, no tokens, no narrative, no FDV, only 10 million? That’s too cheap. Why not issue a token?

I think the most ironic point lies in the divide between Web2 and Web3:

In one world, "someone uses it" is the premise for valuation. In another world, "someone uses it" is an accident for valuation.

When I finished writing this, I really downloaded "Are You Dead?" and checked in.

8 yuan, buying peace of mind.

At least it’s more reliable than most of the altcoins I’ve bought.

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