Cost 1500, valuation 10 million: Three post-95s leveraged "Are you dead?" to create a "small but beautiful" business.

Image source: Visual China

Text by Hu Shixin; edited by Ye Jinyan

Produced by DeepWeb & Tencent News Xiaoman Studio

At the start of 2026, an app called "Are You Dead?" surged to the top of the Apple App Store's paid app chart. As of January 12, the app had held the number one spot for four consecutive days.

This is an app with almost no complex features: it doesn't monitor heart rate, connect to wearable devices, or request location permissions. Users only need to click to check in once a day within the app; if they miss two consecutive days, the system will send a reminder email to a pre-set emergency contact on the third day in the user's name.

This product, with its functionality compressed to its limits, was rapidly amplified in just a few days. The founding team stated that the development cost was approximately 1,500 yuan, and it has already become profitable; after its explosive popularity, the number of paying users increased more than 200 times in a short period of time, and it continues to rise.

In the current app market, most products are designed around user time, high-frequency interaction, and retention rate, but "Dead?" has not followed this path. Its core mechanism is triggered only when the user is not using it.

This contrast makes "Dead or Not" stand out in a highly competitive application environment, and also raises a question: how can such a minimalist product still be successfully monetized without pursuing high-frequency use?

A "small business" born out of social anxiety

The creation of "Is it dead?" did not stem from a sudden inspiration, but rather from the real anxiety that had accumulated over a long period of time on social media.

“In recent years, everyone has been discussing ‘what app everyone needs and will definitely download’, and some netizens have mentioned the ‘Dead?’ app.” Lu Gongchen, one of the founders, recalled, “After this idea came out, it generated a lot of discussion, so we saw the demand and the idea itself was very meaningful, so we tried to register the name and found that we could register it. We then spent another month completing the development.”

In mid-2025, the project was officially launched. In social media comment sections, "Is he/she dead?" is often mentioned repeatedly as a joke, but behind the joke lies a not-so-easy question.

Data from the seventh national census shows that the number of single-person households in my country has exceeded 125 million. For this large group of people living alone, especially young people living in first- and second-tier cities with busy work schedules and low frequency of contact with relatives and friends, what is truly unsettling is often not the accident itself, but the fact that no one knows when it happens.

The founding team is a typical lightweight group: three individuals born in the 1990s, located in different cities, collaborate remotely to complete product development and operation, each responsible for product, design, and R&D respectively. The software download page indicates that the application's developer is Yuejing (Zhengzhou) Technology Service Co., Ltd. Business registration information shows that the company was established in 2025, located in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, with a registered capital of 100,000 yuan.

In a startup environment that emphasizes heavy capital investment and large-scale expansion, their start-up costs appear restrained. Guo Mengchu, one of the founders, explained that the app's actual development time was less than a month, with an initial investment of about 1,500 yuan, almost entirely used for internal expenses. There was no outsourcing and no marketing budget.

The team did not set its sights on rapid expansion. "We are not a company that pursues exponential growth." In internal discussions, they preferred the one-person company or small company model that has been repeatedly mentioned in Europe and the United States in recent years, prioritizing low fixed costs and rapid response, and ensuring that the product can operate in the long term.

In Guo Mengchu's view, the key to the product lies not in technological barriers, but in whether one dares to make it so simple. The team proactively abandoned all design options that could potentially increase usage frequency and dwell time, retaining only the core mechanism of backup in case of disconnection. This minimalist design directly impacted the cost structure and constituted the most controllable implementation solution the team could find at the time.

Paying for "uncertainty"

In the App Store ecosystem, the survival environment for paid apps is not easy, but "Dead or Not" has made relatively smooth progress in its paid path.

The product was initially priced at 1 yuan, but was raised to 8 yuan after attracting attention . The team also mentioned in external communications that they do not rule out further price adjustments to 10 yuan or even 14 yuan in the future. The price change has not had a significant impact on paid conversion rates.

With a rapidly growing user base, the team is expanding server resources and continuously optimizing service stability to handle the increased traffic. The founding team admits that they are currently in a "barely managing" state, while also pursuing financing to alleviate the financial pressure brought about by continued growth.

Currently, the team plans to raise approximately 1 million yuan in funding, intending to offer 10% of its shares, corresponding to a valuation of approximately 10 million yuan. The team stated that this funding will primarily be used for ongoing operating costs such as servers and SMS delivery, rather than for marketing.

Why would users be willing to pay for such a low-frequency usage scenario?

One user commented, "You may never use this reminder in your life, but if you need it even once, it's worth the money." This feedback points to the product's pricing logic to some extent: users are not buying the frequency of use of a specific function, but rather an anticipatory response to the "worst-case scenario."

This logic is similar to the payment method of insurance products. The product itself is more like a very lightweight security service than a traditional tool application. While some users did experience consecutive missed check-ins, the team has not yet received clear feedback confirming whether it actually had any real-world effect.

The validity of this paid subscription model is closely related to the characteristics of the target user group: primarily individuals living alone in first- and second-tier cities, with fast-paced work lives, low social interaction frequency, and heightened sensitivity to the risk of losing contact in the event of sudden illness or accidents. Compared to continuous manual contact, this group prefers to rely on low-intrusion, sustainable technological means as a safety net.

Given this premise, the product itself also establishes a certain screening mechanism. The team's stance during price adjustments was clear: they aimed to serve users with genuine needs. Subsequent feature iterations also followed this principle; for example, plans to launch SMS notifications and messaging functions all revolved around core scenarios, without introducing any extended designs that exceeded the product's boundaries.

Traffic and controversy brought about by "death"

The name "Is It Dead?" was a key factor in the product's rapid rise to attention, but it has also continued to generate controversy.

In the traditional Chinese cultural context, "death" has long been considered a word to be avoided. On social media platforms, many users suggested that the team rename the product to something with a milder expression, such as "Are you alive?" or "Are you okay?"

In response, Lü Gongchen stated that he has not yet received any requests from relevant departments to change his name. In his view, although "death" is rarely mentioned in everyday language, it is a fact that everyone must face. "When people know the point at which they will die, they may be able to better face the present."

Despite these concerns, the founding team remained steadfast. Guo Mengchu stated that compared to middle-aged and elderly users, younger users are more accepting of the concept of death, and this name directly conveys the product's function, reducing explanation costs.

From a communication perspective, this name, imbued with strong emotional connotations, has a clear filtering effect in the online environment: on the one hand, it enhances product recognition and discussion; on the other hand, it subtly establishes an initial segmentation of user groups. Users who find this expression unacceptable often choose to avoid it at the name level, while those who can accept it and are even willing to participate in the discussion are more likely to engage with the product itself.

The team also realized that this name wasn't suitable for everyone. They are considering launching a separate product targeting middle-aged and elderly users , with a gentler name and visual presentation to reduce psychological burden.

Alongside the name controversy, discussions arose regarding the product's replicability. From a technical standpoint, "Is It Dead?"'s functional structure was not complex, presenting virtually no significant technological barriers. Within a short period after its explosive popularity, app stores saw the emergence of similar, and even free, imitation products.

An app called "Huoleme" has been launched on the Apple App Store. It is also positioned as a "safety tool for people living alone" and provides a similar check-in mechanism. It is currently available for free download.

Guo Mengchu stated that the team has taken note of the relevant products, and as long as there is no infringement, the market can compete fairly. The advantage of "Dead or Not" lies not in technical difficulty, but in its understanding of users and their needs.

The team believes that the growth logic for this type of product is not about unlimited expansion of user scale, but rather about long-term existence. The solitary population, as a social group, will not disappear in the short term, and the corresponding need for safety nets will continue. As long as the service is stable and the cost structure is controllable, the product can continue to operate even if its popularity declines.

The founders stated that there are no plans to increase staff in the short term, as the three-person team is sufficient to cover current development and operational needs. They prefer to maintain a low-fixed-cost operating model rather than expand their scale.

Senior industry commentator Zhang Shule points out that the popularity of "Is it dead?" does not rely on complex technology, but rather on compressing its functions to a level sufficient to cover core needs. In the context of living alone, overly complex designs can actually increase the barrier to entry, and the question of "whether it is still safe and whether it is still alive" is itself a long-standing dilemma that is difficult to resolve through frequent interaction.

From a business perspective, the value of these products lies not in their lightweight or asset-heavy nature, but in whether they accurately match the long-term needs of a specific group of people. Of course, switching from paid to free, or securing funding for the application's continued existence through government procurement of services or sponsorships from public welfare organizations, would be more sustainable.