Minecraft: 9 fresh secrets that transformed a depressed programmer to a billionaire entrepreneur

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Hey rebel solopreneurs 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️

Everyone thinks you need a totally brand new, never-been-done-before idea to build a billion-dollar business.

Wrong!

This perfectionist myth keeps brilliant creators stuck in endless brainstorming, convinced their "obvious" ideas aren't revolutionary enough.

But what if the best ideas aren't new at all?

Today you'll discover how Markus Persson openly "copied" an existing game, improved it slightly, and built the most successful indie creation ever - selling for $2.5 billion.

Let's investigate his secret formula!

🍹 The humble beginnings...

Markus Persson grew up in a tiny Swedish town called Edsbyn.

While other kids played soccer and ice hockey, introverted Markus spent hours building with Legos.

At seven, his railroad worker dad brought home a Commodore 128 computer.

Those old computer magazines printed game code on the back pages that you could type in yourself.

His sister would read the code lines while Markus typed them into the computer.

One day he realized if he changed the code, something different would happen.

That sense of power was intoxicating.

When his family moved to Stockholm, Markus couldn't make friends easily.

He became even closer to the family computer, playing Boulder Dash and The Bard's Tale for hours.

His mom remembers him faking stomachaches to stay home and play computer games.

But here's the thing - life at home was falling apart too.

His parents divorced when he was 12.

His dad became an alcoholic addicted to amphetamines.

His younger sister started experimenting with drugs and eventually ran away.

At 13, Markus found a group of school programmers who competed to create the most impressive computer effects.

He failed to finish high school and continued living with his mom, a nurse working graveyard shifts.

From 15 to 18, he studied Print & Media, learning design and copywriting.

His first web studio job lasted six months before the IT crash left him unemployed for years.

He stayed with his mom since he wasn't making any money.

Eventually he found work at a tiny printing store doing web development.

Then he landed a job at Game Federation making middleware for digital distribution.

There he met Rolf Jansson and together they created a game called Wurm Online.

But the corporate world was about to clash with his creative dreams...

1. 🎯 Stop waiting for perfect conditions to start

At 24, Markus got a job at King.com (the future makers of Candy Crush).

He loved the freedom to create flash-based games mostly by himself.

They cranked out games in just one or two months each.

During his time there, he made around 30 games doing all the programming.

His favorites were Zuma ports, Pinball King, and Duck Pond Dash.

But his bosses didn't like him developing personal games on the side.

They worried he'd become their competitor and pressured him to stop.

Markus kept creating anyway, even when the pressure mounted.

Eventually he quit and found work at Jalbum, an online photo-sharing service.

His new bosses didn't care about his side projects - sweet!

Meanwhile, Markus discovered a community that would change everything...

2. 🏠 Find your tribe in unexpected places

Markus fell in love with the indie gaming scene where independent developers made their own games.

Unlike big gaming companies, indie developers controlled their entire projects.

His favorite hangout was the TIGSource forum where he went by the nickname "Notch."

He quickly found friends and fellow creators to talk games with.

He loved the burning creativity focused on interesting concepts rather than expensive graphics.

In the indie scene, individual programmers got recognition for their work.

Unlike traditional gaming where publishers get credit, indie developers stood behind everything from vision to implementation.

Markus had never thought of himself as just a Java programmer or graphic artist.

He saw himself as a game maker, plain and simple.

The indie scene was the only place where he could just be that.

Then Markus discovered a game that would spark his billion-dollar idea...

3. 🔥 Turn inspiration into your own unique creation

Markus loved a complex game called Dwarf Fortress and planned to create a better version.

But one evening he stumbled upon an indie game called Infiniminer.

He downloaded it, started playing, and almost fell off his chair.

"Oh my God, this is genius," he thought.

Get this - Infiniminer involved digging and building in square, blocky worlds that were automatically generated.

Players could pick blocks from the environment and assemble them into something new.

The graphics were nearly identical to what would become Minecraft - brown dirt, gray stone, orange lava.

But here's the crazy part - Infiniminer's creator Zachary Barth faced a disaster when the source code leaked online.

Countless variations appeared, making it impossible to build a unified multiplayer community.

Zachary released it as open source and gave his blessing for others to develop it further.

Markus immediately sat down and began coding his own version.

He changed the perspective from third-person to first-person and made the graphics even more blocky.

But naming his creation would prove trickier than expected...

4. 🚀 Launch before you feel ready

After discussing with friends on TIGSource, Markus decided to call his game Minecraft.

The name combined "mine" (for mining ore) and "craft" (for building things).

It was also a wink at successful games like WarCraft and StarCraft.

In early May 2009, Markus uploaded a video of a very early Minecraft version to YouTube.

It was a half-finished world generator with his avatar jumping around inside.

He called it "a very early test of an Infiniminer clone" and said it would have more features "if he ever gets around to finishing it."

Some people considered this intellectual property theft.

But Markus openly admitted his inspiration and even called Minecraft an Infiniminer clone.

Game developers often find starting points in existing ideas that they work on, change, and polish.

Almost all platform games originated from mechanics Nintendo created in Super Mario Bros.

His family's reaction to his ambitious plans was less than encouraging...

5. 💪 Push forward despite lack of support

Over coffee, Markus tried explaining his new project to his mom Ritva.

He described the building, exploration, and atmosphere with sweeping gestures.

Maybe it could develop into something great, he thought aloud.

Maybe he should quit his job and focus entirely on Minecraft.

His mom smiled and said it sounded like a good idea.

In truth, she didn't understand his game concept at all.

She suggested starting part-time instead of quitting immediately.

Secretly, she worried about her son becoming obsessed like he had with Legos as a child.

She remembered the year after high school when he barely went outdoors for days.

But she also noticed how his eyes lit up when he talked about the game.

He became confident and self-assured.

Fortunately, Markus found one person who truly got his vision...

6. 🎮 Find your first believer and listen closely

Markus had a girlfriend named Elin Zetterstrand who was also a programmer.

When he showed her Minecraft, she immediately loved the game.

From that moment, Elin became his dedicated game tester.

Every time he added a new feature, he sent her the latest version.

Markus often stood watching over her shoulder while she played.

He listened intently to all her comments and feedback.

If Elin liked something he had done, he reasoned the rest of the world probably would too.

Before showing Minecraft to the public, Markus made crucial decisions about development.

He wanted to document everything openly in continuous dialogue with players.

He updated his blog often with changes and thoughts about the game's future.

He invited everyone to give comments and suggestions for improvements.

But Markus was about to make a pricing decision that went against all conventional wisdom...

7. 💰 Price your work from day one

Markus knew from the beginning he wanted people to pay for Minecraft.

He was already discussing with his friend Jakob about starting their own game studio.

His decision went against most trends in gaming and the internet world.

Technology experts advocated charging as little as possible, preferably nothing, then making money through ads.

They pointed to Google and Facebook as examples.

In gaming, the trend was micro-payments like Angry Birds for one dollar.

Markus disregarded all of this completely.

Minecraft would cost around thirteen dollars during the alpha phase.

When completed, he planned to double the price.

He charged money from the start because he knew he'd never feel it was good enough otherwise.

Charging forced him to develop a great game that users would love.

The moment of truth arrived when he uploaded the first playable version...

8. 🎯 Start small and let momentum build naturally

On May 17, 2009, Markus uploaded the first playable Minecraft version to TIGSource.

"It's an alpha version, so it might crash sometimes," he warned.

Forum members immediately began exploring the blocky world he'd created.

There was lots of digging, building, and discussing.

The game crashed sometimes, but even then it was clear Minecraft had unusual magnetism.

Barely an hour after upload, people were commenting that they loved the game.

Markus followed every posting with great interest, listening to bug reports and discussing the future.

Every day many games were uploaded to TIGSource, but few struck a chord like Minecraft did.

In his head, a ray of hope began to shine.

Maybe he was on the right track this time.

In early June, he described his pricing model on his blog.

Those who paid immediately would get all future updates at no extra cost.

On June 12, 2009, Markus opened his game for orders.

Twenty-four hours later, fifteen people had paid for the game.

More than $150 landed in his PayPal account in just one day.

But personal tragedy was about to test everything he'd built...

9. 🌟 Keep creating through life's darkest moments

As Minecraft sales grew, Markus faced devastating personal problems.

His father relapsed into substance abuse after years of battling addiction.

His drinking had ended his marriage to Markus's mother earlier.

His father moved away from Stockholm to avoid the city's influence and isolate himself.

But he remained interested in his son's work and encouraged Markus to pursue his games.

When Markus was deciding whether to quit his day job, his father was the only person who supported the decision.

He was proud of Markus and made sure he knew it.

Markus was planning his father's return to Stockholm and had just rented an apartment for him.

Then his father committed suicide.

He had gotten drunk and shot himself.

"It was shocking. It took me a while to even realize it was real," Markus said.

He didn't break down until he saw his father's body at the funeral.

Markus worried that if depression had taken his dad, he might get it too.

He knew the solution was community, not isolation like his father had chosen.

He created an alter ego called "notch" to shed his real-world introversion.

Through this handle, he interacted with players on his blog, Twitter, and forums.

The community response would exceed his wildest dreams...

💰 The epic win

PC users were buying 400 copies per day at $6 per download.

In its first year, Minecraft sold roughly 20,000 downloads.

By the end of 2010, it was selling that many in a single day.

Markus made three million dollars profit that year and split it among Mojang's 25 employees.

In 2012, the Xbox 360 version overtook Call of Duty as the most played game on the system.

On September 15, 2014, Markus sold Mojang to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in cash.

🥂 Your turn to shine bright!

That's it, my fellow rebels!

Everyone thinks successful entrepreneurs need totally brand new, never-been-done-before ideas to build billion-dollar businesses.

But Markus went from openly calling his creation "an Infiniminer clone" to selling it for $2.5 billion to Microsoft.

"The act of borrowing ideas is integral to the creative process. There are games that came before Infiniminer and there are games that will come after Minecraft. That's how it works," says Zachary Barth, Infiniminer's creator.

"Just make games for yourself and try to have a critical eye to what you do. If you genuinely like the game, there will be other people who like it as well," adds Markus.

Stop waiting for the perfect revolutionary idea that doesn't exist yet - start improving something that already works.

I've got a strong feeling you're gonna shake things up in ways nobody sees coming.

Keep rocking 🚀 🍩

Yours 'making success painless and fun' vijay peduru 🦸‍♂️