In One Year, Using ChatGPT, Achan Went From Quitting His Job to Topping GitHub's Global Trending List

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Our podcast Crossing ranked on Xiaoyuzhou's "Rising Stars" chart for two consecutive days, holding the #1 spot for 24 hours — we joked that we finally got to taste what it's like to be "the top dog on the leaderboard"!

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What did we talk about in this episode?

In late January, Achan published an article on his WeChat public account Kenengba titled "So, How Do I Use ChatGPT?", describing how he emerged from the confusion after leaving his job and, with ChatGPT's assistance, developed three products on his own — one of which, MyIP (https://ipcheck.ing), even made it onto GitHub's global trending list. He also provided AI consulting services for two companies in succession.

Achan is one of China's earliest internet bloggers. He founded the tech media outlet GeekPark and later worked as a product manager at internet companies.

His WeChat public account Kenengba carries significant influence. This article about using ChatGPT has been read by over 20,000 people so far.

We've known Achan for a long time and invited him onto the Crossing podcast to share with us:

• Why did he leave his previous mid-tier internet company?
• How does he use ChatGPT?
• Why did he describe ChatGPT as an "exceptionally brilliant intern" in his article?
• How did a plugin he wrote with ChatGPT's help make it onto GitHub's global trending list?
• And why, despite being so adept with ChatGPT, did he choose not to start a business this time?

This episode's cover image was generated by MidJourney.

👦🏻 Guest: Achan, WeChat public account Kenengba

👦🏻 Host: Koji, co-founder of Tangdao and The Fair

👧🏻 Host: Ronghui, tech VC post-investment, former Silicon Valley tech correspondent for CBNweekly

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I first met Achan back when we were both building blogs with WordPress. We obtained WordPress authorization and organized a gathering for bloggers in Beijing — WordCamp.

At the time, I was still an undergraduate at Beihang University. Taking advantage of my position as student union president, I secured the entire Rusin Conference Center for the event. Over two hundred bloggers came from across the country to Beihang, and together we put on a WordCamp that ran from early morning until late night. It was a beautiful, almost surreal shared memory.

I remember that after that, Achan and I gradually became close.

Achan's creativity seems to never run dry, and recently he's been all over people's feeds again.

As a product manager, he writes code through ChatGPT, and a program he developed with ChatGPT's assistance made it onto GitHub's global trending list. This also earned him a seven-figure annual salary job offer from a major internet company whose name starts with B, which Achan promptly turned down.

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Before recording, we had assumed that after Achan built several projects with ChatGPT, this episode would be a story about being inspired by ChatGPT to launch the next phase of his career and begin a second life.

But unexpectedly, ChatGPT didn't help him find his next entrepreneurial direction — instead, it made him freer and happier.

That made us even happier for him.

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Hi, I'm Koji, and Crossing is my personal newsletter. The name comes from something Steve Jobs said about standing at the intersection of technology and the humanities.

I'm the co-founder of sleep environment brand Tangdao and content company The Fair. I previously founded the app Jiepang and was involved in the early days of Fanfou and Jumei International Holding Limited.

As a quintessential cross-disciplinary entrepreneur, I've let my curiosity lead me across all kinds of "crossings" — from mobile internet to e-commerce, from content to consumer goods.

Feel free to add me on WeChat: YuanchengYang