Brad Dwyer poses in Des Moines’ East Village. Photo courtesy of Eric Rowley/Juice.
Brad Dwyer, 22, launched his entrepreneurial career around a Facebook game he put together while procrastinating instead of studying for a test at Iowa State University in 2008.
“It was just something that I programmed over a weekend and put out there to see what kind of reception it would get,” Dwyer said.
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The game, called Hatchlings, is similar in concept to the “Where’s Waldo?” book series from his childhood, but allow users to seek out eggs of several varieties (think Easter eggs of various colors and designs) that would be hidden in their friends’ Facebook profiles.
“The first day it was out there, it organically grew to several hundred users and started an exponential growth curve,” Dwyer said. “So at that point I thought, ‘Wow, maybe this is a bigger idea than I thought,’ so I started working on adding new features and keeping it going.”
Those several hundred users from the first day have grown into more than 3.4 million. As the user count climbs, so does Hatchlings revenue, which is drawn primarily from advertising inside the game, purchases of virtual goods by users and referral signups from Hatchlings’ users to partners like Netflix.
Hatchlings is so successful that Dwyer put his studies at Iowa State on hiatus. “I learn best by doing things,” Dwyer said. “I was gaining a ton of experience running Hatchlings and everything I was learning was immediately useful.
“I had a great time at school but I felt it would be almost irresponsible to keep putting in the hours to get my degree when there was huge opportunity to work on an extremely interesting project sitting right in front of me. If I decide to, I can always go back and finish my degree, but the reverse may not have been true.”
With Hatchlings now in its third year, with five employees and growing strong, Dwyer is working on some of his other interests, including traveling, investing in the local startup community, and finding a new project to put his efforts behind.
In the past few months, Dwyer has spent extensive time itching the travel bug by visiting Africa, Asia and Europe.
“Immersing myself in new experiences and cultures gives me insights that I can’t get from books,” he said. “I’m a strong believer that putting yourself outside of your comfort zone leads you to new inspiration and ideas.”
For his next big project, how does Dwyer plan to top a Facebook game with millions of users put together in a weekend?
“I want to throw myself completely into something world-changing,” he said. “I’m lucky in that I have plenty of time to figure out what I want to do next. I’m not all that concerned about making a ton of money with my next endeavor. What I really want to do is make a lasting impact.”
Reporter’s notebook
Since first interviewing Dwyer this past March, I’ve been fortunate to get to know him on both a professional and personal level. In one of the startups I’m involved with, VolunteerLocal, Dwyer has come in to advise us on several strategic issues related to growing a company socially. It’s pretty neat to have a 22-year-old sit at the table with two age-30-plus individuals looking to him for startup advice.
“I’m very interested in helping the burgeoning startup community in central Iowa get off the ground,” Dwyer said. “We have a ton of potential to become a center of innovation. I’ve been talking with a lot of entrepreneurs who are working on solving some really big problems. It’s exciting to think about what the next 10 or 20 years will bring to central Iowa.
“I’ve learned a lot from Hatchlings and I want to pass that knowledge on so others can benefit from it as well. One of my goals is to take the good things I see about Silicon Valley and transpose them on top of the things I love about central Iowa.”
Leaving school or even steady employment to pursue your entrepreneurial passion isn’t popular, or common, in the Midwest. Dwyer’s story is a great example of the success individuals can have once they finally decide to take that leap
Editor’s Note: This article also appears in this week’s issue of Juice magazine. To learn more about our partnership, see our post: “Announcing our partnership with Juice.”
