[apdinin]

During my day job I run a full-time startup, but, as a weekend hack a couple years ago, I built an automated email sales tool called Autopest (https://autopest.com). I've never done any promotion for it, but it keeps growing on its own organically via word-of-mouth.

About a year and a half ago I mentioned Autopest in an HN thread titled "Ask HN: How to start earning $500/month in passive income in next 12-18 months?" Since then, it keeps getting featured in Reddit and Quora lists for "best growth hacking tools" and "best sales hacks," and I've also seen it popup on sites like Inc.com and LifeHacker.

I guess Autopest isn't technically passive in the sense that every few months I code a new feature or two based on user feedback, but I also go months without touching it, and more people just keep signing up.

P.S. Here's the original HN thread... some good links to other passive income projects as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8246255

[tedmiston]

Hope not to make this become non-passive, but: on iOS the demo video loads, goes full screen, then immediately exits for me.

[apdinin]

Dang... maybe I'll get that fixed in a couple months :)

[sul4bh]

I conform this is bug.

[iqonik]

"In order to send emails on your behald, "

Spelling error on your FAQ's - nice product.

[apdinin]

Thanks! Fixed... and an extra upvote to you for the trouble.

[enraged_camel]

This is very cool.

If there was a way for autopest to automatically stop when the other party responds to your "pests" (maybe via an email client plugin) I would sign up for sure.

[apdinin]

That's actually my next big update. I've got a Gmail plugin about 80% complete that will auto-stop the messages, too.

I still kind of count it as "passive" work because I had to learn to develop Gmail plugins for my startup. I was able to transfer that experience to Autopest.

FYI to anyone reading this... InboxSDK is amazing for Gmail plugins.

[lwhalen]

This is awesome! As a musician and bandleader, I could absolutely use something like this. Are there any plans to make it work with a standard SMTP/IMAP setup? I don't use Gmail for privacy concerns, and have hosted my own email server for years now.

[apdinin]

I can make it work on SMTP/IMAP, but, right now, it requires a custom setup. I've got a couple accounts that pay to do this... but they also have lots of team members using it.

[Im_a_throw_away]

Awesome product! Do you mind giving more information about how long have you been building this, and how much do you make?