tech
How one founder’s bet on ‘the old school web’ is paying off
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TL;DR
- Craig Campbell, a tech founder, chose to build a website called Past Maps over an AI company, rejecting investor offers for a 'blank check.'
- Past Maps allows users to explore historical maps overlaid with current views, growing to over 300,000 monthly users mainly via organic search.
- The business model relies on subscriptions, protecting it from ad market fluctuations and Google's dominance.
- Campbell leverages AI for customer service triage and is developing an OCR tool for historical maps, integrating human oversight with AI capabilities.
- The success of Past Maps highlights the value of building a useful product based on passion and community, even in a rapidly changing tech landscape.