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Comment by stavros | Hacker News Reader

I had an idea in 2008 to make a website that emailed your friends when you die. I built https://www.deadmansswitch.net/ in a weekend, and it's been making money since. Around $1k/mo now.

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How much does it cost you to run it? I just remembered this company death.io that does this kind of thing but they do a whole package for what happens after you die.

Hm, $10/mo or so.

I heard about your website about a decade ago. That's awesome you are still maintaining it and it's generating cashflow.

Thanks! Now with LLMs it's really easy, I've added attachments, improved check-ins, a better app, lots of stuff. I really like how easy it is now to do the gruntwork of maintenance!

How do people find it, word of mouth?

Just want to let you know that I appreciated this joke even if nobody else noticed it.

morbid question, but do you know if any emails have ever been sent?

Of course, lots are sent every day. I don't know if they're from deaths, but lots of messages get sent. I know people have died because the police or FBI contact me sometimes.

Once, a girl had committed suicide and used the service to send accusing emails to her friends and family two months later. That was tragic all around.

There’s probably some selection bias here if people are close to death (either by suicide or terminal diagnosis) and looking for the solution.

just curious, how did you find your first user?

They were OK, nothing amazing.

Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke answer. The real answer is I don't remember, it's been almost twenty years. I must have posted it on reddit or something.

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