20 years working on the same project

I'm nearing the 20-year mark with 10FastFingers—originally launched in 2007 under the name Schnell-Schreiben.de, before expanding internationally as 10FastFingers.

For nearly two decades, I’ve worked on this project on and off. Sometimes I'd dive in for a few weeks, then let it run on autopilot while I chased new and exciting ideas. But I always came back—partly for the steady income, partly because users kept asking for new features. Still, I didn’t give it the focus it deserved. And when I finally tried, burnout hit me hard.

Why didn’t I prioritize this cash cow? Maybe I get bored easily. Maybe I craved something shinier, something I could be “proud” of—ego stuff. Most of the other things I built fizzled out: no traction (I’m not great at marketing), or I lost interest.

But 10FastFingers kept chugging along. Month after month, new users found this simple typing site. Revenue kept growing—not explosively, but steadily. (Well, there was one moment when income tripled—but more on that another time.) The site gave me freedom. I could work how and when I wanted. That freedom was both a gift and a trap. With no pressure, there was... no pressure. Which is why startups shouldn't have infinite runways. Without urgency, goals slip away. You have to stay hungry.

Over the years, I got many acquisition offers—none compelling enough to match the long-term value of the site. Back in the early days, everyone was talking about “passive income,” and somehow I’d actually built one. Sure, bugs needed fixing, and small improvements helped keep the community growing. The occasional server upgrade or database tweak—nothing too crazy. And there were months where I barely touched it at all.

It doesn’t feel like 20 years—and yet it does.

What does the future hold? Will I celebrate the 40-year anniversary in 2047? Will I have sold the project by then? Will we even use keyboards, or just type with our thoughts via brain-computer interfaces?

Who knows. For now, I’m focused on making the best typing site I can—something lasting, something for typing enthusiasts, something worth coming back to.