Andris Reinman
- Founder of EmailEngine
- $6000 monthly revenue
- Published March 14, 2024 by Fardeen Khan
- Reviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Andris Reinman is the founder of EmailEngine, a self-hosted email automation platform š§
A recent article he wrote: How I turned my open-source project into a business
It beginsā¦
When I started writing and publishing open-source software about 15 years ago, I was pretty radical about itā¦ Getting another A-category company to use my open-source libraries like Nodemailer was a badge of honorā¦
I even went so far that when a founder of a major transactional email service sent me an email regarding Nodemailer and offered to make a donation to promote my efforts, I rejected it.
š± But thenā¦
A startup using Nodemailer was acquired for half a billion dollars.
I was financially not in a good place back then, and when I saw the news, I started to wonder ā what did I get out of this?
Sending email notifications was a huge part of that service, and they probably sent millions of email notifications a day using Nodemailer.
At the very least, I saved them tons of developer hours by providing a free and solid library for sending these emails.
So even though Andris’ work was used, he didnāt make any $$ as he gave it away for free.
Then came EmailEngine.
That was also open source initially, but with a paid optionā¦
The subscription fee was 250ā¬ per yearā¦
Well, it turns out my business plan was bonkers. I only gained a few paying subscribersā¦
After a year and a half and 750ā¬ in total revenue, I decided to jump ship ā enough of providing free stuff.
He pivotedā¦
I re-designed the UI of the app to look more professional and implemented a license key system [for paying subscribers]ā¦ I also changed the licenseā¦ to a commercial license.
š That worked a lot betterā¦
I kept the price the same, 250ā¬ per year, and during the first month, I sold 1750ā¬ worth of subscriptions.
That’s like twice the amount I made in the previous year and a half, and it sealed the fate of the project.
Next, I started to increase the pricing; 250ā¬ became 495ā¬, then 695ā¬ and 795ā¬, and finally 895ā¬.
š¤ Nowadays, Andris finally has a profitable projectā¦
The current MRR for EmailEngine is 6100ā¬ [$6,622] and grows steadily, which in Estonia, where I live, allows me to pay myself a decent salary so that I can work on my project full-time.
The only regret I have is that I did not start selling my software earlier and only published free, open-source softwareā¦
Selling to business customers is definitely more reliable and predictable than depending on the goodwill of random people.
I can relate to what heās saying here.
I started out way too idealistic with my business as well, and suffered because of it.
One way to check if you’re being too idealistic: study what established players are doing, see if any are thriving with an approach similar to what you have in mind.
Or can you at least find someone doing it successfully in another industry? š¤
If not, itās probably not a good path to go down.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic ā no hype, no scams ā so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
If you'd like to hear when we publish new profiles, subscribe to our free newsletter below. Each edition is packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday to 22,401 legendary subscribers.
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
- We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.
- We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.
- We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.
- If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.
If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?
Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
Other ways to make money online
There are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.
