Past Maps Reaches 300,000 Monthly Users on $52-a-Year Subscriptions

1 articles · Updated · The Verge · May 30

300,000 monthly active users now use Craig Campbell’s Past Maps, up from about 20,000, giving the founder and his wife a sustainable subscription business in its third year.
The site overlays historical maps on modern ones, a tool Campbell originally built for metal detecting and then turned into a product after interest from Reddit users and steady Google search traffic.
Subscriptions — $9 a week or $52 a year — replaced the old web’s ad-heavy model, helping shield the business from volatile marketing budgets and Google’s dominance in ad tech.
AI still plays a supporting role: Campbell uses a local model to triage customer service, cutting his daily support time from one or two hours to about 10 minutes, and is developing OCR for difficult old maps.
The business stands out because Campbell declined investor pressure to launch an AI startup after selling his previous Shopify-focused venture in 2022, betting instead on a niche website built around a personal passion.

How much potential wealth was sacrificed by choosing a niche map site over a 'blank check' AI venture?

As Google's AI Overviews kill organic traffic, can a business built on search survive the new web?

Is a profitable 'passion project' a smarter bet than chasing unicorn status in the volatile world of venture-backed AI?