Two software engineers, David Emelianov and Jordan Gaston, built an inbox cleaning app called Trimbox as a side hustle and sold it for $4 million – all while keeping their full-time tech jobs. Here’s how they used AI to juggle it all.
The Idea
In 2020, Jordan’s mom complained about cleaning her email inbox. That sparked the idea for a Chrome extension that adds an unsubscribe button to emails. Jordan built a demo, showed it to David (a childhood friend), and they decided to work together. They spent 3-4 months building the first version.
The Pivot
After posting on Reddit and getting traction, they took a break from May to September 2021. When they picked it back up, they added subscriptions and started running web ads. Realizing they were limited to desktop users, they built mobile apps for iOS and Android in 2023, which allowed them to run Facebook and Instagram ads – the last big push before focusing on growth.
The Secret: AI-Powered Efficiency
Time management was key. They only worked on features that would directly impact revenue. They used AI to write code – copying their web app files into ChatGPT and asking it to rewrite them in React Native for mobile. They never hired a UI designer; AI handled that too.
They also automated customer support by training AI on their help center data. The AI handled most requests, only escalating to them when needed. This saved countless hours.
Why They Didn’t Quit Their Day Jobs
Both enjoyed their tech jobs and valued stability. David: “I don’t think it’s always the right trade-off to quit an awesome tech job with stability and a retirement plan for something like this.” They funded ads themselves, avoiding investors, and kept their side hustle to about 20 hours a week (mostly weekends).
The Sale
With kids now, they wanted to capture value. They used AI to simulate fair market value and saved on legal fees by coming to lawyers with informed questions. The app was generating $232,000 in monthly recurring revenue when they sold it at the end of last year.
What’s Next?
Now they’re planning to build more apps, faster, with AI doing even more of the heavy lifting.
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