It’s not really passive from my perspective. Software is getting more competitive because the barrier to entry is lower, and people will copy you fast. If you set it and forget it while they keep improving, they’ll beat you.
For me, the real moat isn’t the tech anymore, it’s the pace. As long as we move faster than everyone else, we stay ahead. So if you’re trying to scale or build something long-term, it’s definitely not passive.
And even when I’m not at my computer all day, it’s still work. Reading, thinking, planning the next product, the next direction, that’s part of the job. It might look passive from the outside, but it isn’t.
Maybe if you had a billion-dollar company and a CEO running everything, it could be passive. But for most people building this, no, it’s not passive.