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Ask HN: What to do with my security product?

3 points by espringe ↗ HN
A few months ago, I wrote a security product based on the whole "scratch an itch" philosophy. I had a couple bitcoins stolen, and realized that most modern malware includes such a routine. So I thought it would be neat to write a service that can generate and monitor a (sentinel / honey pot) bitcoin wallet that can function as an intrusion detection system by sending email/sms alerts when ever it detects on the network the movement of money.

Fast forward to now: the product works great -- all my testing with malware, and potential customers testing has been really positive. However, I'm faced with one seemingly insurmountable problem -- I can't seem to monetize the product. And I'm left with the conclusion that my product is too narrow to stand on its own. Consumers just aren't interested, and companies seem to want a whole "security suite" or just one thing that is installed by a security consultant (Not to mention, a lengthy sales cycle -- which is hard on an engineer like me).

So I'm getting a bit frustrated with the process, and already have been largely dedicating myself to a new venture. However, before I give up entirely, I would like to take a shot at selling the product. I'm not looking for a million dollar exit or anything -- I'd be happy to sell and support/integrate it for enough to cover my living expenses while I pursuit other ventures.

I've tried cold-emailing/calling a few security companies, but they seem largely uninterested. And the two companies that had shown interest, ended up fizzling out after ~3 weeks of talks. Perhaps an acquisition at 50k is just not enough to be worth their time?

So HN, what should I do with my security product?

8 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 28.8 ms ] thread
tarr11
Perhaps you could open source it?

This would accomplish a few things - since it's a "feature" and not a "product", this would make it easier for other developers to integrate into their products.

Secondly, it would let you build your reputation in this area, which may lead to more interesting opportunities and goodwill.

Third - security products are notoriously difficult to get right, and letting developers view and comment on the source will inevitably make it better.

espringe
Yeah, I would definitely open source it and leave it idling for a while instead of just killing it outright. I'm just hoping it doesn't come to this
PeekPoke
I don't know what the architecture of your product is, but can you not host on amazon/azure and offer a subscription based managed service for folks - something like $10 a month to protect their wallet? Folks would likely bite your hand off for that kind of service.
espringe
That's what I'm doing now. It's actually hosted on AWS, and I dropped the price to $1/month and still have trouble selling it. The site is https://www.bitcoinvigil.com if think I'm doing something obviously wrong
hydronucleus
Obviously, your problem is what you aren't good at, marketing. And one reason for that I will surmise, if I am any example of that, is that you hate marketing? Right? I can tell just by the way you write about it. I am an researcher and engineer who can't seem to sell water to a rich thirsty man.

Although, I'm not a bitcoin guy, I think you probably have a good product/service idea. You might just want to sit on it for a while, and let the need for it rise. More bitcoin thefts will make it so, and that situation may eventually raise its ugly head.

Also, keep a lookout for somebody who is good at marketing, but understands your product. They will be able to do the market research, and find out where your efforts need to be. And, for the most part, there are people who seem to love it, at least more than you (or I) do.

Keep at it, make improvements every once in a while, remember to blog about it, keeping it alive, and maybe rethink your $1/month price, as that may seem too cheap to somebody who wants to protect $1000's of bitcoins. Maybe come up with a tiered product service? Good Luck!

espringe
Thanks for the words of encouragement. You're completely right, I loath marketing and sales and terrible at it. I kind of lived in a delusion for a while that if I made the product good enough, it could sell itself.

The $1/month has been an unmitigated disaster. I'm making peanuts from it, (yay, credit-card fees!) and it severely damages the "value" of the company when I'm trying to sell to a big customer. I'm almost tempted to just make it free

dennybritz
Increase the price. I'm not sure to how much, but possibly to $20 or $50. Selling something for $1 hurts you more than it helps you because it attracts the "wrong" customers and also lowers the perceived value of the product.

I'm not sure if there is a market need (don't know much about Bitcoin) but you can't expect to find any customers without putting significant effort into marketing it. Maybe try content marketing, writing about Bitcoin security and how to protect oneself. One problem I see is that people may not be actively looking for a solution. People don't care about securing their wallet until (like you) they have been bitten by malware. Convincing existing Bitcoin users that securing their wallet is important seems like a difficult task because you need to educate them. That's the problem of being the first-mover in a market (I assume there aren't lots of competing products). If you have competitors they can do the educating for you.

If you don't want to put your efforts into marketing maybe just leave it there for a while. As Bitcoin becomes more popular it may well be that people come realize the need to secure their wallet. Maybe it's just a bit too early?

ProblemFactory
The interesting part of the product is that it can be useful even to people who don't own Bitcoin or don't personally care about Bitcoin.

Assuming that modern malware includes modules to drain Bitcoin wallets found on infected devices, and that any hackers will drain a Bitcoin wallet they find on a server they get access to, placing an unprotected wallet on any device should work well as a "you've been compromised" canary.

But marketing any security or backup product is difficult, because people start caring about security and backups only after they have lost their data once.