Over the past few years, VPN technology has experienced rapid growth. It started as a narrow, niche solution but has now become a digital necessity for people all over the world. According to conservative estimates, the total number of VPN service users will reach one billion by 2023. One popular VPN service, Browsec, has already gained at least 10 million users, all of whom have been attracted organically with no marketing efforts.
Founded a decade ago by IT enthusiast and entrepreneur Anton Tkachev, Browsec is a free VPN service that helps users enhance their online privacy and protect their browser activity. TechTimes had the opportunity to interview Anton Tkachev, the CEO and founder of Browsec, and present the Q&A exclusively to our readers.
- Anton, when did you find your project and how? What motivated you initially?
"In 2012, I had the idea for Browsec, a product that I believed would be in high demand globally with a wide range of users. Instead of focusing on financial metrics such as revenue, monetization potential, and growth rate, my priority was to create a product that would effectively serve its users and meet their needs for privacy and confidentiality. I recognized that if the product ran smoothly and provided value to its users, the financial success would follow.
Our service is the first browser extension VPN. It provides users with secure access to the Internet through an intermediate server. This ensures that all data exchanged between the user and the server remains encrypted, protecting against interception by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) or any other third party. With our service, users can browse the web without fear of their information being compromised, whether they are visiting websites or uploading content.
A browser extension is a quick and easy add-on that can be downloaded with just one click. One of the major advantages of browser extensions is that they run in a sandbox within the browser, which means they have limited permissions and do not require full access to the user's computer. This enhances both security and convenience for the user."
- Who is your target audience nowadays?
"There is no single customer profile that accurately describes our users.
Over the last decade, VPN services have seen a meteoric rise in popularity, transitioning from a niche solution to a widely used digital necessity. At Browsec, we have a diverse audience of more than 10 million users with their various sociodemographic, professional, and environmental indicators. So, there are various reasons why people use our product. Increasingly, they are becoming concerned about their privacy and turn to VPNs to bypass government censorship that blocks popular services, social media platforms, and free media.
Many people relocate but still require access to local services, such as mobile banking, utility bills, financial and tax payment applications, and municipal websites that are only available in their home countries. The trend intensified during and after the Covid-19 pandemic when more people relocated and started to work remotely. This audience turns out to be our significant growth driver."
- As a software developer, why were you particularly interested in the field of VPN?
"I had previous experience developing a similar solution between 2008 and 2012, which is why I saw entering the VPN service market as a logical and promising decision. I founded Browsec as the successor to my previous project.
At the time, traditional VPN services were often cumbersome and complex. They required users to download and install a separate application in order to enable the VPN, which made it difficult for people without technical expertise to use them. As a result, the VPN audience was relatively small and niche, consisting mostly of tech-savvy individuals.
I wanted to create a VPN service that was accessible to a wider audience. So, I came up with the idea of creating a browser extension that could be used by anyone, even those without a lot of technical knowledge. This would also allow me to attract the users of my previous project and make it easier to launch the first version of the product."
- Can you share some of the technical innovations and solutions you have implemented at Browsec?
"Well, initially, browsers supported proxy protocols, which acted as intermediaries between the browser and the website. However, these protocols did not use encryption, so they did not protect users' data from interception.
I had the idea to encapsulate the HTTP proxy protocol in an encrypted SSL/TLS tunnel, which provided the benefits of traditional VPN services in a lightweight solution. In the early versions of our product, we used our own TLS tunneling libraries. Later, when browsers added support for encrypted proxies, we were able to release an even more seamless solution."
- What main challenges did you face during the first launch of Browsec?
"Technically, we never had a formal, large-scale launch of Browsec. We initially offered Browsec as a minimal viable product (MVP), a kind of 'crutch' solution.
However, shortly after offering the product, we received a lot of positive feedback from users and saw that even this raw prototype effectively solved their problems. Every new version provided our audience with a debugged edition of the product. In fact, I am still in touch with some of our first clients, even now, ten years later.
The main challenge at the beginning was that I had limited resources. I invested my money, time, and efforts, and was unable to run a team, so growth was slow but steady."
- How did you attract the first investors and convince them that Browsec was a reliable and promising asset?
"From the start, Browsec operated only as a free service. The audience grew actively, and we invested efforts and resources to support the growth. But as the number of users grew, so did our costs. At some point, we realized that we could no longer sustain these expenses with our funds and needed more time to monetize the product.
We began looking for investments, but our first few attempts were unsuccessful. We were offered money on unfavorable terms and had to decline those offers.
Finally, I met an old friend - a colleague - who owned a successful gaming business. After getting to know more about the growth analytics and seeing my sincere interest, he and his business partner signed our first angel check following several rounds of negotiations. These investments were crucial for our development, as we were on the verge of closure and struggling to cover the company's expenses."
- How were you able to significantly grow your audience with zero marketing expenditure? What factors helped bring an avalanche of organic traffic to Browsec in the following years?
"As I mentioned, in the early stages of development, we were unable to afford spending on marketing because we were financing all work with our funds. Later when we found our product market fit, the audience grew organically at a rate of about two times per month for a long time. During this period, we invested all of our resources and revenues into meeting the technical demands of this massive growth. Now, organic growth is slowing down due to market saturation, and we finally have the resources to start promotional activities.
In terms of factors that contributed to our stable organic growth, I would highlight that we entered an actively expanding market. The number of VPN users has grown significantly in recent years, which allowed us to attract new users rather than taking them from competitors."
- Can you tell us more about your plans and expectations for promoting your service globally?
"We are excited to finally be able to invest in comprehensive promotions, which is something we have never done before. We expect these efforts to have a significant impact on the progress and future of our service.
In addition, we are currently focusing a lot on product development. We are actively testing new features and solutions because, although our product is popular, only some users are technically savvy. We need more solutions to demonstrate all of the product's advances, options, and opportunities."
- How has entrepreneurship changed your life and mindset?
"One of the things I appreciate most about entrepreneurship is receiving direct and honest feedback from both the audience and the market. A business is only as good as its leader's efficiency and adequacy.
There is always a choice - to maintain the current level or to improve and strengthen your weaknesses. If you do everything correctly and move with the right choice, your business will grow as a result."
- What would be your main advice for aspiring IT entrepreneurs?
"Don't waste time on hesitation. Try as early as possible, and don't be afraid of making potential mistakes."
