We spoke with Joe to learn more about how it all came together and how they manage their progress.
Where did the idea for the service come from?
Were you trying to solve a problem you’d experienced, or did the inspiration come from somewhere else?
LastPass CEO Joe Siegrist:Four developers founded LastPass after we were having password problems ourselves.
It was overly complex to do it in a way we considered safe.
It was a mess to do it right.
Both of these are risky and unsustainable.
We knew we were on to a problem that was only going to keep growing.
After you came up with the idea, what was the next step?
We set up the company and got to work!
We previously ran a cloud services company for eight years at a start-up called eStara.
How did you choose which platforms to target and which to ignore or wait on?
Universal accessibility was a priority of ours from the start.
When we started, the landscape was a lot less complex.
iOS version 1.0 didn’t even allow external developers to upload apps yet!
What was your biggest roadblock and how did you overcome it?
The first year we spent a ton of time educating.
Everyone we talked to online and offline was skeptical of a cloud-based password manager and challenged our solution.
moment, and we started building a community that accepted and used LastPass.
What was launch like for you?
Our beta launch was exciting and stressful: round-the-clock watching and responding to people trying our product.
People loved the product, but were suspicious of who we were and if they could trust us.
How do you handle user requests and criticisms effectively?
It’s tougher to evaluate what users think should be next or what features should be developed.
Now, how do you split time between developing new features and managing existing ones?
At any given time we have a dozen platforms to keep an eye on.
We want to have our service ready for release day whenever possible.
We also have to watch what’s going on in the big picture of authentication technology and cyber security.
It’s a hard balance to strike, but one that’s critical.
What advice would you give to others that want to take on a similar project?
Focus on traction early: Get a core group of people using your product and communicating with you consistently.
User feedback matters but be careful that it doesn’t distract you from your vision.
Stay passionate, and remember that “overnight success” takes years.
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