Interview with the CEO of the world's most popular VPN

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, at its core is simply a large group of computers that are networked together over the internet. Its purpose? To add security and anonymity to your browsing and personal information. Big business can, and should, use VPNs to secure private, sensitive information and that same ideology trickles all the way down to the individual. If you find yourself in a coffeehouse or on basically any public network, using a VPN will help ensure your information is safe.

VPNs can also be used in countries where internet activity is closely monitored, or even restricted, as a means to obtain information that governments or agencies may be trying to conceal from the public eye. On a more casual level, VPNs can be used to circumvent regional locks on streaming services like Netflix.

AnchorFree is the world's largest Internet Freedom and Privacy platform, and their product Hotspot Shield is the world's most popular VPN service, with both paid and free options. We had the chance to sit down with some of the team over at AnchorFree to pick their brain about their product, VPNs in general, and the different uses of them. Check out the interview below!


Hey, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions, care to introduce yourself and your role with AnchorFree?

Thanks for the opportunity. I'm David Gorodyansky, CEO and co-founder of AnchorFree. AnchorFree's Hotspot Shield application is the world's largest platform for secure connectivity to all of the world's information. We securely connect people to each other and to unrestricted global information. We enable users to have control over their security and privacy and to turn that control on when ever they need it.

What is Hotspot Shield, for those that aren't familiar?

Hotspot Shield is the world's most popular virtual private network (VPN) that let's people browse the internet safely and securely across all their devices. Hotspot Shield gained popularity as the first VPN application for consumers. While companies like Cisco and Juniper are competing for leadership in the enterprise VPN space, AnchorFree has been able to own the consumer space, controlling more than 50% of the consumer VPN market.

Hotspot Shield use cases include security at public Wi-fi networks (like a Starbucks, hotels, airports, on planes, etc.).,and privacy online when it comes to health, wealth, and family matters. Hotspot Shield also connects users to global content, so expats or travelers are able to connect to Hotspot Shield servers in their home country while abroad or locals in countries that restrict access to information are enabled to gain unrestricted connectivity and access. Hotspot Shield's proprietary technology enhances performance of such connections, substantially increasing Internet speed for users in far away countries.

By establishing a secure connection through Hotspot Shield, anything you do online remains private and your information stays safe. To date Hotspot Shield has been downloaded 400 million users and is on track to reach 1 billion user downloads by 2018.

What inspired the creation of AnchorFree and Hotspot Shield?

The genuine believe that every user on the planet deserves control over their personal data and the freedom to get to all of the world's information without any restrictions.

So, the Great Recession of 2008. You've mentioned that it was a rough time for your company, how were you able to bounce back from that?

Well, it couldn't have come at a worse possible time for us honestly. We had just burned through our initial investment and needed more cash, and that was right when the Recession took hold. Luckily - and also through a lot of hard work - smartphones started becoming ubiquitous throughout the world and people needed a secure way to keep their data private - especially in developing countries where we are seeing a massive move from feature phones to smart phones and users having a real need to gain access to global content and to protect themselves online.

Hotspot Shield suddenly had a huge audience for people wanting secure connectivity to all of the world's information. We were able to turn the challenge of hard times fund raising in 2008, into an opportunity. We raised $6M in Series A funding in 2006 and another $5M in Series B funding in 2008, the 2008 investment environment was so tough that it taught us a lesson about pushing towards profitability. We became profitable in 2009 and later raised a $52M Series C round in 2012.

Many people look at VPNs as just a way to circumvent region restrictions for services like Netflix, but that's only a small part of a much larger whole, right?

Absolutely. Watching Canadian Netflix movies is a byproduct of VPN technology, but it's so much bigger than that. Using Hotspot Shield allows people unrestricted and secure access to information online. We break down barriers to connectivity and enable people with the freedom to connect to the world and to do so securely and privately.

Mobile continues to be a dominating force, with more people using smartphones for browsing and purchasing than ever before. Do you have a lot of people using Hotspot Shield on mobile devices?

70% of our users are on mobile devices. Back in 2010, 100% of our users were on Windows and Mac. In 2011 we launching Hotspot Shield for the iPhone and in 2012 for Android. Since then our user base quickly migrated to 70% mobile. As 5B users move from feature phones to smartphones in the next 5 years, the need for secure connectivity to the world's information will become exponentially larger. AnchorFree is excited about being in the position to provide secure connectivity to the next 5B people.

What's in store for the future of AnchorFree and Hotspot Shield?

We believe that like air, water, and food, online access has become a basic necessity for human life in 2016. Facebook's Free Basics program comes close, but AnchorFree envisions a world where everyone has unfettered secure online access to all information (not just Facebook).

In addition to our growth towards 1B user downloads by 2018, we are opening up an SDK to our technology for other app developers to use. If an app developer wants to enable security, privacy, performance improvement for users in far away countries, and connectivity within their applications, they will be able to run Hotspot Shield inside of their apps. A number of security companies have already integrated our SDK for Wi-Fi security inside of their apps.

Others are integrating us for performance and connectivity benefits. Our strategy is moving from being a popular application to being a platform that powers many applications. Think about what Twilio has done for VOIP connectivity, our SDK is similar, although the benefits for app developers are around security, connectivity, and performance.

The bottom line? VPNs are extremely useful and everyone can justify the use of them at some point in their lives. Whether it's to watch Canadian Netflix or to protect your credit card information during online purchases, individuals can benefit from the use of a VPN. Businesses, who exchange and hold valuable information constantly, should also be using a VPN to help protect that information from prying eyes. And while a business shouldn't be using a free VPN, with free options from companies like AnchorFree, there really isn't any reason not to have one on your computer.