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63 Comments

After 1.5 years we finally launched! ๐ŸŽ‰

My co-founder @johnbourscheid and I have been pouring our heart and soul into this for the past year and a half and we finally released it! We're tackling a difficult problem, but are thrilled at what we've been able to accomplish in such a relatively small amount of time (well... considering we both have full-time jobs, families, etc.)

Today's the day we posted it on ProductHunt! Please show your love and support, and ask away if you have any questions!

We couldn't have done it without this community!

  1. 4

    Just reviewed the product - sophisticated and stimulating.

    Most individuals are not protected against rampant data brokering, for instance on โ€œbackground checkโ€ sites. Privacy is up for sale.

    Your product feels particularly relevant now.

    Best of luck with the launch.

    1. 2

      Much appreciate the positive feedback!!

  2. 3

    I am so curious about the technology behind this. This seems very tricky to me how a website removes my personal data. Let says I have my data over here in IH so this removes my info here

    Can you explain it more, sorry if its sound noob.

    1. 2

      Your question makes perfect sense! Check out this comment I made that I think answers the question: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/after-1-5-years-we-finally-launched-e115baa112?commentId=-MgQaBiclN3CsXrAlWDB

      Let me know if it doesn't though and I'd be happy to explain more!

      1. 2

        This redirects to same post

        1. 3

          It should direct to a different commend on this page. I'll just copy and paste the portion here for simplicity sake

          So our software wipes our users sensitive personal information from data brokers (also known as "people search sites") specifically. The problem we're solving lies in the fact that these sites are the ones that basically buy/scrape/obtain your information and then publish it for a profit. So Removaly does not remove information from social media accounts, business directories, news articles, etc. (or any other place that someone might not want to accidentally wipe). It's targeted to data brokers.

          Does that make sense? Basically this way we're targeting sources that EVERYONE wants to have wiped. So we don't run into the issue you described.

          1. 2

            Thanks, makes sense

  3. 3

    Congratulations on your launch, I think we need this :)

    1. 2

      Thanks, we think so too!! ๐Ÿ˜

  4. 3

    Loved the product. Upvoted :-)

  5. 3

    Nice product, Kyle! I love this type of thing. Make privacy easier for people and youโ€™ve sold me already. That said, Iโ€™ve seen products and agencies that try to automate this for customers only to have customer accidentally wipe accounts on services that they actually still need. Have you put much thought into that particular problem?

    1. 3

      I'm glad you're sold, though let me explain more and you can tell me if you're still sold hah

      So our software wipes our users sensitive personal information from data brokers (also known as "people search sites") specifically. The problem we're solving lies in the fact that these sites are the ones that basically buy/scrape/obtain your information and then publish it for a profit. So Removaly does not remove information from social media accounts, business directories, news articles, etc. (or any other place that someone might not want to accidentally wipe). It's targeted to data brokers.

      Does that make sense? Basically this way we're targeting sources that EVERYONE wants to have wiped. So we don't run into the issue you described.

      Let me know though and I can explain that better if needed.

      1. 3

        Even more sold. Itโ€™s targeted toward the worst violators of data privacy. Well done!

  6. 3

    Hey Kyle and John. Congrats on the PH launch! You're doing well.

    I like the idea of your product and I want to try it before I add my credit card. Why did you make it mandatory? I don't want to enter my credit card before I try it. It's uncomfortable.

    Wrote the same comment on PH too. ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. 4

      Great feedback. On that pricing page you can actually click the text at the bottom: "Continue to scan. I'll sign up after."

      That way you can see what sites have your information exposed and decide what you want to do from there.

      If you mean "try" as in have some of the hits/records removed, we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee so if you're not satisfied with what Removaly has done we'll give you a full refund.

      Let me know if that helps / answers your question!

      1. 2

        Yeah, thanks a lot. Saw it on PH already.

  7. 3

    Very cool!

    Did you involve your future customers in the building of the product? Sounds like you had to go through a lot of real-world interactions to get everything right.

    1. 3

      Great question! So as you know, it's easiest when you're a customer yourself. We've definitely taken a lot of principles from your books and posts to heart. On top of that, we've also ~~over-~~interacted immensely with our user base to direct new features and to figure out what is important. The nice thing too is that there's several players in the space, but they're all lacking in one area or another (at least in our opinion of course) so we were able to optimize on that as well.

      It's also advantageous that I'm the developer and @johnbourscheid is the marketing/social media guy and we're both very good at what we do. So we haven't had to spend time attempting to outsource anything. Everything is done in-house and changes can be made VERY quickly.

      I'm not even sure if that answers your initial question, but those are some thoughts at least! Our customers have definitely been involved and played a big role in how we shape our product ๐Ÿ™‚

      1. 3

        Yeah, I think for a product that's both so critical for the user and privacy-centric at the same time, it's super critical to involve people at every stage. Glad to hear how much time and effort you invested in this: it shows!

  8. 3

    Why did it take 1 and a half years? Just curious

    1. 4

      Great question!

      First off, the software is fairly complex. One of our competitors advertises 50,000 man-hours of development on theirs...

      On top of that, John and I both have full-time jobs and I have 3 kids 4 and under... so all things considered, we feel like a year and a half is actually pretty speedy ๐Ÿ˜ƒ

      1. 2

        Nice Did you validate before building?

        1. 2

          Yes an no. @johnbourscheid and I were our first customers. And we knew it was working well for us. So there was that initial validation. Then on top of that there's already a couple competitors in the space which seemed to validate the idea as well. We felt like we could fill the gaps though in different aspects that the current players were missing or lacking.

          So I guess that was a long way to say, yes, we did validate before building. Good question!

          1. 2

            Thanks for replying :)

  9. 2

    Upvoted! ๐Ÿ’š

  10. 2

    Congrats on the launch. Thatโ€™s huge. Where did you get your marketing video animation? In house or did you hire it out?

    1. 1

      Thank you! We hired it out. I think it turned out well ๐Ÿ‘

  11. 2

    Cool product guys, just upvoted on PH ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. 1

      Ay thank you!! Much appreciated!

  12. 1

    Kyle, this product looks great. One of the issues with privacy products is that it's hard to get organic growth - people use them and don't tell anyone or share what they're doing.

    Are you building anything into this product to drive organic growth? Referral discount, sharing features, a thing where I can buy 6 licenses for the price of 3 and gift to people?? I'm not saying I have any great answers, but it's a known problem in the space.

  13. 1

    This looks really interesting. Great idea and nice concise video. I know exactly what your product does in under 30 seconds.

    1. 1

      Thank you!! Glad the video is clear too!

  14. 1

    Congrats on the launch!! ๐Ÿš€

    1. 1

      Thanks so much!

  15. 1

    It should say it's for US citizens only on the front page. Do you plan on expanding to EU and maybe use the GDPR to wipe out data?

    1. 1

      The sign up page was updated to show it's for US users only. Thanks for the feedback!

      Our main focus is automating the scanning and removal of this personal information due to that largely coming from data brokers / people search sites in the US. So we don't plan to expand to the EU at this point, though we certainly have noted the demand in other places.

  16. 1

    Nice idea. But its only support USA ?

    1. 2

      Yup. Right now we're tackling the problem of data brokers in the US. As mentioned in other comments, we definitely hear the demand for it in other places as well. We are open to considering that in the future!

  17. 1

    Congrats and good luck! :)

  18. 1

    big congrats Kyle!

  19. 1

    Wow congrats!! This is awesome.

  20. 1

    Really love your landing page, however it seems your logo is broken on the site.

    1. 1

      Thank you! Someone else pointed that out too. It's on our list o things to fix (it's weirder issue than it seems).

      1. 2

        It's working on my end. I guess you fixed it.

  21. 1

    Congrats on launch guys, the product looks really great! Too bad it's only for US residents for now tho...

    1. 1

      Yea, that's probably the biggest (and maybe only) downside at this point. Hoping to explore that option here soon.

      I still appreciate the support!!

  22. 1

    Super congrats mate! More power to you! ๐Ÿค

    1. 1

      Thanks!! ๐Ÿ”Œ

  23. 1

    Great product and very well priced for families. Way to go ๐Ÿš€

    1. 1

      Thank you! Trying to stay competitive, you know how it is ha!

  24. 1

    Congratulations! Isn't it a great feeling? :)

    1. 1

      YES IT IS! ๐Ÿ™Œ

  25. 1

    Looks interesting! Have upvoted. Congrats on the launch, especially considering you and your partner are still working full-time jobs.

    1. 1

      Thank you!! It's definitely a grind (John jokes that I don't rarely sleep ๐Ÿ˜†)

  26. 1

    Loved it. upvoted. best of luck :)

  27. 1

    This comment was deleted 3 months ago.

    1. 1

      Good question. The majority of it is a Rails app running on Heroku. I'm the technical guy so I handle all of the code and my co-founder @johnbourscheid is the content/marketing guy so handles all of https://removaly.com/blog, social media accounts, etc. It's been a fantastic partnership thus far! ๐Ÿค

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