Privatly
We scan your site so your privacy docs use real evidence
I work full time in data analytics. Nights and weekends, I've been building Privatly, a tool that scans small business websites and helps them create privacy documentation based on evidence the scanner actually detects.
A lot of tools in this space start with a questionnaire and generate a document. I wanted to try the opposite: look at the website first, relay the evidence we can observe, then ask the business about the things we can't .
The scanner is running in production with good initial results and the product is live.
What I don't have yet is a paying stranger.
So lately I've been spending less time adding features and more time figuring out distribution and product/market fit. I've started doing cold outbound, and now showing up in communities like this instead of building in isolation.
For those who've made it through this stage: where did your first real customer come from?
Was it someone you already knew, or a complete stranger? And if it was a stranger, what actually got their attention?
6 Comments
On early projects, I've just asked agent to write the privacy policy for me. I'm sure there's room for improvement.
I do free video feedback for early products. Let me know if interested in a video for Privatly.
I would be interested! Please reach out with more information.
I would also encourage you to try Privatly for free. I would be interested in the results compared to an agent generated policy. Let me know and we can take a look!
Would be happy to create your feedback video. Schedule your free video here: https://betabloom.app/clarity-consult
The “first paying stranger” milestone is an interesting one.
Curious what’s been harder so far: getting people to understand the problem, or getting them to care enough to try the product.
For Privatly, at this stage the latter is harder. I performed research with market data and found ~15% of businesses do not have privacy policies. And of the 85% with policies, 60% of those are missing content (effective dates, disclosed services, and more). I do not think the root cause is apathy in compliance, but more so founders are focused on the bigger problems (product-market fit, customer acquisition, feature development, etc). That is the problem I hope Privatly can help solve by automating site scanning to detect services and disclosing those services within generated policies.
Privatly is still very early though, so I hope to share more learnings as I continue the journey!
That makes sense. The distinction between people lacking the problem and people simply not prioritizing it is an interesting one, especially this early.