Bootstrapping Using Services from Montreal, Canada: Silanis CEO Tommy Petrogiannis (Part 5)

Sramana: Outside of the DoD contracts, where did you get the remainder of your revenue?

Tommy Petrogiannis: It came from industries that were regulated and needed operational efficiencies. This included pharmaceuticals, aerospace manufacturing, and lots of departmental sales for paperwork efficiencies. After the DoD, manufacturing was our next largest vertical followed by aerospace manufacturing. We knew that we did not want to just stay in those markets. We really wanted to get to a consumer-facing market.

Sramana: It sounds like the DoD contracts that you were able to secure were a key moment for your company. What was the next major milestone?

Tommy Petrogiannis: In 2000 the e-signature laws came into effect. That fundamentally changed the business and led to a second rebirth of the business. The Internet had emerged past its initial phase of brochure ware and was moving into e-commerce. When the laws came into effect the Internet became contractual commerce. It was not just simple ecommerce but contractual commerce. We knew that is where we wanted to go and where our next big growth area would be.

By then we were growing north of 50% year-over-year. In 2000 we decided to go after financial services as a market, specifically regarding B2C where customer acquisition was in play. Today if you buy car insurance over the web, then there is a high likelihood that you are using our stuff and you don’t know it. It is about our customer’s brand. Organizations like Farmer’s or GEICO need their brand protected and marketed so they white label our software.

We had some pretty big industry breakthroughs there. That is where you have to bet and trust. The market cannot tell you how to do something. You have to pave the path a bit and take some real risks. Up until 2000 you had to have software on your PC to enable the cryptography and security foundation needed for e-signatures. That did not scale in the web world, especially in complex regulated environments. If you are opening an account with a bank, you are not signing a simple form. You have to have disclosure documents, truth in lending documents, and privacy documents. It is about executing a transaction in a consumer-compliant fashion. If any one of the pieces did not happen properly, the entire transaction was null and void.

Back then everybody was spitting out PDF documents to send to people. The problem we found was that if people did not have a reader on their system then they had to download a new program, reboot their PC or take other steps. That kills an online transaction from a user experience perspective. We created unique technology that was server-centric. We created a black box recorder for the web. In order to meet the law you have to demonstrate intent. You can put a video camera over people’s shoulder and record the transaction. We record all of the electronic and forensic evidence associated with that transaction so that you have can have compliance proof that the transaction was processed correctly. We have one customer who has deflected over 2 million inquiries to date where they did not have to settle because when the person says they did not remember seeing the information, our customer was able to recreate and demonstrate that they had indeed seen that information.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Bootstrapping Using Services from Montreal, Canada: Silanis CEO Tommy Petrogiannis
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