How David Sinkinson Bootstrapped AppArmor to a $40M Exit
David Sinkinson, co-founder of AppArmor, shared insights on bootstrapping their mobile app company to a $40 million exit. He discussed negotiation mistakes, customer loyalty, funding growth, and co-founder relationships. Valuable lessons were provided.
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David Sinkinson, co-founder of AppArmor, shared insights on how he and his brother bootstrapped their mobile app company to a $40 million exit. The app allowed students to alert campus security with a single button press. During an interview, Sinkinson revealed a critical negotiation mistake that almost cost them $20 million but shared how they managed to recover and successfully close the deal. Listeners also learned about turning customers into loyal fans, funding growth without external investors, converting users into recurring customers, and mastering negotiation techniques. The episode highlighted strategies to achieve a low customer churn rate and strengthen co-founder relationships. AppArmor, founded in 2011, was acquired by Rave Mobile Safety. Sinkinson's journey began at Queen's University, identifying campus safety gaps and launching the safety app. Before AppArmor, he worked on marketing projects at a Canadian telecommunications firm. The episode provided valuable lessons on building, accelerating, and harvesting company value.
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6 comments> David and his brother Chris created a mobile app that allows students to alert campus security by pressing a single button on their phones.
And not the AppArmor Linux kernel security module.
Much less did I expect it's an ecosystem you could make money with. My university had 35k students and got by without such things. If something was amiss you'd call regular police.
What sort of need does dedicated security address? I can see it for university buildings who store dangerous materials, but doorkeepers would address that just fine. I don't see why you'd have some sort of pseudo police force students would call with an app rather than calling the actual police.
Instead this is a mobile app/ physical security thingy originating on uni campuses