NAME OF STARTUP: ControlD – Bypass geo-restrictions, block tracking, be more productive, take control of your internet.
FOUNDER: Yegor Sak
THE IDEA: What is the problem being solved by your startup / business?:
Internet sucks these days. An average website loads more trackers and ads than actual content which slows down the browsing and wastes data. Some sites block access to visitors because they’re from a “wrong country”.
Social networks and “free” games are designed for maximum addiction and waste your time that could be better suited doing productive things.
ControlD solves all these problems, and a whole lot more. Some of this functionality is available entirely for free without even creating an account if you use our community DNS servers that help with 2/3 of the above mentioned issues.
THE FOUNDER’S STORY: When and how did you come up with the idea for the business?:
I am a University of Toronto alumni and a founder and CEO of Windscribe, a major VPN provider with over 30M users.
WHO IS THE CUSTOMER: What is the typical profile of your target customer? Where would they be located?:
Developers, Techies, Digital Nomads
LESSONS TO SHARE: What 3 key lessons from your startup or product journey you’d like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?:
ControlD is a fully customizable secure DNS service, similar to Pi-Hole or NextDNS, but with a transparent proxy functionality, which enables the user to redirect some/all their HTTP(S) traffic through a network of servers in over 100 city level locations.
This allows the users to do a whole bunch of stuff, like: – Redirect (proxy) all traffic through any location using only DNS – Unlock geo-restricted services – Create productivity schedules to block or unblock different services – Block ads, trackers, porn, newly registered domains, etc with a single toggle switch.
There are 15 bespoke filters to choose from. 3rd party user testing revealed them to be the most effective blocklists you can find online.
This works on all devices, and does not require any apps. There is a free no-payment 30 day trial available, so you can get started in seconds.
Location City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website URL: https://controld.com
Number of Employees: 1-5
