IfGone exists in a unique space as a business. It offers long-term storage of data with no subscription. This goes against the grain of most businesses nowadays, which are looking to hook customers in with a subscription that compounds to huge profits over the years.
From a purely business perspective, we should do this too. But this does go against what IfGone strives to provide: peace of mind. You cancel your subscription, you lose access to the service, the benefits are taken away. When I was sitting in that A&E waiting room, I wasn't worried about a cancelled subscription. I was worried about instructions no one could access.
Subscriptions don't work with something that needs to outlive you and your payment details. With timescales that are easily measured in decades, IfGone is designed to ensure that your information stays secure and accessible, and as a business our structure is specifically intended to promote longevity of the business, rather than shareholder profits.
With IfGone, you pay once to create a Vault. That single payment funds decades of storage — not through magic, but through careful design and long-term investing.
From a technical perspective, we have made some very carefully thought-through decisions that are intended to promote the long-term survivability of the information you store. The prime example of this is the guideline on storing only 'plain text' — history has shown us time and time again that something we take for granted today may not be around in a few years (Cassette Tapes, anyone?). The encryption that IfGone uses to protect your data is well documented and widely used around the globe. The maths underpinning the encryption will never become obsolete.
This business is a difficult one to sell to an investor. It's no surprise that very few businesses are built this way — it's harder to fund and harder to explain. IfGone, thankfully, doesn't need investors (and we don't have any) — therefore we don't need to focus on profits or "the line going up". We focus on sustainability, good initial decisions and our customers wanting the peace of mind we provide.
IfGone will intentionally only ever have a small team to keep the lights on and everything running smoothly. This lean approach keeps the costs down and increases the sustainability of the business. We won't constantly be introducing new features to drive the up-sell — unnecessary features pose risks. Instead, each new customer of IfGone strengthens the long-term viability of the service and increases the buffer we hold against risks.
IfGone invests a percentage of the Vault payment into long-term investment vehicles. In a manner similar to how pension funds invest your contributions to pay your pension far into the future, IfGone's investments fund the future provision of the service.
IfGone isn't for sale and doesn't accept shareholder investors. Its longevity increases with each customer. That means every person who chooses IfGone isn't just helping themselves — they're helping everyone else's messages survive, too. That's peace of mind, multiplied.