https://www.zerotier.com/

-- Status:

Tech: Emulates an Ethernet switch over a robust P2P protocol.

Product: VPN-like, make virtual networks everywhere.

Revenue: freemium

Growth: ~1% organic (no promotion), ~50% user retention after 1-2 months (measured).

Feedback: positive, >90% "very disappointed" for canonical "if this product disappeared?" question.

-- Issues:

* 1% organic growth tells me: I haven't quite achieved product/market fit, the "beta" status is putting people off, or product isn't quite "there."

* Freemium conversion rate is also low, tells me current value proposition is broken.

* No mobile version. Already know how to build it, but time consuming...

-- Hypothesis:

Virtual networking ("VPN" has become confusing due to HideMyAss, etc.) is a "sleeper" market not unlike file sync. "There's lots of things that can do this." "But do you like any of them?"

I've studied Dropbox closely. I'm trying to do that in virtual networking-- solve an old problem in a compelling new way.

Some validation e.g.: #1 source of organic hits is variations of "alternative to Hamachi" directly or via alternativeto.net.

Two parter then... (1) is this hypothesis correct?, and (2) what would push this from "good" to "category redefining?"

I have some bigger "pivot" ideas but I wanted to get feedback on what's there first.

All thoughts are welcome. Thanks!