
Ask HN: What Went Wrong at SilentCircle and Blackphone - ignoramous
The company had a great founder-market fit (PGP inventor Phil Zimmermann, Apple&#x27;s Jon Callas [0]), and raised $130MM in funding to pull off the Blackphone [1], built on SilentOS based on Android [2]. I could totally see a need for privacy oriented offering in the space (esp since Apple&#x27;s PR is getting all serious about it). They weren&#x27;t too soon to the market either (2015&#x2F;16)?<p>From your perspective, what could have gone wrong?<p>[0] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20160309214229&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.silentcircle.com&#x2F;our-story&#x2F;<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20160312085934&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.silentcircle.com&#x2F;products-and-solutions&#x2F;devices&#x2F;<p>[2] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20160312090048&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.silentcircle.com&#x2F;products-and-solutions&#x2F;devices&#x2F;silent-os&#x2F;
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adnanazadsg
I think it was a combination of:

-People don't value privacy as much - outside of a niche.

-Building hardware companies is hard. Its harder when you're competing against big brands like Apple and Google. Its really really hard when you're trying to displace something as personal as a smartphone.

-There were key strengths missing in design, branding and marketing which counts for a lot.

Something thats less ambitious might have succeeded, but this seemed like an
all or nothing play.

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vorhp
Did something happen lately? Any news I'm missing?

