#ThrowbackThursday Q&A: The Tech Trailblazers Awards Chat With “Identity Revolutionists” Solfyre

The Tech Trailblazers team has caught up with Craig Vallis, founder and CEO of three time Tech Trailblazers winner, Solfyre. As it is the winner of the Mobile, FinTech and Firestarter categories, we were keen to find out what had been happening since this impressive hat trick.

Tell us a little about your company and what it does

Solfyre is igniting the Identity Revolution, giving the people the knowledge and tools to control their online identities, privacy and profiles.

What has Solfyre been doing in the mobile and security space recently? Any new products/solutions/updates you’d like to tell us about?

We’ve been doing further development on our SID Product, increasing end to end encryption and doing more with the Safari Mobile Browser, extending our reach to mobile browsers as well as desktop browsers.

What makes Solfyre different from its competitors?

Our products are focused around the concerns of the consumer, ensuring that every aspect of their concerns and their user experience is genuinely addressed, and ensuring that all stakeholders’ security is improved.

What main sectors are your customers in?

Our targeted sectors are retail banking and financial services.

What changes are you seeing in the security, biometrics and authentication markets in 2016?

We’re starting to see some of the traditional players in the market paying attention to user experience, realising that their users matter.

As a triple winner in the TT Awards, what difference did it make?

It has demonstrated a huge degree of traction and confidence in our product and we have seen a great response from those that we present to.

What’s changed in the company since the awards?

We have completed our participation on the Incubus Future of Work Programme and it has allowed us to identify another route to market. We are currently exploring this route with an investor and a design agency.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a company?

Funding.  UK investors are not great with startups, they want a sure thing.

What advice would you give your younger startup self?

It’s all about traction, find your users and hang on to them.