Young entrepreneurs turn a Tweet from Richard Branson into $1 Million

From their security page:<p><i>We are very secure and make sure to cover many angles to insure your data can never be compromised. Many often ask what exactly we do to make the data so secure. Unfortunately, one of the things that makes the site so secure is that we do not disclose the exact encryption practices.</i><p>I just threw up in my mouth a little.<p>It's also a bit weird that it's apparently two unrelated products in one. Pinterest and LastPass: two great tastes that taste great together?

Only managed the first paragraph before the bubble-o-meter went off the fucking scale.<p>- Crap buzzword filled domain name. Check.<p>- All encompassing vague idea. Check.<p>- Young computer whizzkids. Check.<p>- 1 millllion dollars. Check.

This is ridiculous. I actually started reading with a really positive mind, but Richard Branson is never going to see any of that $1M.<p>- Scott... got the idea when his computer crashed and he lost a spreadsheet containing all his usernames and passwords.<p>Using this as a story to explain his startup is awful. So, you are running a tool to manage passwords, where you previously stored everything in a spreadsheet? This guy obviously knows a lot about security. Where can I sign up?

There's a lot of over-the-top hating from the peanut gallery in this thread. I'll balance it out:<p>What a ride this must have been so far. They're doing a great job getting their name out there, that's for sure. An investment from Richard Branson and a co-founder of Photobucket, plus this article in Yahoo Small Business that is now trending the HN front page. I hope they're able to take this massive opportunity they've been given and turn it into a successful business.

Regardless of whether this is a good idea or not, to say they "turned a tweet into $1 million" is a bit of a reach.<p>They saw a tweet advertising an event which Branson would be at, borrowed several thousands of dollars from their parents to attend the event, and used that opportunity to get an email address that was capable of reaching Richard Branson, which they used over a period of time to develop some sort of relationship with him and another (Murdoch), and through a series of pitches both in person and remote, they secured initial funding.

I just checked out the service and I don't understand what's with the hate?<p>It's a Pinterest/Delicious/LastPass mashup, and while I would not trust them with my passwords (they really should rephrase that explanation, or give a real overview of their security measures), there are plenty of people who will (my parents still store their passwords in simple text files :-)).<p>If they add RSS-reader functionality, I can actually see myself using the site as a home page!<p>I believe it's got potential - they'll have to work hard on the marketing and keeping even or ahead of the competition, though...

...and so we told Richard, "Hey, just sign up for LastPass!" He was so grateful, he gave us a million dollars.

This reads like there is something missing from the story. They already had an office and a 9 person team, but they needed to borrow $4k from their parents to meet Branson?

What a ridiculous country. It is OK to lend them $1M but illegal to offer them a cocktail?

Wow. This has both bubble and disaster written all over it. May things go much better than that for them, though, of course. But it reads more like a parody or a list of warning signs than an article about a real new business.

Here's a better venture idea based on the experience, "Scott... got the idea when his computer crashed and he lost a spreadsheet containing all his usernames and passwords."<p>How about designing computers that crash when users try to store usernames and passwords on them. Users will eventually learn to stop doing that.

&#62; he got the idea when his computer crashed and he lost a spreadsheet containing all his usernames and passwords.<p>Sounds like a good idea to entrust him with all your passwords then.

The more I see things like this, the more I believe I have no idea how the world works.

Great story

This startup app stores your encrypted passwords on DropBox: <a href="http://passboxapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://passboxapp.com/</a>