Our Zero Data Hero Customer Spotlight series highlights the stories of VGS customers who have joined our Zero Data mission to protect the world’s information.
Truebill - Securing customer data with “beyond bank-level” security.
Today’s Zero Data Hero is Idris Mokhtarzada, Founder & CTO, Truebill.
Q - Tell us about Truebill?
Idris - Truebill is the best way for consumers to take control of their finances in order to improve their lives. Our ultimate mission is to improve the financial health of millions of people. We offer best practices around budgeting and saving money. It’s really easy to get started. You first download our app and connect your various bills and bank accounts. We’ll then negotiate on your behalf and find ways to lower your bills. You’ll then receive an email outlining how much you’ve saved. For us we’re not just focused on alerts but rather actionable ways for our customers to save money.
Q - How did Truebill approach the challenge of data security?
Idris - For us security is a differentiator. Our customers share some of their most personal data and we want to be sure to honor that trust. We’d heard quite a bit about VGS and we wanted to start Truebill on the correct security foundation.
Q - What does Zero Data mean to you?
Idris - When we were setting up the company we thought long and hard about the various attack vectors where we could be vulnerable. Not just external hackers but also internal threats like a disgruntled employee. What’s great about your Zero Data approach, is that even if hackers breached our system, they wouldn’t find anything of value since we don’t hold any sensitive data ourselves.
Q - How has VGS helped Truebill?
Idris - There is a number of ways you have helped us. Generally you have made us more secure and simplified our overall approach to security. To be more specific our developers can now focus their efforts on building great features rather than spend time on building a security infrastructure from scratch. For our customers we feel that we are responsible stewards of their sensitive data. They put a huge amount of trust in Truebill and we need to exceed their expectations. Our goal has always been beyond bank-level data security and that’s what we get with VGS.
Q - How do you see the relationship evolving over time?
Idris - It’s interesting as a customer of yours we’ve seen you guys evolve and develop your product over time. Also, as we’ve grown and developed Truebill we see more and more ways that we can use VGS to secure out customer’s data by adopting your Zero Data approach.
Q - How do you quantify the benefit of VGS?
Idris - I would say that it makes compliance and security significantly easier and cheaper. As a startup we can’t afford a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or developers solely dedicated to security. VGS allows us to focus practically all our development on product. It’s like an insurance policy. For a consumer app like ours it also allows us to differentiate ourselves in terms of security. Our customers are reassured by our approach when they ask about how we are securing their data.
Q - Any advice for other startups who are beginning security and compliance journey?
Idris - Many fintech startups will begin with Stripe but as they mature they should use VGS. For us it’s about doing the right thing for our customers and we like the peace of mind that VGS gives us. Startups today can grow much faster than ever before, because there are now companies like VGS that allow them to focus all their energy on their core mission. So my advice is basically to focus on what’s important and use services like VGS to take care of the rest.
Q - Who is your favorite superhero and why?
Idris - It would definitely be Batman. What I like about him is that he actually has no superpowers himself, yet he can go toe-to-toe with Superman! That’s ridiculous. It’s very much a David and Goliath type situation.
Q - How can people sign up with Truebill?
Idris - Just go to www.truebill.com to download our free Android or iOS app.
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Peter Curley 
