In a Tiktok video with over 3 million views, a woman in a fluffy, maximum coat sits in the back seat of a luxurious SUV, parked in the middle of a New York road. On top of 6 -second videoA text line states, “Our bodyguards took us matcha.” The zoom camera in two intimidating men in full red ties costumes, each of which has a frozen matcha latte as they walk back in the car.
In a similar video, a young woman films an elegant suburban chevrolet as she pulls in front of her home. A man in a suit opens the door for her before she hit away, surrounded in the car by other Stoic, professionally dressed men. They pull the luggage in size as it enters the airport, accompanying it by its flight as it boasts on the on-Video text: “POV You have ordered security to take you to the airport.”
These posts were strategically timed with the release of a new application called ProstateShe made her debut last week in Los Angeles and New York, allowing ordinary people to order a secret security detail. But the videos were not organic.
‘We published 14 pieces of content for [Protector] which led to 15 million views and over 30,000 shots ”, women from the video Matcha, Fuzz and Fuzz, I wrote In a Tiktok, revealing that they were hired to make these videos.
The other creativeCamille Hovsepian, he did not promote the application organically or a patron representative to TechCrunch. Creator’s friend, serial entrepreneur and Nikita Bier development hackers are one advisor to a patron.
In Bier’s Playbook, which won its own discord and Facebook app acquisitions, Rage Bait is part of the fun.
“Once you make 8 numbers, you should not miss the rest of your life trying to get gradually higher – such as making a b2b saas start,” Bier writes in a recent position In X. “Instead, you have to think of ways to pinch millions of people on the internet every day by starting controversial application concepts, for the pure love of the game.”
Although Bier’s development strategy is artificial, it has proven to be successful in building buzz. Recently informed an AI health application Change his name From most days to the death clock, he then told the app to add a survey that predicts exactly how and when users will die. Certainly, the app shot at No. 6 on the health charts on the iOS App Store and got a voice on the latest show with Stephen Colbert.
“I tell you to rename your app: $ 24,000/Mo”, Bier I wrote In X. “Your application to a joke at Colbert: priceless.”
But for the prostate, which Bier describes as “Uber with Guns”, the idea is weaker than adding a Gimmicky AI feature in a health application.
Protector guards are active duties or recently law enforcement pensioners, each of whom is licensed by the government to carry firearms and work as a guard. Recruitment of prostate security details will cost users at least $ 1,000 for at least five hours, as well as an annual fee of $ 129.
According to estimates from CompetenceAn application intelligence company, Protector has been uploaded by iOS users based about 97,000 times in the first week after the start of 17 February. About one -third of these shots came on the launch day as it went up to No. 3 on the App Store travel charts. This initial curiosity around the application has been slowed down if and. From February 27, he is on No. 70 on the trip.
Although people download the app – perhaps from pure curiosity – these facilities do not guarantee that people will really pay to use it.
The prostate customer is unclear, since it is difficult to imagine what kind of person will be on board by paying over $ 1,000 for such a flamboyant, unnecessary service. Perhaps as another tactic to enhance the commitment, Protector has appealed to a particularly specific audience: business executives worried about their security after the murder of the Managing Director of the Unitedhealthcare Brian Thompson (who would probably have access to corporate security anyway).
‘If there was a protector [when Thompson was killed]The crisis could be prevented ”, the company allegations In a video on X. The security guard in the video then runs through three possible scenarios claiming that he could discourage the assassination attacker.
With such a minimal potential customer base, it is not clear how the prostate will be able to maintain.
But for the time being, the application has been supported by angel investors, including Balaji Srinivasan. Former A16Z General Associate is known for the loss a public bet that the Bitcoin price will reach $ 1 million, and is of particular interest in support “Boot companies” and “network states” such as Prospéra, Hondura. Last year, he reinforced this target by renting an island near Singapore to host a “90 -day network” school, which he described as “A Technological City of College“For” all those who do not feel part of the installation “and believes that” Bitcoin succeeds Federal Reserve “.
While “Uber with Guns” is less extreme than adopting islands to participate in a larger Bitcoin -based revolution, applications such as “Protector” could have a more direct effect on average people.
The prostate is not the first company to follow this concept. Blackwolf, an application that also offers Rideshare armed drivers, operates in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Appfigures estimates that Blackwolf has been uploaded about 256,000 times since 2023.
Like Protector, Blackwolf has leaning on excessive social media marketing and We are afraidutilizing cars without a driver vandalized. Blackwolf founder Kerry Kingbrown urges viewers to use his service instead of getting a waymo, as if there are no more reasonable alternatives such as Uber and Lyft.
These tactics remind Citizen, the Community Crime Reference Application that offers a service of $ 20 per month, where users can connect to a security agent in case of emergency.
If these new applications can learn anything from Citizen, it is that the motives of public security and starting development are not mixed. This was particularly clear in an intense incident when Citizen Andrew Frame’s founder and CEO promoted the application’s Livestream mode by broadcasting a seven hours of manhunt For a suspected arsonist, offering $ 30,000 for information leading to man’s arrest. But after launching alerts to all Los Angeles users to participate in the search, it turned out to be the wrong press – Los Angeles police arrested an innocent suspect.
Although Citizen is still working – and the frame remains CEO – Loom’s big mistakes, as Protector prepares his next announcement. The patron does not only work in “Uber for Guns”. It plans to launch an application called “Patrol”, where users can crowdfund security guards to accelerate their neighborhoods. The more users give users, the higher the level of security they can unlock, including robots and drones to monitor the area.
Is a controversial business movement at a time when Americans Confidence in law enforcement has been waving after High Profile Police Murders.
“We are not a mall cops,” a security guard said in a advertising video on patrol. “We’re real cops.”
