Our Story

After my wife and I got married in 2023, driven by a desire to be united in every way, I took on the task of bringing together our technology and data. This proved challenging, as we had a mixed set of iOS, Android, Mac, and Linux devices. The only complete ecosystem solution was Google, which I was determined to avoid due to Google's business model that necessitated a lack of privacy. For me, part of being the protector of the family included protecting my wife and future children from cyber criminals and obtrusive companies alike.

I could have opted to go with a mix of different cloud services that are all smaller and more privacy-focused, which is a fine option for privacy-minded users who want to support Big Tech alternatives. However, that approach also has a number of downsides. First, each service has a monthly cost, so that could get expensive quickly. Second, that would fragment our data and widen our exposure to potential breaches or privacy scandals. Third, smaller cloud companies are riskier to invest in, as they may not be around in a few years and could take our data down with them.

Instead, I re-discovered open source software and decided to start self-hosting everything I possibly could. Thankfully, I had a wealth of system administration and cyber security experience to pull from. I realized quickly that self-hosting was the most consistent option for our convictions and lifestyle, because it gave us full control over our data and services, reduced monthly payments and dependence on third parties, and provided better security and privacy than we could get with any cloud service.

As I was building a self-hosting platform for our family, I started dreaming about a world where every family could own their data and infrastructure without having to go through all the work I was doing or having all the technical knowledge I did. Just in case, I decided to architect the system in such a way that I could port it for others to use as well. Soon enough, I had built an early version of what would later become our Iolite platform.

As soon as I started talking to some of my friends about what I was building for my family, I knew that I had something that a lot of people had been waiting for. I spoke with several privacy-minded fathers who are reluctantly using cloud services, worrying about what will happen to their family's files, photos, and other data in the long term. My wife and I started discussing the business potential earnestly, while I started conducting broader market research and continuing to evolve our system into something we could send out for beta testing.