Explore our Founder Interview with Doberman App Creator, and learn about the app which protects your housing society’s privacy with an open-source, ad-free gate management solution designed for Indian communities. No data sharing, just secure access.
In India’s growing urban sprawl, housing societies and gated communities face increasing challenges managing security, visitor access, and resident information. Popular apps like MyGate and NoBrokerhood offer digital solutions but often collect extensive personal data, raising privacy concerns. Families unknowingly share sensitive information, which these platforms can exploit for targeted ads or data monetization. Balancing digital convenience with privacy has become a pressing issue.
Enter Doberman App. Born out of necessity when a Hyderabad housing society faced issues with existing platforms, this open-source project prioritizes user privacy above all. Developed by volunteers from Kepler Data Science and Voteism INC, Doberman ensures no data sharing, no ads, and no corporate pressure. Unlike VC-backed startups chasing growth, it operates independently, focusing solely on protecting homes and families.
With plans to open-source their code soon, Doberman is setting a new standard for transparent, community-driven gate management. Their approach shows that privacy and security can coexist without compromise.
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Connect with Doberman App:
We sat down with the Founder – Venkat, for an one on one interview, in helping us understand their startup better, and learn about their goals and vision. Do go through their interview conducted by Desi Founder Team.
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What sparked the idea for Doberman App, and how did the conflict with MyGate lead to its creation?
The villa community I live in in Hyderabad switched from MyGate to NoBrokerhood. One late night, a committee member mentioned the rude way a MyGate employee responded when asked to delete our data. I was the only tech guy around and the conversation veered to why I should build a similar app.
Late night conversations are no basis for launching apps. So I said ‘yes’, hoping the topic would end.
A few days later I was in Bangalore and had some time to kill. I decided to dig around a bit on how apps like MyGate/NoBroker functioned. MyGate and NoBroker did provide a valuable service for free but the amount of data we hand out to them is scary. Remember, this is your home and family we are talking about. The rabbit hole got scarier the more I dug.
I call up ‘Mr.A’, (committee member) and tell him, “Listen, I’ll build the app but only if you promise to use it.”
He said Yes and that’s how it got started.
Can you share the journey from concept to launch, especially with a volunteer-driven team?
Our approach is to do detailed mockups before writing a single line of code. When I say ‘detailed’ I really mean it. We spend a LOT of time on mockups. The mockups must nail down the UI/UX to the minutest detail. The app must be fully fleshed out in mockups.
Why detailed mockups? A couple of reasons.
- Mockups are easier to change than code.
- Tech stack decisions become easier when engineers can fully visualize the end product.
- Timelines become easier to estimate.
Once the mockups are done I call up Deepak from my Hyderabad team and Ranjit, from Boston. We pour over all the drawings and mockups and arrive at our agenda.
- This is going to be a free app.
- The app will not collect any metadata beyond what is required.
- Solve for HA. Scalability is never going to be an issue because it is very unlikely the app will become mainstream.
- The app is not going to have a full time team. The code must be very simple to manage in case something goes wrong.
- Server costs are not a problem – again because the app is not going to serve huge number of users.
Soon three more engineers join the effort and by Sep-2024 we achieved production readiness for both iOS and Android apps.
Why the name “Doberman”? Is there a special story behind it?
Not really. There was no research or effort that went into naming the app. Dobermans are naturally protective and have a strong sense of loyalty to their family – which is also what ‘Doberman the App’ does. Opinion is divided though. People seem to either like it or frown at it.
You’ve mentioned independence from venture capital. How does this affect your approach compared to typical startups?
As far as Doberman App is concerned, venture capital doesn’t make any difference because the app is intended to be free and does not have a revenue model to make it interesting for VC’s.
How did you decide to keep the platform ad-free and privacy-focused? What challenges did that bring?
Keeping things privacy focused and ad free are more philosophical rather than tech decisions. These are not challenges (tech or otherwise) to overcome, because it is so much easier to build stuff when you know up front that you are not in the data hoarding business.
Why did you choose to open-source the platform? What impact do you think this will have?
The main reason to open source is to let users know what is going on in the backend – like what data is being collected. Tech wise there is no fancy stuff going on. The tech stack is very simple.
What core technologies or frameworks power the App?
React Native for mobile apps. Two serverless functions running Nodejs/Javascript and Firestore for the database.
Maintaining a 99.95% uptime SLA with minimal resources is impressive. What strategies help you achieve this?
Unlike a decade ago it is quite easy to achieve 99.95% uptimes these days. 10 years ago (before ‘clouds’) managing a database to service a million users was a feat of engineering. Today Firestore or AWS-RDS can do it right out of the box.
Again, we keep our tech stack very simple. When things are simple, reliability becomes easy. More moving parts – more breakages. New engineers might be surprised how far MySQL running on a single dedicated server can get them.
With data privacy at the core, what specific measures do you take to ensure user data remains secure?
We do all the standard things. Data encryption in transit and at rest. Limit access on a need to know basis. Audit logs, etc. Ultimately everything comes down to product philosophy. We do not share data – directly or indirectly – with third parties. How can data remain secure when you are sharing it with others?
How do you balance functionality with simplicity to enhance the user experience?
Doberman App does just a few things directly related to core product functionality and that keeps everything simple. Complexity arises when you want to do non core things like fiddle around with user data.
In what ways does Doberman App create a sense of trust and comfort for housing societies?
That’s a difficult question. While we say we secure the privacy of your home and family; these words alone do not create trust. How we behave over time will create trust.
How do you approach partnerships with housing societies, facilities management companies, or real estate firms?
We do not. Simply because we are a small and voluntary team of developers. We do not have the bandwidth to go around convincing people to use the app. We believe you (the housing society) must be convinced about the importance of your privacy. If you are expecting us or someone else to convince ‘you’ about ‘your’ privacy, perhaps Doberman is not the right fit for you or your housing society.
Have you faced any resistance from societies or committees about adopting Doberman? If so, how do you address their concerns?
We are just getting started with a few (< 10) housing societies in Hyderabad and Bangalore. All of them we directly or indirectly know. So far everyone seems to like the product.
Without venture funding, what is your business and revenue model? How do you keep the platform sustainable?
Our costs are very low (not counting developer time) and we do not expect Doberman to be a mainstream server hungry app. Our revenue is the thrill we get from people using our app. We have other stuff that more than helps pay the bills.
What are your future goals for Doberman App? Do you have plans to expand beyond housing societies?
We do not have any plans beyond housing societies.
As you open-source the app, do you envision a community of developers contributing to its growth?
Yes, of course.
How do you and your team balance your full-time jobs with working on Doberman App?
Oh! We work for ourselves and we are masters of our time. When we want to build something we like, time automatically manifests. Somehow, even I’m surprised by this phenomenon.
What motivates you to maintain this initiative with a volunteer team?
We’ve all known each other for the last ten years. Rather than I (or one person) managing others, it’s a team that has voluntarily come together to work on something. It makes the team self-governing.
What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs who want to build a community-driven product?
We are financially secure and hence could devote the time and resources to indulge in a community project without expecting a monetary reward.
The advice I can give is to financially secure yourself before embarking on community driven projects. If you are still in college just go for it and put it on your resume.
Looking back, what’s the most rewarding part of creating Doberman App?
As we were building the app we understood more and more about how much user data is abused in India and how nonchalant most Indians are about their private data.
Want Doberman for your Society?
Doberman App involves a simple on-boarding process before your housing society can use it. The first step is to fill the short form below to let us know you are interested. The second step is to catch hold of a tech-savvy person within your society and attach them to us to complete the on-boarding process. The whole process should take about two hours.
That will be a wrap of the interview. Hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as we enjoyed creating it. If you too have an interesting Founder Story to share it with the world, please feel free to submit a request here.