Q&A with the tech leaders driving ExpressVPN’s innovations
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ExpressVPN’s Chief Engineering Officer, Peter Membrey is responsible for cutting-edge technologies that have revolutionized the VPN landscape.
SINGAPORE – 23 August 2023 – [EXCLUSIVE] Q&A with the tech leaders driving ExpressVPN’s innovations
We speak with Chris Econn and Peter Membrey about the future of the company’s flagship product.
ExpressVPN, a frontrunner in the VPN industry, recently announced key changes in its senior leadership. Taking the reins are Chris Econn, Chief Technology Officer, and Peter Membrey, Chief Engineering Officer. In an exclusive interview, we delve into their goals for the company’s VPN tech, what changes users might see first, and the challenge of marrying engineering passion with business objectives.
Chris, as ExpressVPN’s CTO, which key areas do you intend to focus on?
Econn: As the new CTO, I’m focused on improving our technical excellence, particularly on solving problems within the user experience—such as the tendency for Google Captchas to appear for users of many VPN services, including ExpressVPN at times. One of my priorities is to ensure that customers’ needs are met consistently and that they feel valued throughout their journey with us. This will involve implementing mechanisms, both procedural and technological, that enhance customer support.
The technical team at ExpressVPN has undergone significant change recently. What does it mean for the products and overall engineering philosophy?
Membrey: The core team behind critical projects—like our TrustedServer system and proprietary Lightway VPN protocol—are still here, and the commitment to privacy and customer-centric values remains unwavering. Change can always be perceived as a challenge, but we see it as an opportunity to reinforce our commitment to our customers and drive even greater innovation.
Will ExpressVPN focus on continuously improving the VPN experience, or will there be greater investment in other areas?
Membrey: Our primary focus will be on improving the VPN experience. There is so much we can do to enhance a VPN beyond just being a privacy tool. Most users expect a VPN to slow down their internet connection, but we want to challenge that notion and demonstrate that our VPN can actually improve their overall internet experience. We aim to make gaming smoother, enhance streaming services, and potentially partner with sites to provide faster and dedicated access for our users. For example, we could explore secure routing to provide exclusive access to certain events or onion sites, making the internet safer and more enjoyable for our users. There is a vast range of possibilities that can revolutionize how people perceive and use VPNs.
Chris, what drives your commitment to the mission of online privacy and freedom?
Econn: My career spanning various industries, most notably my tenure at Grindr—an LGBTQ+ social networking app—has shaped my commitment to fighting for privacy and internet freedom. At Grindr, we were proud to enable and protect the LGBTQ+ community to a certain extent, amid numerous attacks from countries like Iran, who were trying to identify our users. Experiences such as these cemented in me the importance of protecting individuals and communities from powerful adversaries and fostering a safer, freer online environment for everyone.
What is the most significant learning you’ve gained from your previous experiences that you plan to apply here at ExpressVPN?
Econn: That would be the understanding that engineers are inherently focused on building and creating, and they may not naturally prioritize business objectives. To succeed, it’s essential to align every line of code with the overall business goals. This process is more of a science than an art.
Engineers are passionate about seeing their creations in the hands of customers and receiving feedback. They thrive on being builders. To leverage this passion effectively, we must find ways to align their work with business goals, customer satisfaction, and retention. This lesson became increasingly apparent as I worked with larger enterprises later in my career. In such organizations, the alignment between technology-driven initiatives and business objectives can be fundamentally broken. My experiences have taught me how to optimize and bridge these gaps, leading to more successful and business-driven outcomes.
What would you say are the key factors that have contributed to ExpressVPN’s success over the years?
Membrey: I believe our biggest achievements are the development of Lightway and TrustedServer. Our strong engineering focus sets us apart, enabling us to integrate engineering with product development and create solutions that meet customer needs. Building our own VPN protocol was a pivotal achievement, reflecting our confidence in our capabilities built over years of consistent, high-quality engineering work.
What drove the decision to create these custom solutions instead of opting for off-the-shelf solutions?
Membrey: Generally, I prefer off-the-shelf solutions whenever possible, as they require less maintenance and investment in creating and supporting them. However, we don’t shy from building our own solutions when it makes sense. For example, we developed the Lightway protocol because there was nothing else that could fulfill our requirements entirely. While WireGuard does an excellent job, it covers only a subset of our needs. Lightway was built to address these specific requirements and offer a complete platform for various environments, including schools, universities, corporations, public Wi-Fi, and more.
Similarly, with TrustedServer, we would have preferred an existing solution, but nothing matched what we needed. TrustedServer is not built from scratch; we based it on the Debian live-build environment and drew inspiration from the TAILS project for reproducible builds. We brought together decades of industry experience to create a platform that addressed our unique challenges, like the need for an in-memory VPN server. Other solutions didn’t cater to these specific requirements because they were not designed to address the same problems.
For you, Pete—what motivates you in your work?
Membrey: I find inspiration in the art of problem-solving and the satisfaction of making a positive impact on the world through technology. It’s about finding elegant solutions, meeting challenges head-on, and maximizing the value we can create with the resources at hand. Technology, to me, is a means to an end—a powerful tool that enables us to address privacy concerns, and information challenges, and improve people’s lives. The magic happens when you combine your background knowledge and expertise with engineering skills.
About ExpressVPN:
Since 2009, ExpressVPN has empowered millions of users to take control of their internet experience. The company’s award-winning consumer VPN service is backed by its open-source VPN protocol Lightway, delivering user privacy in just a few clicks. ExpressVPN’s Keys password manager and Aircove router make digital privacy and security easy and accessible for all. ExpressVPN’s products have been extensively vetted by third-party experts, including PwC, Cure53, KPMG, and others.
ExpressVPN has been part of Kape Technologies since 2021. To learn more about ExpressVPN’s industry-leading privacy and security solutions, visit www.expressvpn.com.
For more information, please contact:
Lauren Hendry Parsons, Head of Communications, at press@expressvpn.com
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