Turning a bootstrapped security tool into an investable brand
2019–2023
Strategy, brand, and product design that turned a Czech security tool into a focused, investable brand GoodAccess — leading on radical simplicity. Today a Gartner-recognized ZTNA platform trusted by 1,300+ SMEs, rated 4.9/5.
Intro
Cybersecurity felt like a job for experts. We set out to make it feel like flipping a switch.
GoodAccess started as Samohyb — a Czech security tool with a real product, a few hundred paying customers using it for all sorts of things, and no story tying any of it together. That became a problem the moment the company set its sights on investment: to raise money and grow, it first had to decide what it was, who it was for, and why anyone should choose it. We were brought in to give it a strategy, a brand, and a simpler product — around one principle: make strong security simple enough that you don't need to be an expert.
Team
Design (pospolu.design)
Matej Hlavacek, Zavis Pexidr, Tomas Gardelka, Eva Stehlikova
Client (Samohyb → GoodAccess)
founders, developers, and other team members
Illustrations/Animations (TipTop)
Jan Sturc and his team
“Matej and Zavis have been part of our startup story since 2020. They helped us launch the brand, communication and to innovate our product. We enjoy working with them in workshops and it moves us forward.”
Michal Čížek
CEO @ GoodAccess
Context
Grown mostly on Google Ads, Samohyb had reached a few hundred paying customers. But they were scattered — people using a capable tool for a wide range of needs, not a focused base in a defined market. The category kept moving from VPN to SASE to Zero Trust, and the product could do a lot — its docs listed ten usage scenarios — but breadth without focus isn't a strategy. With the company wanting to raise investment, that gap mattered: to be investable, Samohyb needed a strategy, a market, a brand, and a product to match.
Challenge
We didn't run discovery the way we usually do. The budget didn't stretch to a full research phase and our access to users was indirect, so the work rested on synthesis, the founders' knowledge of their market, and a clear principle rather than fresh first-hand research. The challenge itself was sharp: Samohyb spoke fluent security, but the market it wanted was the opposite — small businesses without a security expert, who had to understand it in seconds and trust it immediately, while the same simplicity had to convince investors that real market existed. As the brand's own line put it: the world is vast, and not always friendly — Samohyb had to become the calm way through it.
Some parts of these case studies are intentionally private. If you're a recruiter or potential client, feel free to request access at hi@matejhlavacek.com.
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