When LivingSocial got hacked recently, LastPass CEO Joe Siegrist saw it as a teachable moment on password hygiene: Don't use the same password over and over again because hackers can then get into other accounts. Over 60% of people reuse the same password. His Fairfax, Va.-based startup developed a free browser app that automatically fills in passwords whenever the user pulls up an online account. The service, which uses a high-end security tech known as local only encryption, will also create complicated passwords whenever a user sets up a new account online. The user never has to know or remember the password.
Without passwords, life becomes so stress-free that games of round-the-world ping pong break out. Here are some of the 23 LastPass employees. (They walk in a circle and hit the ball when they're at either end of the table.) LastPass has 3.3 million users and over 3,000 corporate accounts, which is the startup's revenue source. (It's $24/user license and some from 300,000 consumers who pay $12/year to use the service on mobile devices.) The five-year-old company, profitable two years after launch, started targeting the corporate market two years ago and grew the segment through word of mouth. Joe says he'll add 10 employees this year as growth is driven by hacker frenzy and continued use of the same password.
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