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A consumer cybersecurity platform compounds acquired products through shared telemetry, billing, and cross-sells.
$20M–$25M EBITDA · six acquisitions since 2017
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Real Defense is a consumer privacy and cybersecurity platform led by Gary Gusev. The company traces back to CyberDefender, which Gusev founded in 2003 and later took public. He bought the declining business back in 2017 for less than $10 million, when it was generating about $7 million in annual revenue, or under 1x ARR by his account. Since then, Real Defense has completed six acquisitions. Its operating thesis is to combine acquired products rather than leave each as a standalone company: shared billing, marketing, AI, and telemetry systems can help sell VPN, optimization, identity-protection, and security offers across partner user bases. Gusev said 2025 revenue would finish between $60 million and $70 million, with EBITDA between $20 million and $25 million. The host's closing summary framed the business at $70 million revenue and $25 million EBITDA. The company had about 300 people, roughly 200 outsourced in support and infrastructure. This is a capital-intensive acquisition playbook, not a lightweight solo-founder template.
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Join the Unicorn Club — $5/moCancel anytime, in one clickData credibility: Creator-reported company figures from a CEO interview. Gary Gusev stated 2025 revenue of $60M–$70M and EBITDA of $20M–$25M; the host's closing summary gave $70M and $25M. The opening exchange is garbled, so this entry uses the clearer later statements. Figures are not independently audited in the transcript. Acquisition count and employee count are founder-reported.
9 more sections — how the first customers came, how the first dollar landed, what turned the flywheel, and how they got through the silent stretch. Members read all of it.
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