Taking on a software staple such as Google Docs seems like folly.
But for Victoria-based founder Barry Lachapelle, competing with Goliath has become necessary.
That’s because major technology companies like Google are increasingly tracking everything we do in order to boost the intelligence of their machine learning models—a lucrative market that many of the world’s largest firms are duelling for space in at the moment.
Lachapelle sees a David-sized opportunity to return writers and note-takers to a simpler time, sans the digital surveillance and AI takeover.
His startup, cDox, “is a place to write without distraction or hidden tradeoffs.”
It’s also a way to support local data sovereignty.
Drafts “live on Canadian servers, governed by Canadian law, and are never used to train AI systems,” according to a statement from the B.C. company.
Specifically, all documents “are stored and processed on servers located in Montreal, Quebec.”
The goal is “to give your words a stable home, one where ownership, clarity, and longevity matter more than engagement or extraction.”
The success of cDox will ride, in part, on Lachapelle’s entrepreneurial gut; he informed TechBeat.ca earlier this month that he’s resisting modern product management best practices and instead “leaning into instincts I’ve developed over 25 years about what people actually want from tools they use every day.”
Ultimately, his tool “is for anyone who cares about their data and how it’s handled.”
We emphasize “tool” because cDox is, “by design,” not an app.
“We believe de-big-teching starts with the open web, not more platform lock-in,” the startup states online, noting that cDox can “feel native on any device.”
CDox offers a free tier, while the Pro plan costs $8 per month for additional storage and other upgrades.
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