Garrett Langley of Flock Safety on building technology to solve crime

By Stripe

Categories: Product, Startup

Summary

Garrett Langley built Flock Safety by identifying a specific neighborhood problem (unsolved car break-ins), creating a simple MVP (license plate tracking camera), and leveraging organic media coverage as the primary growth channel. The company evolved into a comprehensive public safety platform that has helped clear over a million crimes while emphasizing careful attribution of their role in law enforcement outcomes.

Key Takeaways

  1. Start with a specific, localized problem you experience directly rather than trying to solve broad categories. Flock's founding emerged from a single unsolved crime in Langley's neighborhood, which he could clearly articulate and demonstrate value for immediately.
  2. Build the simplest possible MVP that solves the core problem. The original Flock camera was crude and built by a non-mechanical engineer, but it did exactly what law enforcement asked for: track license plates.
  3. Leverage earned media as a growth channel by solving real, newsworthy problems. Flock grew to $20-40M ARR primarily through local news coverage of solved crimes, showing that authentic impact generates organic distribution.
  4. Design for community-level outcomes rather than individual security. Individual security systems (gates, cameras, alarms) don't solve crimes or create the communal sense of safety that drives adoption and impact.
  5. Build integrations across fragmented systems rather than requiring replacement. FlockOS aggregates both Flock and non-Flock cameras into a unified platform, multiplying value by solving the fragmentation problem that exists in most government and municipal systems.
  6. Be precise and humble about attribution of outcomes. Rather than claiming full credit for crime clearances, Flock carefully distinguishes between cases where they provided the tip, supported the investigation, or were tangential, maintaining credibility with law enforcement partners.

Topics

Transcript Excerpt

Garrett Langley started Flock Safety in 2017 after a crime in his neighborhood went unsolved. Flock is now one of the most successful companies selling to law enforcement, known for their camera network across the roads and even drones to support police officers. Cheers. Yes, cheers. Likewise, thanks for having me. Maybe start by describing, how does the Flock product work? Maybe we rewind all the way back because it's evolved. Eight years ago, living in Atlanta, and there's a… Fun fact: if you'...