Genlocker was born from a simple, frustrating observation: the people who most need secure estate planning tools — elderly parents — are the least served by existing options.
Our grandparents — like most people their age — stored their important documents in a shoebox, a binder that hadn't been updated in years, and a sticky note taped to the underside of a desk drawer. Their will was in a fireproof box that no one else had the combination to. Their financial passwords existed only in their heads.
When we looked at existing digital vault services, we found something that surprised us: not one of them required an official death certificate before releasing documents to beneficiaries. The most common approach — used by the leading product in the category — is to send the account holder an email and wait. If no one responds for long enough, access is granted.
That's a system that trusts an email inbox more than it trusts proof. For most families, that's probably fine. But for parents who specifically want to ensure their children can't access financial documents or a will until after they've passed — not before — it's a gap that needed to be filled.
"We built the service we wished existed when we were looking for something to recommend to our own parents. Secure, simple to use for non-technical people, and designed around the specific concern: give my family everything they need — but only when they truly need it."
— The Genlocker team
Security shouldn't require a computer science degree. The people who most need estate vaults are often the least comfortable with technology. We've designed every interaction around a non-technical 70-year-old — simple onboarding, large text, guided checklists, phone support.
Proof matters more than trust. The existing model of digital estate vaults asks beneficiaries to self-report a death and waits to see if the account holder disputes it. Genlocker requires independent verification. This isn't just a security feature — it's the core of the product's value proposition.
Transparency builds trust. We publish our security architecture, our verification process, and our policies openly. We'll never be the kind of company that hides behind vague claims about "bank-level security." We describe exactly what we do and why.
Genlocker is a small, deliberately lean business. We're a two-person founding team — a parent and an adult child — learning product management, UX design, software development, and business operations by building something that genuinely helps people. We're not backed by venture capital and we're not trying to be.
What we are trying to do is build something honest, useful, and durable. Something that works for your family the way it would work for ours. If it becomes something more than that over time, great — but the measure of success we care about most is that the families who trust us never regret that decision.
Every feature decision starts with the question: does this make the vault more or less secure? Security is never traded away for convenience.
We publish our security architecture, our processes, and our limitations openly. If we make a mistake, we disclose it.
Our UX is designed for a non-technical 70-year-old. If it's simple enough for them, it's simple enough for everyone.
We don't make security claims we can't substantiate. Our verification process uses official government documents, not good faith.
You can export everything any time. If we shut down, you get 90 days notice and a full export. Your vault is not held hostage.
We build for the relationship between vault owner and beneficiary, not just for the individual user. Access, clarity, and dignity matter for both.
We're a lean two-person founding team, building with intention over scale.
Background in business strategy. Working to apply that experience to something that helps real families.
Building UX craft through real-world product work — designing for people, not personas.
Co-founder names and photos will be added at launch.
Questions, feedback, or just want to chat about estate planning?
