I see this play as a funnel to their high end CDN and DDoS services.
Being in the industry, it only makes sense for them to target big business. They're likely disinterested in low margin domain renewals. Their real bread and butter is the high LTV customers with deep pockets who have upper management requesting "security" and "encryption" because of all of the recent "hacks" in the news.
Long term, they'll probably change their tune and start to target SMB if it works out well. It's far easier to pick a niche segment and deal with far less customer support as you're dealing with lower volumes of conversions.
It's about providing comprehensive security for our high-end clients. We are building a portfolio of products that give people protection up and down the stack.
It is the Akamai model. Get a customer in the door, keep selling them new addon services every chance you get. Then when a competitor comes along they aren't "feature competitive."
The best magic trick Matthew Prince has pulled thus far is convincing the folks that work for him that they are doing something noble.
Being in the industry, it only makes sense for them to target big business. They're likely disinterested in low margin domain renewals. Their real bread and butter is the high LTV customers with deep pockets who have upper management requesting "security" and "encryption" because of all of the recent "hacks" in the news.
Long term, they'll probably change their tune and start to target SMB if it works out well. It's far easier to pick a niche segment and deal with far less customer support as you're dealing with lower volumes of conversions.