Private Internet Access is very profitable [1] and our new partner’s action of merging with PIA speaks louder than words whether privacy is important to them.
[1] https://investors.kape.com/~/media/Files/K/Kape-IR/reports-a... (Slide 5)
I think the critical thing you're missing here is that it doesn't matter if Kape is trustworthy, it matters whether people see it as trustworthy. And you're not in a position to change the latter, no matter how much you talk about the former, because you have a conflict of interest.
The other thing is, you need to be able to explain the merger.
If PIA wasn't profitable, the merger looks bad, because that means that Kape is going to find other ways to monetize it.
If PIA was profitable, the merger is just confusing as heck, because why screw up a good thing? And confusion is bad, because people want security from a VPN. Not the computer kind, the emotional kind. Big upheavals like mergers throw that out the window, so you need to manage that transition very, very carefully.
You're not doing that, so far.
That being said, if the company was profitable, why even entertain this merger? I simply don't see how getting into bed with a company with such a sordid past is worth it if you were able to make it on your own.
VPNs are mainly for piracy and it’s only a matter of time until big media takes a shot at suing someone. No one wants to be that someone, so selling to anyone becomes attractive. I doubt there’s a lineup to buy a company who’s main talent is under assessing risk.