Dropbox Startup Lessons Learned

Before becoming a Dropbox user I was aware there were other cloud-storage services available, but it was the good word-of-mouth that prompted me to try Dropbox. They're a great example of how to win in a crowded market through sheer awesomeness.<p>Good timing probably also played a role, though. I went with Dropbox because sync'ing files between my desktop, laptop, and iPhone had become a huge hassle. They wouldn't be worth it to me as a USB key replacement, but as a way to manage today's proliferation of devices Dropbox is golden.

A great presentation.<p>I found it interesting that they only came upon the virality of the product after the fact, and that their initial thoughts for marketing tended toward AdWords. In hindsight, the double-sided incentive for sharing DropBox with a friend seems obvious-- but that doesn't make it obvious at the beginning...

This is a bit old, wasnt this posted here before?<p>BTW, they need a new Adwords consultant. Box.net doesnt spend anything near that much per conversion and we probably advertised on the same keywords they tested.

This is the reality all technical founders I've met want to be true: If you build a good enough product, competition or not, existing market or not, people will come to you.<p>I also know plenty of people who are cynical about that reality. So, what's going on? Is it just a matter of <i>how</i> good the product is? It can't just be great, it needs to be amazing?

Fantastic presentation. I'll probably end up reading it a few times, and I got one benefit already: I just took page 12 of the presentation, and actually applied it to a web-site I'm building. Not live yet, just a landing site.<p><a href="http://viewpst.com/" rel="nofollow">http://viewpst.com/</a><p>Of course, one of DropBox' biggest advantage is the name! It's clear, concise and accurate.

Can we please stop calling things that aren't products "minimum viable products"? (Re: Slide 11)

You know what I'd like to see them do? Have a "growing storage" like gmail, as an incentive to sign up right now (so your dropbox storage starts growing right away), and as a conversation piece to improve the viral nature (one more hook to tell people: "so it syncs all your files, and the amount of storage you have is always growing like Gmail).

I can't seem to think of a good 2-sided incentive way of driving traffic to an entertainment website.<p>"If you get 5 people to click on your link to our site, we'll give you a tshirt."????would something like that work? stickers are 50 cents apiece, or less.<p>thoughts?<p>edit: its a free site, nothing to buy (thathigh.com)