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This acquisition will fail if Whitney, Neal and the HelloSign team isn't given the freedom and authority to direct integration, marketing and product direction
by rrggrr 8y ago
This acquisition will fail if Whitney, Neal and the HelloSign team isn't given the freedom and authority to direct integration, marketing and product direction going forward.
HelloSign has demonstrated competencies Dropbox has not. Great that Dropbox nailed sync, desktop integration and sharing years ago; but since then they've done little to show any vision or execution in marketing, sales or product direction.
As a Dropbox shareholder and user I am hoping the Dropbox team will give their HelloSign colleagues the freedom and authority needed to save Dropbox from almost certain failure. The sync, store and search ship sailed long ago.
There are two more acquisitions I'd like to see Dropbox make this year of private companies to round out the product line.
- kayhi 8y agowhich two?
- faitswulff 8y agoWould it make sense to give them decision making power over the rest of Dropbox's marketing and product direction, not just HelloSign's pending integration?
- rrggrr 8y agoCorrect. I think the HelloSign acquisition is an attempt to position for medium and enterprise sales. However, I suspect Dropbox doesn't have competencies to execute on that in marketing or sales. Again, there are 2 or 3 more acquisitions they need to make... now... to make all this tick.
- basch 8y agoand those companies are ...?
- tln 8y agoHave you used Paper? Also an acquired team, and a great product that has seen a bevy of improvements since being under Dropbox.
- gilbetron 8y agoIt needs a lot more work, the search is horrible, and there are a number of features needed to take it to the next level. So far their feature velocity has been tepid. I like a lot of the ideas, and appreciate a viable google docs alternative, but I fear a Dropbox-level of feature development will doom Paper long term.
- ed_balls 8y agoI'm forced to use Paper as a wiki now. Search, discoverability and extensibility is so bad that I miss Confluence....
- dc_gregory 8y agoOuch. Have you used something in that space that is better?
- nvr219 8y agoLiterally all I want from Dropbox is to sync files between my various devices. I am not interested in doing anything else with it.
- PurpleRamen 8y agoI think improving on the syncing-workflow and enhancing it to offer more then just syncing would be something useful. Something like automated actions, or filters. I store sourcecode in my dropbox, and I really would prefer a way to not sync certain junk-files from compiling-process. Or let it automatically commit to a git-repo if there are changes in certain folders. Something like IFTTT for files seems a sane solution that dropbox seem to miss for a long time now.
- Nullabillity 8y agoIncron[1] is pretty great for "do X when file Y changes"-style rules. [1]: http://inotify.aiken.cz/?section=incron&page=about&lang=en http://inotify.aiken.cz/?section=incron&page=about&lang=en
- jkravitz61 8y agoWhy are you a dropbox shareholder if you think that the company faces "almost certain failure"?
- rrggrr 8y agoI ask myself that question every-single-day. I'm hoping they wake from their slumber and start competing against Box, MSFT, Google, etc., with real innovation. This may be a start... even if they had to buy it.
- jkravitz61 8y agoSounds like you are starting to become an emotional investor in them, which is the worst type of investor.
- CPLX 8y ago1 point by CPLX 0 minutes ago | edit | delete [-] > The sync, store and search ship sailed long ago. Perhaps. But that ship appears quite capable of generating well over a billion dollars a year in revenue, so...
- thomasjudge 8y agoFrom the article: "Whitney Bouck, COO at HelloSign, who previously held stints at Box and EMC Documentum, said the company will remain an independent entity. That means it will continue to operate with its current management structure as part of the Dropbox family."