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Another one. No? What's the difference between a "startup" and a "business"? I'm going to go with Steve Blank's answer: A startup is in search of a business m

by joshu 15y ago

Another one. No? What's the difference between a "startup" and a "business"? I'm going to go with Steve Blank's answer: A startup is in search of a business model. A business has found it. Pretty sure Dropbox has found theirs already.

maximusprime 15y ago
Wouldn't you say it's a short term business though? People expect email to be free, and have tons of storage. Likewise they will now expect services like dropbox to be free and offer a ton of storage.
- joshu 15y ago
  I am not really commenting on dropbox itself. Not sure what their long-term model is going to look like, just that they found one for now.
- smikhanov 15y ago
  Don't think so. The value of service for the Dropbox user grows over time (as the number of stored files and their revisions grow). Having a competitor that will simply be free is not enough for those users to start considering switching. So I think Dropbox is fine in the long run.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - alexro 15y ago
    Who's using Dropbox as a long-term backup strategy? Also, it's just a folder on your machine, switching to a competitor is pointing exactly one folder to the new storage, isn't it? And it should be possible to use two or more services an the same time, building new revision history while still using Dropbox. Then switching over altogether. Sounds rather simple to me.
    - edanm 15y ago
      "Who's using Dropbox as a long-term backup strategy". I am, and I'm guessing plenty of others are too. Although I don't really use the revisions feature, so technically you're correct, I'd have no problem switching to a competitor. But it'll be really hard to compete with Dropbox, and for something so important to me, price isn't the most important issue.
      - maximusprime 15y ago
        I don't see why it would be so hard to compete. Isn't dropbox a pretty simple thing? It's just storing your stuff, with some sync things etc. Seems like the barrier to entry is "Stores my files and doesn't lose them"?
        blankenship 15y ago
        Michael Wolfe answered this perfectly on Quora: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-than-other-programs-with-similar-functionality/answer/Michael-Wolfe http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-tha...
corin_ 15y ago
That was my issue too, I can only assume, given the inclusion of Facebook, that "start-up" is closer to "pre-IPO" than "pre-business model".
mailarchis 15y ago
On a different note, what is the definition of world ? I absolutely admire the companies listed but am not sure if they are the top 5 businesses in world

by joshu 15y ago

maximusprime 15y ago

Wouldn't you say it's a short term business though? People expect email to be free, and have tons of storage. Likewise they will now expect services like dropbox to be free and offer a ton of storage.

joshu 15y ago
I am not really commenting on dropbox itself. Not sure what their long-term model is going to look like, just that they found one for now.
smikhanov 15y ago
Don't think so. The value of service for the Dropbox user grows over time (as the number of stored files and their revisions grow). Having a competitor that will simply be free is not enough for those users to start considering switching. So I think Dropbox is fine in the long run.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- alexro 15y ago
  Who's using Dropbox as a long-term backup strategy? Also, it's just a folder on your machine, switching to a competitor is pointing exactly one folder to the new storage, isn't it? And it should be possible to use two or more services an the same time, building new revision history while still using Dropbox. Then switching over altogether. Sounds rather simple to me.
  - edanm 15y ago
    "Who's using Dropbox as a long-term backup strategy". I am, and I'm guessing plenty of others are too. Although I don't really use the revisions feature, so technically you're correct, I'd have no problem switching to a competitor. But it'll be really hard to compete with Dropbox, and for something so important to me, price isn't the most important issue.
    - maximusprime 15y ago
      I don't see why it would be so hard to compete. Isn't dropbox a pretty simple thing? It's just storing your stuff, with some sync things etc. Seems like the barrier to entry is "Stores my files and doesn't lose them"?
      - blankenship 15y ago
        Michael Wolfe answered this perfectly on Quora: Well, let's take a step back and think about the sync problem and what the ideal solution for it would do: There would be a folder. You'd put your stuff in it. It would sync. They built that. Why didn't anyone else build that? I have no idea. http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-than-other-programs-with-similar-functionality/answer/Michael-Wolfe http://www.quora.com/Dropbox/Why-is-Dropbox-more-popular-tha...

corin_ 15y ago

That was my issue too, I can only assume, given the inclusion of Facebook, that "start-up" is closer to "pre-IPO" than "pre-business model".

mailarchis 15y ago

On a different note, what is the definition of world ? I absolutely admire the companies listed but am not sure if they are the top 5 businesses in world