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I actually think Dropbox has a very sexy business model. It's the Silicon Valley darling with the least amount of flaws in the business model, imo. Too many o

I actually think Dropbox has a very sexy business model. It's the Silicon Valley darling with the least amount of flaws in the business model, imo. Too many others need to police their users to take their cut, e.g. AirBnb.

revorad 15y ago
Now, in hindsight, when it's getting billions of dollar valuations, yeah it looks sexy. But when it was starting out? Google, Microsoft, Apple were going to eat its lunch any day now. You have to download a desktop client? Dude, the future's all about web apps. All the real money is in social recommendations for the colour of your next toilet roll.
- TillE 15y ago
  > Google, Microsoft, Apple were going to eat its lunch any day now. Sure, there was potential serious competition, but not yet. It was still a big opportunity just waiting for someone to come and do it right. It's the kind of service that everyone has a use for and many will pay for. Hook 'em with a free 2GB, and sell extra storage - a very solid business model.
  - revorad 15y ago
    Heh, I don't know why your comment reminded me of this old gem: Of course, no one wanted to comment on how lucky I was to spend time reading software manuals, or Cisco Router manuals, or sitting in my house testing and comparing new technologies, but that’s a topic for another blog post. The point of all this is that it doesn’t matter how many times you fail.It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right.No one is going to know or care about your failures, and either should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because… All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are. http://blogmaverick.com/2005/05/30/success-and-motivation-you-only-have-to-be-right-once/ http://blogmaverick.com/2005/05/30/success-and-motivation-yo...
kd1220 15y ago
Dropbox also has the ability to take the path of becoming a platform more easily than something like AirBnB. I'm bringing this up because Steve Yegge's recent post on Amazon vs. Google struck a chord in me. I could see Dropbox becoming a large file sharing network with great access controls. The amount of data that's produced every day needs a place to be stored and accessed, even if only a fraction of it is worth sharing. It's definitely a problem that many organizations and groups have, and there are few good solutions out there.

revorad 15y ago

Now, in hindsight, when it's getting billions of dollar valuations, yeah it looks sexy. But when it was starting out? Google, Microsoft, Apple were going to eat its lunch any day now. You have to download a desktop client? Dude, the future's all about web apps. All the real money is in social recommendations for the colour of your next toilet roll.

TillE 15y ago
> Google, Microsoft, Apple were going to eat its lunch any day now. Sure, there was potential serious competition, but not yet. It was still a big opportunity just waiting for someone to come and do it right. It's the kind of service that everyone has a use for and many will pay for. Hook 'em with a free 2GB, and sell extra storage - a very solid business model.
- revorad 15y ago
  Heh, I don't know why your comment reminded me of this old gem: Of course, no one wanted to comment on how lucky I was to spend time reading software manuals, or Cisco Router manuals, or sitting in my house testing and comparing new technologies, but that’s a topic for another blog post. The point of all this is that it doesn’t matter how many times you fail.It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right.No one is going to know or care about your failures, and either should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because… All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are. http://blogmaverick.com/2005/05/30/success-and-motivation-you-only-have-to-be-right-once/ http://blogmaverick.com/2005/05/30/success-and-motivation-yo...

kd1220 15y ago

Dropbox also has the ability to take the path of becoming a platform more easily than something like AirBnB. I'm bringing this up because Steve Yegge's recent post on Amazon vs. Google struck a chord in me. I could see Dropbox becoming a large file sharing network with great access controls. The amount of data that's produced every day needs a place to be stored and accessed, even if only a fraction of it is worth sharing. It's definitely a problem that many organizations and groups have, and there are few good solutions out there.