4. What is Dropbox?
Dropbox, Inc. founded in 2007 by MIT
grads: Drew Houston & Arash Ferdowsi
App was released in 2008
Free file hosting service that offers cloud
storage, file synchronization, and client
software
Availabel on: Windows, Mac, Linux,
Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and web
browsers
6. Work Anywhere
All files saved to
Dropbox are
synched to all
devices where the
app is installed
Lets you get things
done no matter
where you‟re
working from
7. Simplified Sharing
Invite people to
any folder in your
Dropbox – folder
synced straight to
their computer
OR Send people
links to specific files
8. Data Backup and Safety
Data is on cloud –
independent of
personal device
Undo mistakes &
Undelete files
In case a platform
is unavailable, use
the website
9. Efficient and convenient
No need to carry
USBs or to email
yourself your
essential files
Dropbox reduces
bandwidth usage
by only syncing the
„delta‟ of the
changed file
13. A look at the stats…
Revenue hit about $240 million in 2011
1 billion files are saved to Dropbox every
48 hours
Over 100 million users (August 2012)
Over 100 employees
Installed on 250 million devices
Valued at over a billion dollars even by
the most conservative estimates
14. Dropbox’s “Growth Hacks”
Implemented growth hacks to increase its
user-base
What‟s a growth hack?
NO traditional advertising to “buy” each
new customer
Acquire customers in ways that scale
Cost of acquiring each customer ~ $0
Pay only for the execution of the growth
hack
15. Signup Driven Homepage
Demo Video
Sign up / Sign in
Simple & Clean Layout
Download Link
Supported Platforms
16. Easy Sign up Process
Only a few simple
steps
Sign up on the
desktop – no
browser required
Getting started file
is put in the
Dropbox folder
itself
17. What is Gamification?
Use of game-thinking
and game mechanics
in non-game contexts
in order to engage
users and solve
problems
Used in applications
and processes to
improve user
engagement, ROI,
data quality, timeliness,
and learning
18.
19. Invite a Friend
Referrals increased
Dropbox signups by 60%
Dropbox makes referrals
easy: via email or a
web-link
Incentivized referrals –
when a person refers
someone, they both get
a 500MB increase
Referrals from friends are
more trustworthy than
an ad ever could be
20. Social Media
Incentivized social
media integration
With each Follow on
Twitter, Connect with
Facebook or
Twitter, Dropbox
gives the user a
125MB increase
Usage of such
Gamification
elements drives user
engagement
21. Dropquest!
Contest that makes
users go through
different puzzles and
scavenger hunts
Those who place in
the top 176 get free
space and/or free
swag
Great way to
generate buzz
26. Google Drive
Can open up to 30 kinds of files right
inside the browser
Using OCR text scanning Google scans
the images you upload to drive for text
and makes them searchable
27. SugarSync
On just about every platform
Lets you micro-manage what you want to
sync
Lets you add password protection to files
and folders when sharing them publicly
28. Apple iCloud
Arguably the simplest to use
Instant sync works well between iOS and
Lion
Benefits from Apple‟s ubiquity worldwide
29. Microsoft’s SkyDrive
Offers 7 GBs of storage right off the bat –
Best in Class
Excels at syncing documents created
using Microsoft Office products
Creates an experience akin to iCloud but
for Microsoft Products
30. Box
Popular with productivity apps like
QuickOffice
Easy to integrate into your workflow
Detailed version-tracking, a feed of every
sync and change you've made to a
document
34. Why is it sustainable?
Uses a Freemium business model, where users
are offered a free account with a set storage
size and paid subscriptions for accounts with
more capacity
Leverages on strong technological
background to offer reliable solution to
customer
Focusses on „winning-over‟ users instead of
„buying‟ them out (minimal ad budget, focus
on gamification)
35. Why is it sustainable?
Constant innovations and new features:
recently launched a feature to allow users
to automatically upload pics/videos from
their smartphones, tablet etc. to the cloud
User modifications and customizations:
encourages novel utilization of the service
and creations of addons for the same
36. References
Schramm, Mike "Dropbox hits 100 million users,
looking for great Dropbox stories", The Unofficial
Apple Weblog, 15 Nov 2012
OPSWAT "December 2011 Market Share Report“
Barret, Victoria "Dropbox: The Inside Story Of Tech's
Hottest Startup”, Forbes, 15 Nov 2011
Lacy, Sarah "Dropbox Raising Massive Round at a
$5B-Plus Valuation", TechCrunch, 19 Jul 2011
Surowiekci, James “Innovative Consumption”, The
New Yorker, 16 May 2011
Dropbox, Inc. – Official Website
(www.dropbox.com)
This means that any file you save to your Dropbox will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website.For all ages
Your life's work wherever you are (platform independent)Eg. You can start working on a computer at school or the office, and finish from your home computer. Never email yourself a file again!With Dropbox mobile, you can even load a file from the app and edit it on the go
Sharing made easynvite your friends, family and teammates to any folder in your Dropbox, and it'll be as if you saved that folder straight to their computers.You can send people links to specific files in your Dropbox too. Makes Dropbox perfect for team projects, sharing party photos with friends, or recording your band's new album.
Only the changes made to a file are synched to Dropbox which saves around 80% of the bandwidth on an average
Options on the homepage are limited. Dropbox wants people to signup when they visit the site. It’s similar to what many private beta startups will do before they launch to the public.Dropbox got 70,000 users overnight just by creating a demo video.
Helping users with the initial steps makes them keep coming back. Other examples: Facebook lets people find friends via email, gives free advert credits for first time use
Gamification of invites and social media integration drives user engagement and compels users to try out new features and spend more time with the app