Gary Willmott’s Post

Ever wonder how Dropbox exploded in growth without spending millions on advertisements? 💥 Here’s the secret: they turned their users into their best marketers! 🚀 Back in 2008, Dropbox launched a referral program that was pure genius. 😎 For every friend you referred, both you and your friend got free storage space! 🎁 This simple "give and get" model encouraged users to share Dropbox with friends and colleagues. And who doesn’t love sharing when there’s a huge incentive to do so? 🙌 By rewarding their users with something valuable—extra space—they created a natural buzz. 📣 Within just a few months, Dropbox saw its user base grow by over 60%! 💥 No massive ad campaigns, no flashy commercials. Just happy users spreading the word. 👥 This is a textbook case of how value + trust = growth. 🌱 Make your users a part of the process and watch the magic happen. ✨ #MarketingTips #WordOfMouth #ReferralProgram #GrowthHacking #DropboxSuccess #UserGrowth #OrganicMarketing #CustomerLoyalty #TechGrowth #BusinessStrategy

Go to where your market is. Before Dropbox became the "next big thing"... they were having a tough time attracting initial customers. Their product was great... But nobody was aware of it. The solution? They met their market where they were already "hanging out." Instead of testing multiple distribution channels... They focused fully on ONE forum where young, tech-savvy developers (their target market) were hanging out. This skyrocketed their waitlist from 5,000 to 75,000 people. Overnight! With this as a foundation, they were able to conquer other channels one by one. The lesson is this: Instead of relying on spray-and-pray strategies (like most companies) ... focus on only a few channels where your target customers are already conglomerating. Meet your market where they're at. P.S. Liked this post? I share tips like this in my newsletter (almost) every day. Check it out here: www.tim-schreiber.com

The growth of Dropbox is an excellent example of how to do referral marketing. The company had 100K registered subscribers in September 2008, and by April 2010, its users had sent over 2.8 million referral invites. That is a massive 3900% growth in just 15 months, and all Dropbox had to do was offer storage space to their audience for every successful invite. Have heard of more such interesting brand stories? Let's discuss in the comments! #socialmedia #internetmarketingtips #marketingstrategy #digitalmarketingagency #linkedinmarketingagency

Dropbox's GTM Strategy: Mastering User Psychology for Explosive Growth Dropbox’s GTM approach was a blueprint for smart incentives and psychological hooks: 1- Social Proof & Referrals Every referral didn’t just increase storage; it made Dropbox feel trusted by users’ friends, amplifying credibility and lowering churn. 2- Gamified Engagement Storage rewards felt like leveling up, tapping into intrinsic motivation, and driving ongoing engagement. 3- Strategic Integrations Partnerships with platforms like Microsoft embedded Dropbox within users’ workflows, enhancing utility and user stickiness. Key Takeaway: Leverage user psychology to drive growth: trust-building, gamification, and smart partnerships make all the difference. #Dropbox #GTM #Tech #Psychology

Without speaking the customer’s language there are no deals to be done. I had the absolute honor of reconnecting with Ryan Libster and we had a blast talking about selling Dropbox for Business to established media brands like MGM Studios, Macmillan Publishers, and Disney. He’s now leading the charge for Claude for Work at Anthropic and is bringing the same customer-centric approach that he fostered at Dropbox. That customer-centric approach didn’t mean just listening to prospects’ pain points and finding solutions. He took it a step further and obsessed over the existing tools and workflows that media companies were grappling with as they contemplated a shift over to cloud storage solutions. He became a scholar and historian of media tech more broadly and understood the risk our champions were taking to make a change. Appreciate you Ryan 🙏 Grateful we’ve remained in touch all these years and can’t wait to see Anthropic’s continued rise to success! For founders and early stage sellers wanting access to the entire fireside chat I had with Ryan, join my Zero to Hero membership platform! We cover his journey and perspectives he's gained across impressive stints at Dropbox, Slack, Stripe, and now Anthropic 🚀 #enterprisesales #techsales #mediasales #salesleadership

Dropbox is one of the most iconic examples of how a well-executed freemium model can drive sales 💼. Founded in 2007 by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, Dropbox began a revolution in how people store and share files 📁. Over years, Dropbox has grown into a multi-billion-dollar company 💸 with millions of users worldwide. How did they pull this one off? Key to their success was new "freemium" approach to sales—a strategy that has since been copied by many tech companies 💻. Interested? Read below 👇 #Freemium #GrowthStrategy #TechSuccess #CustomerExperience #CloudStorage #Innovation #Sales

When Drew Houston and his team at Dropbox faced the challenge of scaling their user base, they didn’t pour money into traditional ads. Instead, they took a creative, budget-friendly approach: a referral program. By offering extra storage to users who referred friends, Dropbox turned their customers into advocates. The result? Explosive growth. 🔥 Why it Worked: 1. Incentives were Simple: More storage = more space for files. Something everyone wanted. 2. Word-of-Mouth Power: People trust recommendations from friends and family. 3. Low Cost, High Reward: Instead of spending on ads, they rewarded existing users. Win-win. Takeaway for Founders: Get creative with acquisition. Sometimes, the most effective strategies don’t need massive budgets, just a deep understanding of what your users truly value. ----- If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy the We Are Founders newsletter. Head over to https://lnkd.in/ecPxeaJb and get inspired. 🚀

FINALLY WE ARE LIVE!!! THIS is why I was so excited to rejoin Dropbox. I fell in love with Dash last year, and am so excited that Dash for Business is out in the world, for everyone else to fall in love with!! Dropbox. Its AI-powered universal search is a game-changer. Learn more about how Dash can help your team find, organize, share, and secure all of your work content: https://lnkd.in/egrMYZ3Z

How do you know if you have defined your problem statement well enough? Ask yourself these questions: 1. Can you explain your value proposition without mentioning your solution? 2. Does the solution become obvious once you explain the problem? 3. Are potential early adopters describing their ideal solution in ways that align with your product vision? 4. In sales calls, are you listening more than you're explaining? 5. Have you identified customers at the highest levels of pain who have a budget ready to solve their problems? Take Dropbox, for example. It wasn't the first file sync tool and definitely not the most feature-packed. But Dropbox nailed the problem: "I need my files everywhere, always in sync, and brain-dead simple to use." A well-articulated problem makes the path to the solution less complex.

This $10 Billion company turned around their performance based on changing one thing! It was so successful that Harvard (HBR) did a case study on it... Dropbox faced significant competitive pressure from Google Drive, which boasted nearly double the user base and superior infrastructure capabilities, posing a substantial threat to Dropbox's market position and longevity. They turned things around by focusing on a single metric that transformed their customer retention and user engagement.  Revenue followed (see graph)! What was it? the number of users who uploaded at least one file to their account. Concentrating on this single metric streamlined Dropbox's efforts across the organization.  Focus on this one metric allowed them to make informed decisions on product development, marketing strategies, and customer support, ultimately resulting in improved user satisfaction and loyalty. The Takeaway: The secret to maintaining high performance and efficiency isn’t complex strategies—it’s about aligning everyone to a clear, single goal. How do you keep your team focused? #Leadership #Focus #Efficiency #TeamPerformance ----------------------- This week I'm sharing stories and ideas about getting large teams to deliver and not get distracted. Follow me to ensure you get them, and don't forget to hit the bell 🔔in my profile (on the right and inline with my name). Check out my earlier posts by clicking on my Profile🧔  -> Activity section.