Jerry Liu’s Post

Here’s some advice to think about from Dropbox CEO and co-founder Drew Houston.

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. 🚀

🚀 How Dropbox Skyrocketed Growth with a Simple Referral Program 🚀   Today, we’re diving into how Dropbox used a simple yet powerful referral program to skyrocket its growth and become a household name in file sharing.   Learn how Dropbox's innovative referral strategy led to phenomenal growth without hefty advertising costs. Discover the key lessons from Dropbox’s success and how you can apply them to your business.   📧 Please contact us at sales@nummero.com if you are looking to grow your business digitally or you can book a free consulting call at the below link: [https://shorturl.at/7CJs1]     #Dropbox #ReferralMarketing #GrowthStrategy #Nummero #DigitalMarketing #BusinessGrowth #SMBs

I know you've seen the Dropbox logo and heard success stories.. But let me tell you how they started 👇 It all started when founder Drew Houston saw an opportunity for this problem: 📛 People were struggling to keep files in sync across multiple devices. Existing solutions were either complicated or unreliable. Their strategy? Build an MVP - a Minimum Viable Product - to test the waters and see if people actually wanted their solution. But guess what their MVP was. A 4-minute demo video! But not just another demo video, 📷 This video demonstrated essential features and ease of use, resonating with the tech-savvy community by including insider jokes. Impact? 🔥 The video went viral within the tech community, skyrocketing beta sign-ups from 5,000 to 75,000 overnight. ✅ The takeaway: An MVP can be anything that proves your concept. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to deliver. Sometimes, the simplest idea is the most effective. So, what's your MVP idea? P.S. Fun fact - Drew rejected an offer from Steve Jobs himself to be acquired, and the rest is history. Stay tuned for part 2, where I will discuss what growth strategies did #Dropbox use. ♻️ Repost to your network. And follow Salman Ahmed for more! #MVP #Dropbox #Viralvideo #SuccessStories

Did you know Dropbox came to be because the founder forgot his USB stick? Drew Houston, the founder of Dropbox, faced several failed ventures before succeeding. One day, while on a bus, he realized he’d forgotten his USB stick for a work trip. Frustrated, he wanted a better way to sync files online. That’s when the idea for Dropbox was born. 💡 Within four months, Houston pitched his idea to Y Combinator’s Paul Graham, who loved it but advised him to find a partner. Enter Arash Ferdowsi. With Y Combinator’s $15,000 investment, they bought a Mac, rented an apartment, and started coding. 💻🏠 Houston and Ferdowsi worked tirelessly, often putting in 20-hour days. Their hard work paid off when Dropbox became the first app to allow instant cloud file storage and access. This innovation was so useful that businesses quickly adopted it for their remote teams. Drew Houston's journey is a testament to turning a simple frustration into a groundbreaking solution. Sometimes your next great idea is right in front of you. #TechInnovation #CloudStorage #StartupSuccess

Dropbox used this pitch deck to secure a £15K investment in 2007. Now it’s worth over $7 billion. The deck is pretty simple, but it does a few things very well: → Calls out competitors on where they’re falling short. → Outlines why Dropbox is superior in its service offering and software. → Demonstrates a clear growth strategy with achievable milestones and goals. → Showcases a strong founding team with the skills and vision to execute the plan. → Clearly articulates the problem it solves, making it easy for investors to understand. → Includes a straightforward but compelling financial model, showing potential for significant returns. These elements combined convinced investors to back Dropbox. And they turned their modest investment into a multi-billion dollar business. That’s the power of a well-crafted pitch deck. That said, what do you think are the most crucial elements to be included in a pitch deck?

When DocSend sold to Dropbox for $165 million in March 2021, it felt like a win. But for Russ Heddleston, it came with unexpected lessons. As CEO, he focused on ensuring everyone else got a fair shake. In the process, he didn’t think much about his own future. Looking back, Russ realized he should have negotiated harder. He stresses that he should’ve asked tougher questions about his role and future at Dropbox. He might have even considered not going along with the deal. There’s a lesson here for all founders eyeing an exit: It’s not just about the price. Make sure the next chapter is one you’re prepared for and excited about. Interested in hearing the full story? Watch Russ in conversation with K Street Capital’s Managing Partner, Paige Soya, here: https://lnkd.in/d59JvXfR

This video MVP of Dropbox got them 70,000 sign ups literally overnight. 🤯 And their product wasn’t even ready. One would say it was a genius move by a marketer. But that’s wrong. The whole team was made up of engineers. None of them had any marketing background. The founders just wanted feedback from customers. Their hypothesis was that file synchronization was a problem people didn't realize they had, but would find essential once they experienced the solution. Potential users didn’t even need to use the actual product – the video explainer was compelling enough to answer the value hypothesis. An awesome experiment to learn a lot from. 🚀 Check my first comment for key learnings. P.S. What did your MVP look like at first? Help others by sharing your example below. 😉

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.

Steve Jobs offered to acquire Dropbox for 9-figures in 2009. Dropbox rejected the offer, and went on to grow from 100,000 users to 4 million in just 4 months. The referral program accounted for 35%(!!) of their daily signups. By April 2010, Dropbox users were sending 2.8 million invites to other people per month. Roughly 1 invite per second. Every second. They passed 50 million users in October 2011, 100 million in November 2012, 500 million in 2016, and 700 million in 2021. In 2017 they became the fastest SaaS company ever to reach $1 billion ARR. 𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆. -- 👉 In tomorrow's newsletter, I'll reveal the exact user journeys, incentives, and experiences Dropbox used to create their viral growth engine. Come join 43,108 subscribers who'll read it (and get a little smarter in ~3 minutes). Subscribe for free here: https://lnkd.in/g2FWfXGR