When storage, not ads, became the growth engine

Part—1

Traction stalls for Dropbox

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Growth

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Each new user

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sharing it.

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Standard startup response

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More burn.

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It scales spend,

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A better question to ask

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Instead of asking:

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Dropbox asks:

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Or features ✗

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It was

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Continued in Part—2

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When storage, not ads, became the growth engine

How Dropbox Escaped a Near-Stall

PART 1/2

Part—1

Traction stalls for Dropbox

The Situation

Growth

is stuck.

2009.

Evenflow, Inc. office

wears a growing sense of unease.

Each new user

Each new user

costs more

costs more

CAC is climbing.

Ads are expensive.

sharing it.

They just aren’t

People like it.

but adoption is slow.

Dropbox has a good product…

Dropbox has a good product…

Standard startup response

The Obvious Move

More burn.

Spend more on marketing.

The obvious answer?

More ads.

More channels.

It scales spend,

But this kind of growth has a flaw.

But this kind of growth has a flaw.

not trust.

A better question to ask

Reframing the Problem

Instead of asking:

“How do we get

“How do we get

more users?”

more users?”

Dropbox asks:

“Why aren’t users

“Why aren’t users

sharing us?”

sharing us?”

Or features ✗

Or PMF ✗

The issue wasn’t awareness ✗

Or pricing ✗

It was

The issue was

incentive alignment.

matching rewards with goals

Continued in Part—2

VIEW PART—2

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