They said it couldn't be done
Dropbox
What they said
“For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem.”
What actually happened
Revenue
~$2.5B revenue, 700M+ registered users, 18M paying users
by December 2023
The Founder
The Numbers
Apr 2007
Jan 2008
Sep 2008
Jan 2011
Jan 2014
Mar 2018
Dec 2023
The Journey
April 2007
LaunchDemo video posted to Hacker News. Top comment: 'you can already build such a system with FTP and SVN.' Waitlist hits 75,000.
September 2009
LaunchPublic launch; freemium model (2GB free) drives explosive user growth.
June 2010
MilestoneReferral program launches: users get 250MB per referral. Signups grow 3,900% in a year.
January 2011
Milestone25M registered users; Steve Jobs tries to acquire company again — declined.
December 2023
Milestone$2.5B revenue, 700M registered users, 18M paying; profitable.
The Pattern
“Not a nice-to-have. A painkiller people already knew they needed.”
Related products
IRC with a coat of paint — acquired for $27.7B
Acquired by Salesforce for $27.7B
Rent a stranger's home — the idea every investor called crazy
$9.9B revenue, 450M+ guest arrivals
Design for non-designers — 100 VC rejections later, worth $26B
$1.7B+ revenue, 170M+ users globally
Chat about Dropbox loads when this section enters view.