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Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

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Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#31

Post by streblo »

reverend_gonzo wrote: post #18
blowski wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they need to expand beyond that? Am I idealistic to say a company can survive just by doing something really well. Salesforce is hardly a paragon of a well-executed clear and consistent vision. I pay Dropbox because I can rely on their backups any place at any time, not because their storage is cheap.

The main problem is that, if they wanted to, it shouldn't take Apple/Microsoft/Google/Amazon too much work to put out a comparable product and offer it for free. As an anecdote, my girlfriend already cancelled her Dropbox account because iCloud provides what she needs at a much cheaper cost. Personally, I require Unix support and also use a large portion of the terabyte of space, but I'd bet that the majority of user…

> The main problem is that, if they wanted to, it shouldn't take Apple/Microsoft/Google/Amazon too much work to put out a comparable product and offer it for free.

Apple[1], Microsoft[2], Google[3], and Amazon[4] already do have comparable products, with comparable prices[5].

1. https://www.apple.com/icloud/icloud-drive/

2. https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/

3. https://www.google.com/drive/

4. https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/home

5. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/onedrive-dropbox-google-drive-an...

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#32

Post by meritt »

sfeng wrote: post #23
asimpleguy wrote: post #20

I don't know about Dropbox but for example Twitter is still losing money since 2012. Twitter is way overvalue in the market and has lost around $2 billion since inception. Obviously it's not the same as 2000, these companies have revenue, but some of the are not making even a profit. If they continue to throw tech companies with revenue and losing money as IPOs prepare for the next tech bubble. It will burst.

If you read the article, Dropbox is bringing in a billion a year and is almost profitable.

It's bewildering to me how a company can have $1B in revenue and not able to make file-syncing profitable.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#33

Post by robbiemitchell »

yeukhon wrote: post #29
blowski wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they need to expand beyond that? Am I idealistic to say a company can survive just by doing something really well. Salesforce is hardly a paragon of a well-executed clear and consistent vision. I pay Dropbox because I can rely on their backups any place at any time, not because their storage is cheap.

I think we need a better storage backup system. I've got data on iCloud and on multiple desktops and laptops. My iCloud doesn't have all the photos because I'd run out of space and be paying dozens of dollars monthly [1]. I was helping my friend to select a disk backup solution a while ago, and not that many really came to my likings. Backblaze[2] is probably the only one I would say pretty good for a monthly backup…

It's $20/month for unlimited storage on Dropbox.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#34

Post by james_pm »

shubhamjain wrote: post #10

One concern about Dropbox I have is its inability to establish itself beyond its File Storage / Syncing software. Salesforce.com, in comparison, has been acquiring companies left and right. Notable acquisitions of Dropbox, like Mailbox, have either shut down, or are nowhere on the impact map. As Dropbox user (albeit a free one), I don't find it useful for anything beyond synced storage (if there is any new addition i…

Paper is a great little part of Dropbox that is showing some real potential. They recently added task dates and assignments, and some nice formatting options (like code blocks with syntax highlighting).

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#36

Post by brianwawok »

meritt wrote: post #32
sfeng wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the article, Dropbox is bringing in a billion a year and is almost profitable.

It's bewildering to me how a company can have $1B in revenue and not able to make file-syncing profitable.

I assume their two biggest expenses are employees and the free product.

Drop employees and they are insta profitable, but innovation slows.

Drop the free plan, and they lose the cheap marketing they have going on.

What is the right play for them? Seems tough.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#37

Post by jorvi »

Karunamon wrote: post #24
reverend_gonzo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main problem is that, if they wanted to, it shouldn't take Apple/Microsoft/Google/Amazon too much work to put out a comparable product and offer it for free. As an anecdote, my girlfriend already cancelled her Dropbox account because iCloud provides what she needs at a much cheaper cost. Personally, I require Unix support and also use a large portion of the terabyte of space, but I'd bet that the majority of user…

Nobody can seem to do it very well, despite all of them having one. Every major provider has some sort of cloud drive product, but all of them, save for Dropbox, have some annoying limitation. Apple iCloud Drive: Unusable out of MacOS. Amazon: Unclear storage limits with potentially catastrophic consequences for going over them. No free tier. No Linux client. Microsoft OneDrive: Individual file size limits. No Linux…

> Google Drive: Stories of unreliable syncing behavior, app instability, and so forth. No Linux client. Google history of killing non-core products.

OverGrive is great. Not official, but it handles and looks just as well as the macOS client.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#38

Post by yeukhon »

robbiemitchell wrote: post #33
yeukhon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need a better storage backup system. I've got data on iCloud and on multiple desktops and laptops. My iCloud doesn't have all the photos because I'd run out of space and be paying dozens of dollars monthly [1]. I was helping my friend to select a disk backup solution a while ago, and not that many really came to my likings. Backblaze[2] is probably the only one I would say pretty good for a monthly backup…

It's $20/month for unlimited storage on Dropbox.

Yes, but for my friend who is a low-income earner, $20 is difficult for her, so we just went with a one-time investment going with a separate HD and using the free Dropbox tier until she outgrows the storage space.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#39

Post by marcusr »

Dropbox for Business has really changed my view of Dropbox the company. With AzureAD SSO integration, and the new Smart Sync feature, it's now possible to run a small company completely in the cloud, with terabytes of data in the cloud accessible to everyone without them synching it all to their laptop.

Smart Sync is their game changer.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#40

Post by Strom »

robbiemitchell wrote: post #33
yeukhon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need a better storage backup system. I've got data on iCloud and on multiple desktops and laptops. My iCloud doesn't have all the photos because I'd run out of space and be paying dozens of dollars monthly [1]. I was helping my friend to select a disk backup solution a while ago, and not that many really came to my likings. Backblaze[2] is probably the only one I would say pretty good for a monthly backup…

It's $20/month for unlimited storage on Dropbox.

Is this a hidden plan? The cheapest unlimited plan I see right now on their website is 54€/month, which is the advanced business plan for 3 users. Even if I take the annual plan and divide the price by 12 it's 45€/month. Also these prices don't include VAT, while the personal plans do. Perhaps you were unaware that the business plans can't be bought for a single user?
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