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Dropbox S-1

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Re: Dropbox S-1

#111

Post by Jtsummers »

twinkletwinkle wrote: post #97
abuckenheimer wrote: post #80

I'm not surprised to see net neutrality mentioned as a risk factor. Our platform depends on the quality of our users’ access to the internet. Certain features of our platform require significant bandwidth and fidelity to work effectively. Internet access is frequently provided by companies that have significant market power that could take actions that degrade, disrupt or increase the cost of user access to our platf…

They could also call out the flip side though, right? Dropbox could negotiate deals with the ISPs to "box out" smaller competitors. Maybe it costs them upfront but it also solidifies them in the market.

If you don't control the network, though, it remains a risk. Whoever you partner with can renegotiate the terms later or back out of a contract depending on the exit terms (may cost them, but may be worth it for what they can get from Google).

This is the problem of the tenant, the renter. The landlord can change the terms and eat into your profits. At some point it's not worth dealing with them, but it's not always easy to leave.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#112

Post by matthewmcg »

mankash666 wrote: post #30

Just curious - how's a raw SEC filing preferable to a reliable article summarizing it in non-legalese, providing context with the competition, etc. Other than lawyers and economists, does anyone ACTUALLY prefer this raw filing? EDIT: Adding my preferred link: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/dropbox-ipo-form-s-1-prospec...

Lots of others have chimed in with examples of interesting tidbits to be found in "raw" securities filings that don't get included in press summaries. My personal favorite is the "efficient factoring" risk factor from an old RSA Security, Inc. 10-K[1]:

The Company’s cryptographic systems depend in part on the application of certain mathematical principles. The security afforded by the Company’s encryption products is based on the assumption that the “factoring” of the composite of large prime numbers is difficult. If an “easy factoring method” were developed, then the security of the Company’s encryption products would be reduced or eliminated. Even if no breakthroughs in factoring are discovered, factoring problems can theoretically be solved by a computer system significantly faster and more powerful than those currently available. If these improved techniques for attacking cryptographic systems are ever developed, the Company’s business or results of operations could be adversely impacted.

[1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/932064/0000950135000...

Re: Dropbox S-1

#113

Post by sonaltr »

teej wrote: post #105
ddorian43 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why infrastructure costs in Snapchat ? Doesn't look special ?

SNAP's infrastructure story in the S-1 filing was a mess. They had 2016 revenue of $404M with a cost of revenue of $451M. A 5 year, $2 billion dollar vendor lock-in to Google. They basically admitted that Google has them completely by the balls and it costs them $3 per user per year to keep the servers on. Both of these independently are very very bad, together it's a disaster. Facebook was at $1/user/year in their S…

For a B2B SAAS company...what's the ideal user cost of infrastructure? (I understand that it depends on the service..but a ratio of profit per user vs cost per user should be close no?)

Re: Dropbox S-1

#114

Post by braderhart »

news_to_me wrote: post #74
braderhart wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a lot of ways making the world a better place is about cost-effectiveness, and honestly what is Dropbox doing? Are they the main contributor to Nextcloud? Yeah, Google isn't much better in that regard, but I can buy a descent $199 unlocked Android phone now at Costco, and have all of Google services integrated. They also provide a lot of descent open source tools. Have you tried Kubernetes? :)

> In a lot of ways making the world a better place is about cost-effectiveness I think we just have different worldviews. Certainly economics are important, but I try not to boil everything down to dollars and cents. And for sure, Google has done a ton of useful and interesting things that I'm grateful for. But they also contribute to undermining online privacy, and use their size to wield disproportionate power in p…

The CEO of Dropbox is listed as a founder of FWD.us:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FWD.us#Keystone_XL_oil_pipelin...

I agree that Google contributes to undermining online privacy, but I still don't see Dropbox doing more in that regard. I'm sorry, but I really am not a fan of Dropbox after my experience with them, so I am inclined to be a vocal critic of their service (or lack thereof).

Re: Dropbox S-1

#115

Post by sbr464 »

ereli1 wrote: post #65
minimaxir wrote: post #3

Do companies typically announce an IPO on a Friday, right before market close?

Looking at data from the last couple of years, it appears that filling on Friday is pretty common. (see ipomonitor.com for data). pbpaste |sort|uniq -c|sort -k1nr 614 Friday 436 Monday 339 Thursday 326 Tuesday 283 Wednesday 2 Sunday

I love this site. Thanks

Re: Dropbox S-1

#116

Post by Jtsummers »

throwaway0255 wrote: post #90

.

They're saying they have essentially one revenue source. A lack of diversity in income sources is the risk factor. Compare to Microsoft: Various consumer software options, OEM OS licenses, government contracts, support contracts, physical hardware (Xbox), licensing for game publishers, Azure, etc.

Dropbox has one revenue source, and it's primarily fed by consumers (11 million at that, per this filing). A loss of 1 million users is a loss of 100 million in revenue for them, but doesn't correspond to a drastic reduction in their costs (due to the number of non-paying users).

Re: Dropbox S-1

#117

Post by [deleted] »

news_to_me wrote: post #17
tardo99 wrote: post #6

Congratulations to them. I don't really understand why anyone would use dropbox given the multitude of different offerings out there. I'm curious if anyone who uses them can give me a take on why I should use them. I currently use Google Drive + Google Docs and am very satisfied. I pay for 1 TB of storage for personal work / storage.

I know this isn't a very good answer for most people, but for me at least, I trust Dropbox way more than Google. I really dislike the direction and influence Google has on the Web right now, and I'm more or less ideologically opposed to them as a company (and in general, any giant monopolistic company). I hate the fact that I have to "vote with my dollar," but in the end I just feel better giving my money to an "inde…

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox S-1

#118

Post by malthaus »

I have a lot of respect for Dropbox as they've created an awesome product and user experience that accelerated its niche.

But as with Twitter i'm sceptical of the long-term prospects (and hence the need for an IPO vs a trade sale) of single-feature/protocol companies.

Nice liquidity event for current shareholders but why should the public invest here? The product is becoming more commoditized with time as well as being an ever more tightly integrated feature with hardware/OS.

Box seems to have a lock on the enterprise market which feels like the better long-term strategy than being a consumer/startup brand.

The stated growth strategy in the S-1 is rather meh. Post-IPO they might go further down the Evernote route and expand in all possible areas, diluting the core product/brand.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#119

Post by rockostrich »

whoisjuan wrote: post #69
blocked_again wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious why going public deserves an applause. Is being private a bad thing?

Well. For Y-Combinator is a win. It's an opportunity to convert their equity to cash and get a return on their investment.

Private companies that operate at a positive cash-flow are free to distribute profits to shareholders. Sure, going public makes it easier for investors to liquidate their stock, but that doesn't mean you can't get returns from investments in private companies.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#120

Post by faramarz »

Does this suggest they are in the 60-day roadshow quiet period before to the listing?

It's a good value buy for me. Dropbox and Spotify whenever they go public. These two apps I've been a paying member since I discovered them.

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