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Dropbox S-1

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Re: Dropbox S-1

#271

Post by throwaway93192 »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #270
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It never was and never will be. We like to pretend that employees are so fairly compensated, and yet I had to fight tooth and nail to get a mere 2% equity. The thought of an equity stake closer to 10% was almost unheard of. But you bet I'd have had an impact large enough to justify those returns, in the sense of http://paulgraham.com/equity.html Except... It's not quite that simple. Most people don't care. The vast m…

Or you could try to start your own company. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.

True, one option for everyone who thinks equity distribution is out of whack, is to start their own company. They can then create an imbalance in their own favor, allocating the lion's share for themselves. Then they can work to convince eager candidates to join their noble mission in exchange for a (razor-thin, shhh) piece of the pie.

Another route would be for founders to expand option pools from the typical 8-12%, so that their own holding didn't exceed that of every employee combined. But of course, why would any founder choose to do that? It's hard to become a billionaire if you let your employees have too much!

Re: Dropbox S-1

#272

Post by dsacco »

gwbas1c wrote: post #257
godzillabrennus wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my biggest concern with the Dropbox platform summed up in the filing: * Our business could be damaged, and we could be subject to liability if there is any unauthorized access to our data or our users’ content, including through privacy and data security breaches. They have made progress. They managed to get SoC II compliance for all of their offerings. They now offer HIPAA compliant hosting as well. Not that…

Early at my days at Syncplicity, (a Dropbox competitor,) I specked out what was needed for true client-side encryption with no ability to decrypt on the server. It's very easy to do, from a technical standpoint. (We solve the problem by letting our large customers run their own servers, with their own authentication via single sign on.) The problem is that the user experience for client-side encryption is awful! Ever…

> The problem is that the user experience for client-side encryption is awful! Every shared folder will need its own key, and users would need to manage and share their keys outside of our system. That is not sustainable.

But then the major feature set breaks down. Want to access your files in a browser? Not with client-side encryption. Want to email someone a hyperlink to a file? Not with client side encryption.

I do all of this with Boxcryptor. I might be misunderstanding you - do you mean decrypt it without first downloading it from the browser? Because yes, that’s not strictly possible.

But Boxcryptor implements a small wrapper around directories and generates a public/private key pair tied to email addresses. You can client-side encrypt a file with your - or anyone else’s - public key by moving the file into the directory. You can also change the file’s encryption to add or revoke access by multiple users.

If you wrap Boxcryptor around your local Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, etc. directory, it automatically client-side encrypts, then uploads new files. Then you can share a hyperlink to share encrypted files without exchanging keys with anyone. The usability is so great I’ve been able to use this with non-technical clients. You can even use your own key pairs.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#273

Post by skellera »

faramarz wrote: post #120

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.

I’ve considered buying Spotify but I am unsure of future growth or long term profits. What do you see?

Re: Dropbox S-1

#274

Post by varenc »

dragonwriter wrote: post #248
throwaway93192 wrote: post #247

I'll just point out that the SVP of engineering, a former Microsoft exec, received $34 million in compensation, since joining less than 6 months ago. For all employees that are considering joining a startup as rank-and-file engineers and putting in years of effort, remember that your compensation will be paltry compared to founders and top execs. When your work finally pays off, it will mostly pay off for them. Good…

> When your work finally pays off, it will mostly pay off for them. Well, it'll mostly pay off for major capital holders (which founders are likely but not certain to be, depending on the course of business before then, and top executives at the time may or may not.) Top executives as such (outside of their role, if any, as capital holders) may get more benefit than you, but even if so it will be much less than the c…

For one data point, Sequoia owns 25% of Dropbox. They led the seed and series A. That investment is going to pay off marvelously...

Re: Dropbox S-1

#275

Post by matchagaucho »

throwaway93192 wrote: post #247

I'll just point out that the SVP of engineering, a former Microsoft exec, received $34 million in compensation, since joining less than 6 months ago. For all employees that are considering joining a startup as rank-and-file engineers and putting in years of effort, remember that your compensation will be paltry compared to founders and top execs. When your work finally pays off, it will mostly pay off for them. Good…

If there's ever an Equifax scale breach at Dropbox, accountability will fall on the SVP of Eng.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#276

Post by diggs »

gwbas1c wrote: post #257
godzillabrennus wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my biggest concern with the Dropbox platform summed up in the filing: * Our business could be damaged, and we could be subject to liability if there is any unauthorized access to our data or our users’ content, including through privacy and data security breaches. They have made progress. They managed to get SoC II compliance for all of their offerings. They now offer HIPAA compliant hosting as well. Not that…

Early at my days at Syncplicity, (a Dropbox competitor,) I specked out what was needed for true client-side encryption with no ability to decrypt on the server. It's very easy to do, from a technical standpoint. (We solve the problem by letting our large customers run their own servers, with their own authentication via single sign on.) The problem is that the user experience for client-side encryption is awful! Ever…

There's also no deduplication with client-side encryption.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#277

Post by latch »

matchagaucho wrote: post #275
throwaway93192 wrote: post #247

I'll just point out that the SVP of engineering, a former Microsoft exec, received $34 million in compensation, since joining less than 6 months ago. For all employees that are considering joining a startup as rank-and-file engineers and putting in years of effort, remember that your compensation will be paltry compared to founders and top execs. When your work finally pays off, it will mostly pay off for them. Good…

If there's ever an Equifax scale breach at Dropbox, accountability will fall on the SVP of Eng.

So no consequences?

Re: Dropbox S-1

#278

Post by rockinghigh »

throwaway93192 wrote: post #269
maxaf wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point: considering the time frame, the comp does look like a forward looking statement.

Every employee's stock package is forward looking in that same way, no?

Yes. CEOs also often have to hit performance targets in terms of revenues to unlock stock packages.

Re: Dropbox S-1

#279

Post by throwaway93192 »

matchagaucho wrote: post #275
throwaway93192 wrote: post #247

I'll just point out that the SVP of engineering, a former Microsoft exec, received $34 million in compensation, since joining less than 6 months ago. For all employees that are considering joining a startup as rank-and-file engineers and putting in years of effort, remember that your compensation will be paltry compared to founders and top execs. When your work finally pays off, it will mostly pay off for them. Good…

If there's ever an Equifax scale breach at Dropbox, accountability will fall on the SVP of Eng.

Yes, he'd be fired. Perhaps have to testify in front of Congress, even.

Accountability is worth $8M a year?

Re: Dropbox S-1

#280

Post by [deleted] »

matchagaucho wrote: post #275
throwaway93192 wrote: post #247

I'll just point out that the SVP of engineering, a former Microsoft exec, received $34 million in compensation, since joining less than 6 months ago. For all employees that are considering joining a startup as rank-and-file engineers and putting in years of effort, remember that your compensation will be paltry compared to founders and top execs. When your work finally pays off, it will mostly pay off for them. Good…

If there's ever an Equifax scale breach at Dropbox, accountability will fall on the SVP of Eng.

[deleted]
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