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Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

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Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

more people are working remotely which probably requires more people looking for ways to share files more efficiently.

Most of the people do need to find a ways to share files more efficiently, but hardly any sane company would choose Dropbox given their security proposal.

For any given technology or service, given the choice between the cheapest consumer option and a reliable enterprise option that costs 50% more, most small businesses will choose the consumer option every time.

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#282

This is interesting because having layoffs at a company that should be going off like a rocket during a pandemic is odd. What is going on at Dropbox that prevented them from taking advantage of the huge shift to remote work?

They are switching from growth to revenue mode. It smells to me like priming for a deal.

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#283

Knew the writing was on the wall for this company the moment I had to dig into a drop down chevron to find the download button for a file shared with me on Dropbox. Making it frustrating to collaborate with paying customers of your platform is a sure sign something is rotten.

I'm confused here. Someone shared with me a file via dropbox, xlsx, and right at the top of the sidebar where I can leave comments, there's a download button.

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope not. Every vertical company wants my files locked in their walled garden, but I want my files to be horizontally portable. This is a fight where it's nice to have a $10B company in your corner.

In the near future, storage will be a home appliance, with networking and command-and-control. As simple to use as a microwave, unlimited storage with service plans similar to changing water filters.

I agree. This week I set up my Nextcloud on a remote server and will probably get a home appliance eventually. I don't detect any sarcasm. Am I naive?

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#285
post #210

These egotistical CEOs need to work on how to deliver difficult news without making so much of it about how hard it is on themselves. > This is a hard message for me to send > This is one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in my 14 years as CEO No one asked how you feel, Drew. You'll be fine.

I don’t disagree, but is it such a bad thing to convey some empathy?

"This is hard for me" is not conveying empathy, it's seeking sympathy.

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#286
post #210

These egotistical CEOs need to work on how to deliver difficult news without making so much of it about how hard it is on themselves. > This is a hard message for me to send > This is one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in my 14 years as CEO No one asked how you feel, Drew. You'll be fine.

If no emotion was expressed, I think they'd face criticism for being cold and calculated.

It's with a heavy heart I deliver this difficult news to my team and our investors...

Emotion. But, not centered around the individual

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The company is nowhere near failing. It's just not necessary to be as big as it is. Dropbox still has the best sync technology by far, however they failed to really capitalize on a single market. The consumer side cares more about value and it's hard to compete with Microsoft/Apple/Google while the business side is already well-served by Box.com. I still think there's a good opportunity if they can build on storage t…

For me the main reason I'm not a Dropbox customer is their rigid pricing structure, £7.99 a month for 1TB is good value for people who use 1TB, but I only need like 10% of that so would be wasting money I'm guessing they bank on a small % of "whale" consumers using all their allowance and everyone else being way under the limit I've stuck with Google drive for the 100gb plan at £1.99 which suits my needs, but would m…

> I'm guessing they bank on a small % of "whale" consumers using all their allowance and everyone else being way under the limit

For a £7.99/month plan, the cost of goods sold (COGS) on the actual storage and bandwidth is probably about 33% of that -- and that's based on average usage.

Here's a longer explanation with citations that I wrote in 2018: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16465883#16470633. I haven't looked at their annual reports since then, but the COGS could have easily dropped by 50% in that time, so it might be way less than 33%.

Just based on that 2018 data, the other £5 or so is customer acquisition cost, software development, support, administration, and everything else.

The COGS is a small enough part of the price that, even if they could remove a lot of it (by reducing usage and/or the cap), the absolute cost reduction might be 10% or 20% of the current price.

This is true for the smaller plans of almost all SaaS. The vendor's variable COGS are not what you're paying for. (Exception: cloud services with entirely usage-based pricing and no monthly minimum, like S3. Those are rare.)

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#288

Dropbox as a small business makes sense. Quality syncing, a few productivity tools like Paper. Along the lines of https://readdle.com Dropbox as a publicly traded global megacorp does not make sense.

To play the devil’s advocate: maybe it doesn’t make sense if you think of Dropbox as a utility for syncing files across computers. But maybe it does make sense if you think of them as a company that’s responsible for safely and securely storing a non-trivial share of world’s data.

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#289
Starting this Google doc to help these people who laid off today. If you or someone you know has lost their job today, add your details below

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hqa6XQEodjs4JkwPcsls...

To individuals: If are looking for any employment and are open to sharing it to be discovered, please put your information here:

To companies: If you are looking to hire, please check out and reach out to any of the talented individuals below.

Re: Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce

#290

you know what doesn’t get talked about: severence. why do we need it? why do employers give it? should one negotiate it? what is fair/unfair?

> why do we need it? Because we don't have a social safety net in the United States, so getting laid off could make you instantly destitute. > why do employers give it? To maintain their community reputation. In the future when they hire again, it's easier to paper over a layoff if you can show that you tried to take care of the employees. Also because it's the ethical thing to do. > should one negotiate it? Usually…

> That's the 64,000 dollar question, isn't it? It seems like three months is pretty typical. When someone gets six months most people call them "lucky". When someone gets a year people call it "unheard of". No whether that's fair or not is anyone's guess.

That's an interesting take from the point of view of the USA. They address international DropBox employees in passing in the letter. For Mexico, by law companies have to pay 3 months severance when they decide to lay off an employee. Sometimes, when the person is fired for having bad performance the company can negotiate for less than that. In theory when an employee is fired for some cause attributable to him, the company doesn't have to pay the severance but the burden of proof is in the company, and it is very difficult to prove so.

That "at will" employment culture in the USA looks crazy ruthless for someone living with these protections.

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