Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

It's been fascinating to follow Drew's story from the link to the early video on HN, to the YC application as a solo-founder to a "nine-digit" offer. This speaks to the importance of a good product. When Dropbox was pitched early on, everyone would point out how many competitors there were. Drew would silence the crowd by asking "how many of you actually use one of those services?"

It's all about the product.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#6

Post by sebastianavina » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 2:57 PM UTC

I still don't understand why google didn't launch the gdrive... we really begged for it.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#7

Post by brown9-2 » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:02 PM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #6

I still don't understand why google didn't launch the gdrive... we really begged for it.

There was an interesting point in "In The Plex" where, IIRC, some executive at Google decides to shoot down GDrive because they (Google) wants to push for a reality where you don't even need to keep files on a device in the first place - the files would just always be in the cloud, and then who needs a copy on whatever device you happen to be using?

If true, this seems like a real wasted opportunity - even if that is the future we are getting to in several years, why not release a ready product that people would find useful in the meantime (and would help people arrive at that vision)?

edit: here is the excerpt: http://allthingsd.com/20110425/how-google-killed-gdrive-and-...

He went to Bradley Horowitz, the executive in charge of the project, and said, “I don’t think we need GDrive anymore.” Horowitz asked why not. “Files are so 1990,” said Pichai. “I don’t think we need files anymore.”

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#8

Post by krmmalik » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:04 PM UTC

Congrats to Dropbox on their success. It seems to be Steve Jobs has been used as the hook here to get more interest on this article.

While i am happy for dropbox , the real point that i learned in the summary article was that Apple is planning products two to three years into the curve which means if anyone wants to even dream or think of competing they need to come up with products that are two to three years ahead of the curve.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#9

Post by wladimir » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:11 PM UTC

brown9-2 wrote: post #7

sebastianavina wrote: post #6

I still don't understand why google didn't launch the gdrive... we really begged for it.

There was an interesting point in "In The Plex" where, IIRC, some executive at Google decides to shoot down GDrive because they (Google) wants to push for a reality where you don't even need to keep files on a device in the first place - the files would just always be in the cloud, and then who needs a copy on whatever device you happen to be using? If true, this seems like a real wasted opportunity - even if that is…

I still remember that as well. They wanted to get rid of the whole "file" concept, as in a single isolated opaque blob of data. They thought it is an outdated concept in today's interconnected age.

Although there is some truth in that, personally I don't think locking data in cloud-based silos is any better than locking it locally in proprietary data formats. If anything, it is a further step backward.

For example: Does anyone know the native format of Google Documents? Can you import/export it losslessly? I don't think so.

Re: Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs

#10

Post by technoslut » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 3:16 PM UTC

atldev wrote: post #5

It's been fascinating to follow Drew's story from the link to the early video on HN, to the YC application as a solo-founder to a "nine-digit" offer. This speaks to the importance of a good product. When Dropbox was pitched early on, everyone would point out how many competitors there were. Drew would silence the crowd by asking "how many of you actually use one of those services?" It's all about the product.

It is all about the product but it's not as if Dropbox isn't facing some very serious competition. iCloud, G-Drive and Skydrive are all concerns. Dropbox's advantage may be being platform agnostic but one has to wonder if Dropbox's fate may eventually be the primary storage of pirates. There have already been stories written regarding the content owners' interest of litigation.