Dropbox Said No To “Nine-Digit” Acquisition Offer From Steve Jobs • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by daniel-cussen » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:30 PM UTC

jroseattle wrote: post #19

I love Dropbox, but Jobs is right -- they are a feature, not a product. They will be relevant up to the point where operating systems simply makes their functionality a native element of their file system. At least Drew is wise to the fact that they could become an also-ran, so it's not like this will happen to them overnight.

It's a pretty big feature, I'd say.

Anybody who was a mac user before 2000 can tell you how painful it was to use a mac when your friends or coworkers had windows. It was horrible. Problems with file sharing between systems created huge network effects for microsoft. It killed the possibility of having a mac for a lot of people.

The fundamental problem of compatibility requires not only technological and architectural commitment but also willingness to cooperate with competitors for the sake of the user.

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

#52

Post by sambeau » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:32 PM UTC

chugger wrote: post #23

jroseattle wrote: post #19

I love Dropbox, but Jobs is right -- they are a feature, not a product. They will be relevant up to the point where operating systems simply makes their functionality a native element of their file system. At least Drew is wise to the fact that they could become an also-ran, so it's not like this will happen to them overnight.

Wait for competition from Google, Facebook or Microsoft.

I kind of agree.

Although Microsoft and Google have tried this sort of thing before (and a long time ago if we include WebDAV & Web folders) there is nothing quite like a successful product that gets it right and takes over to light a rocket underneath the bigger companies.

If iCloud takes off most Apple users won't look at Dropbox. Those of us already using it may find we use it less and if they then add a simple, cross-platform way to share files & folders we may just move on completely.

There's a lot of ifs there, but I believe that iCloud will at the least hamper Dropbox's move into the mainstream.

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

#53

Post by nhangen » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:44 PM UTC

betterth wrote: post #47

channelmeter wrote: post #13

"Houston cut Jobs’ pitch short: He was determined to build a big company, he said, and wasn’t selling, no matter the status of the bidder" Props to Drew. I don't think many other entrepreneurs would've been as zealous and decline such an offer.

Nine figures buyout? You really do have to believe in your future success to turn that down, especially as a two year old company and long before the current milestones. That kind of money, Drew's payout would have been substantial, enough to bankroll any project he could dream of (or live comfortably forever). He must really believe in what he's doing.

I'm sure he's flying high right now, but I think he's foolish to turn down an offer like that in the same way Groupon was foolish to turn down Google's 11 digit offer.

Sure, one could argue that money is less important than achieving a vision, but with that kind of money, Drew could work on 5 additional visions of similar size, knowing his product was in good hands.

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

#54

Post by soheil » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:48 PM UTC

There is a huge difference when you do something because you think it's just a feature that'd be nice to have than to dedicate yourself to something and do a great job implementing it because you think that it has to be done, dropbox is doing the latter.

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

#55

Post by vondur » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 6:56 PM UTC

sebastianavina wrote: post #6

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

I'm curious about how many paying customers that they have. I know of very few people who use the pay service, most people seem to go with the free version. I wonder if they are profitable yet?

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

#56

Post by DilipJ » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 7:04 PM UTC

sunnydaynow wrote: post #43

eekfuh wrote: post #11

What is interesting to me is when this got posted several weeks ago, an admin/mod deleted it off HN.

The main purpose of this site is to promote YC backed startups (same as TechCrunch). I still learn a lot from this site, so I don't really mind. Although I wish it would be different. At least they are motivated to maintain it well!

Dropbox is YC backed. It is probably the greatest thing to come out of YC (from a monetary standpoint).

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

#57

Post by DilipJ » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 7:09 PM UTC

nhangen wrote: post #53

betterth wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nine figures buyout? You really do have to believe in your future success to turn that down, especially as a two year old company and long before the current milestones. That kind of money, Drew's payout would have been substantial, enough to bankroll any project he could dream of (or live comfortably forever). He must really believe in what he's doing.

I'm sure he's flying high right now, but I think he's foolish to turn down an offer like that in the same way Groupon was foolish to turn down Google's 11 digit offer. Sure, one could argue that money is less important than achieving a vision, but with that kind of money, Drew could work on 5 additional visions of similar size, knowing his product was in good hands.

It takes real balls and vision to turn down that much money. The thing is, without having the confidence to be able to turn down millions, it's unlikely one will ever be able to build a product worth millions. Those in it for the quick buck usually will fold under the slightest bit of trouble.

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

#58

Post by run4yourlives » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 7:10 PM UTC

I love dropbox (use it daily, but only the free version). To be honest I think this decision will probably be looked on as a mistake.

Personally, I'm moving to iCloud soon. The reason for this is that it will enable syncing of the notoriously closed Apps and music that come with Apple.

The non-apple crowd will not see this benefit, but once Google or Facebook decide they want to be in the cloud storage game too, Dropbox is going to find themselves squeezed between players that can pour money into this space. Dropbox is already not competitive on price, that much is certain. It's only a matter of time before their primary attribute (seamless usability) is duplicated enough to erode their base.

They should really look to sell, not try to build an empire. The numbers and/or culture with Apple might not have been right, but this should really be their primary goal.

If it isn't, I hate to say that the very best they could hope for is to be a niche player in a space that will be a commodity in 2-5 years.

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

#59

Post by namityadav » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 7:18 PM UTC

paulsilver wrote: post #35

chugger wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait for competition from Google, Facebook or Microsoft.

Microsoft bought FolderShare a few years back, which let you share & sync directories across PCs and Macs across the internet - so like Dropbox but without their online backup. Unfortunately Microsoft turned it in to something that didn't work anywhere near as well. It might have been improved now, but my business partner and I moved across to Dropbox, which has been much better. Since then I've also received files f…

Microsoft's competitor for Dropbox has been Live Mesh for quite some time now. And unlike FolderShare, it does do online backups. Unfortunately, many of us need solutions that work on multiple platforms (your macbook, windows desktop, iPhone etc). Unlike Dropbox, Live Mesh doesn't even come close to serving that need.

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

#60

Post by stdbrouw » Tue, Oct 18, 2011, 7:34 PM UTC

vondur wrote: post #55

sebastianavina wrote: post #6

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

I'm curious about how many paying customers that they have. I know of very few people who use the pay service, most people seem to go with the free version. I wonder if they are profitable yet?

It's all there in the story, just read it :-)