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Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

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Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#41

Post by JetSpiegel »

yeukhon wrote: post #29
blowski wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they need to expand beyond that? Am I idealistic to say a company can survive just by doing something really well. Salesforce is hardly a paragon of a well-executed clear and consistent vision. I pay Dropbox because I can rely on their backups any place at any time, not because their storage is cheap.

I think we need a better storage backup system. I've got data on iCloud and on multiple desktops and laptops. My iCloud doesn't have all the photos because I'd run out of space and be paying dozens of dollars monthly [1]. I was helping my friend to select a disk backup solution a while ago, and not that many really came to my likings. Backblaze[2] is probably the only one I would say pretty good for a monthly backup…

> Not just in the cloud (that's for on-the-go and DR), but I would want a local copy too (using a NAS server).

Syncthing with a node on the NAS, and then use Duply to backup to the cloud. There's clients for everything, and you can keep history too.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#42

Post by yeukhon »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #41
yeukhon wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need a better storage backup system. I've got data on iCloud and on multiple desktops and laptops. My iCloud doesn't have all the photos because I'd run out of space and be paying dozens of dollars monthly [1]. I was helping my friend to select a disk backup solution a while ago, and not that many really came to my likings. Backblaze[2] is probably the only one I would say pretty good for a monthly backup…

> Not just in the cloud (that's for on-the-go and DR), but I would want a local copy too (using a NAS server). Syncthing with a node on the NAS, and then use Duply to backup to the cloud. There's clients for everything, and you can keep history too.

Yes, that's possible, but I was indicating that if Dropbox would move into a full backup business it would be a big move and might worth consider.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#43

Post by sbov »

akulbe wrote: post #2

Why can't regular folks seem to get in on an IPO? (Admittedly, I don't understand how all the stock stuff works. It just seems like only big investment firms are the ones that are able to do initial investments.)

IIRC Google's IPO did some sort of auction. But I don't know if it was available to regular folks or not, or how it turned out in the end.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#44

Post by skdotdan »

"Dropbox it's not a product, it's a feature". Don't get me wrong, I'm a Dropbox user myself, but I don't see their actual moat. Isn't cloud storage a commodity nowadays?

IMHO they should have spent money in investing in other productivity companies in order to diversify and be able to offer a complete productivity suite.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#45

Post by seanieb »

asimpleguy wrote: post #30
sfeng wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the article, Dropbox is bringing in a billion a year and is almost profitable.

Almost profitable is not profitable.

They just built out their own data centers to transfer off AWS. I'm guessing that long term bet cost a few $$$

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#46

Post by sersi »

I've stopped using Dropbox for a few years already. Their software was good when I used it but I decided to boycott them after Condoleezza Rice joined their board. I just couldn't trust them with my data after that.

Plus, the fiasco they had with their Mac app comforted me in not trusting them

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#48

Post by pm90 »

aresant wrote: post #22
rrdharan wrote: post #3

[Disclaimer: I used to work at Dropbox.] TL;DR: The only actual news here is the new line of credit. The folks involved in securing that line of credit only noted that it was secured since the previous line of credit had expired. There's no real tie to any IPO news here, and the quotes about an IPO come from "potential advisers" and seem to be entirely unrelated to the line of credit news. > While the company hasn't…

Another interesting nugget that I think is material to the conversation: "For the banks involved, taking on the risk of lending to an unprofitable private company can help them win a role underwriting an eventual IPO." It's fascinating to watch how we're building the stack of cards this time. The bankers on SNAP made $85,000,000 in fees on the IPO - which is very high margin activity. The same bankers provided ~$1.2b…

This is a really good point. Although: even if I may not agree with the revenue potential, the market does and that is basically what allowed those banks to rake in during SNAP's IPO. I mean, nobody knows for sure whether SNAP will every be profitable, but the market thinks that it will. Or maybe the market is too gullible ...

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#49

Post by pm90 »

meritt wrote: post #32
sfeng wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the article, Dropbox is bringing in a billion a year and is almost profitable.

It's bewildering to me how a company can have $1B in revenue and not able to make file-syncing profitable.

Why? Amazon made billions in revenue for years and only recently became profitable.

Re: Dropbox Secures $600M Credit Line Ahead of Expected IPO

#50

Post by rrdharan »

asimpleguy wrote: post #30
sfeng wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the article, Dropbox is bringing in a billion a year and is almost profitable.

Almost profitable is not profitable.

They're free cash-flow positive.

Consider that Amazon is also mostly not profitable but has staggering amounts of positive free cash flow.

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