reSee.it - Tweets Saved By @jbahrdestefano

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

We had @drewhouston , CEO and Co-Founder of @Dropbox, at The Mint last week to talk to our founders in a fireside-style chat. Drew shared inspiring reflections on the early days of starting a company + how things have changed in the ensuing 16 yrs (!), check them out! https://t.co/5erU6mSLMg

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

1. Successfully acquiring users in the early days requires constant experimentation. Throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Dropbox tried “the standard things” and didn’t find much success.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

After observing examples of what other co’s did (e.g., Amazon affiliate links and misremembering* PayPal’s referral program 😆), the Dropbox team cracked it after trying a dual-sided referral program: if one user referred another, they BOTH got free storage.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

2. Actively observe how customers use your product + listen to their feedback to drive improvements. By watching users interact with the product and addressing their pain points, you can refine your offering and provide a better UX. In the early days, Dropbox saw wide-ranging

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

customer feedback (some very good, some very bad) + launched an exercise to understand the variance in UX. Instead of doing traditional user testing, they found peeps on Craigslist + paid them to come into the office so they could watch them as they sat down + used the product.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

Ask anyone who does this, and they’ll agree that their assumptions about how people use tech and the Internet are stuck within their own perspectives. For Dropbox, most of these test users didn’t even get 10% of the way there!

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

Drew and his team videotaped the sessions and cataloged everything that went wrong in the process so they could fix it. This took their onboarding activation rate from ~25% to ~65%.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

Another telling example: at one point, one of the top feature requests was billing multiple accounts from one credit card. Meaning: users wanted enterprise accounts! So, Dropbox started offering them.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

3. When you build something that catches lightning in a bottle, you put a target on your back. The reward for getting into the bigger leagues is tougher opponents — only the paranoid survive.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

A key strategy here: In a highly competitive landscape, deeply understand and focus on your unique value proposition. Don’t diversify into areas where you can’t win; put your eggs into the basket where you can improve an existing durable advantage.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

After around 7 yrs, Dropbox expanded its product suite as a growth effort. In 2013, it acquired Mailbox with the vision of making mobile email better. In 2014, it launched Carousel to create a new way for users to experience + share photos.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

They built great products + made great UI innovations….but these launches put them even more directly in conflict with the Microsofts and Googles of the world. What was it like to compete against these tech giants? Not that fun!

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

Drew said “it was like playing a board game with your siblings while they wiped all of the pieces off of the board.” Despite launching products that were universally loved by users in Carousel + Mailbox, Dropbox made the decision to wind them down.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

It required immense maturity + focus to realize their durable advantage wasn't competing in consumer tech products, esp. given the competitive landscape. Instead, they focused on doubling down on what they did best.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

As Drew said, “building a product is not the same as building a business — which is not the same as building a durable business!”

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

4. Transitioning from a founder to a CEO involves self-education and personal growth. As the founder's role expands, continuous learning, self-awareness, and adaptability are crucial for managing company growth effectively.

@jbahrdestefano - JC Bahr-de Stefano

Drew shared that “it’s important to recognize that a big part of the job is keeping your personal growth curve outside of the company growth curve. Nobody will train you. You have to educate yourself, and you have to figure out how to do that in a way that makes sense for you.”