While the glitz, glamour, and buzz of Silicon Valley tends to make start-ups seem as though they can grow effortlessly like weeds, few tech start-ups have grown quite as fast as Dropbox. Since January 2010, the file-syncing and sharing service grew from 4 million users to a staggering 25 million users. There are now more than 200 million files saved every day. And, while these numbers would be impressive even with the help of a snazzy ad agency, Dropbox has spent absolutely no money on advertising.
Dropbox’s rapid growth can be attributed to the fierce loyalty of its users. The service allows users to store digital files, such as photos, personal documents, and music, in an electronic file that can be accessed anywhere and shared with anyone. While there are plenty of competing services, the simplicity of Dropbox is what helped it become the leader in online storage.
“Dropbox transforms the way people create and share their life’s work,” said Drew Houston, CEO and co-founder of Dropbox. “Whether that’s designing buildings, writing music, or raising a family, we’re focused on making it effortless to have your files wherever you need them, on any computer or phone. With this first step, we’re excited to reach new people around the world and delight them with all the ways Dropbox can simplify their lives.”
Houston expects the service to see even more growth in the near future. As more people adopt smart phones and tablets, Dropbox already serves as a seamless, connected portal between portable electronic devices and personal computers. Soon, the service could also be integrated into third-party services, enabling users to upload images into social media accounts, for example, faster and easier than before.
As the company moves past the 25 million user mark, Dropbox has also become available in Spanish, German, French and Japanese. Being that Dropbox is already used in more than 175 countries, there’s now little standing in the way of attracting millions of additional users. And, to handle that growth, the company said it will be doubling the size of its staff this year. The company’s staggering success could help it secure even more funding as well.
This is just a great example of a really useful product/service being used by a lot of people and them spreading it out, both by word of mouth and by shared use. A great thing about services like Dropbox is that if you are using it to share files with anyone other than yourself, then it automatically creates another user somewhere else when that other person downloads it. Rinse, repeat.