Also, using such a page potentially allowed them to test a path to market, to locate their most rabid fans. Also, it helped them reach out and establish contact with their market, independently of their immediate personal network, thus providing a slightly more unbiased signal. Step Back: This test established baselines, which could then be used to explore the product presentation further. At the same time, they were building prototypes to assess the technical viability of the product idea. As this initial market test proved that some pent up demand existed, the team dug further. The team was able to acquire traffic that converted based on a description on a landing page. What kind of conversion rates do we get?.Are they interested enough to establish a relationship with us?.If we build it, how will we acquire traffic?.Traffic Source: social media and online communities Success Criteria: Able to get signups based on description Hypothesis: Latent demand for product concept X makes product development worthwhile To get their product off the ground, Dropbox had to be different. When Dropbox launched, a number of cloud storage competitors with deep pockets already existed: Google Drive, iCloud, AWS, Carbonite, to name a few. They started working on developing a working prototype to solve their own problem. Not just a software developer’s source code. They give users access to the same files on all devices, regardless of where they are used.Īfter interviewing their geeky friends in MIT dorm rooms, the Dropbox founders wanted “write once, read anywhere” file management to apply to all files. And they’re famous for the Dropbox explainer video which got them lots of eyeballs on Hacker News, as the basis for explosive growth later. Dropbox, if you haven’t heard of them, does file-sharing in the cloud.

“Not launching can be painful, but not learning can be fatal.” That’s how Drew Houston, the founding CEO of Dropbox, describes his team’s approach. Not launching can be painful, but not learning can be fatal – Drew Houstan, Founding CEO of Dropbox

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