1. Nobody wants to pay for filesharing. If a filesharing site cost money, the user will just find one there is free, which there is plenty of! I use Dropbox, but i do not pay for it, maybe if the solve a bigger problem for me, but for now the free version is fine for me (+ a few referals). 2. Files sharing isn't that big of a science, of course it is not easy to make something stable, but it is a really simple task. I am thinking, why not fund other startups which solves a deeper problem instead of making another file sharings site?
Have you been thinking the same? or what do you think?
I would be really glad to hear what you think! :)
File-sharing is more of a usability problem. Invention of email + attachments solved file sharing a long time ago. Its the integration with your everyday life that has been a challenge up till now and this is what Dropbox and iCloud are solving.
Companies like YouSendIt never became as successful as Dropbox because they were before their time; and when the time came, they failed to innovate instead hoping for people to adapt as they adopt. Except I don't think they did it right.
You don't want to pay for file sharing as a feature; but it'll be part of the infrastructure that runs your life. Its synonymous to when Bill Gates' separated the software and hardware and focused on software. No customer wanted to pay for it; but the companies that made the hardware (IBM, Apple) did want to pay for it.
What does it mean to "solving a problem"?? Every attempt at a startup has and solves some kind of problem.
It just men there is slot of filetering sites, like rapidshare, megadownload, and i could go on forever, so why are these websites getting funded, when there already are tons of filesharing sites and app free. And filesharing is not that complicated, upload -> store -> share.. But as mention above, they are properly trying to be the hun for other programs.
Upload where and for how long? What happens to the files over time? What about huge files and ability to pause/resume upload? What about encryption? What about sharing with more that one person at the time? Will it allow me to preview a file before I download it?
Saying " upload -> store -> share." is oversimplifying as " upload -> store -> share" does not work for anyone who is using file sharing to conduct professional services (think of a law firm with bounced emails because the 5Mb attachment was too big, or a law firm that needs to receive email notification on file delivery etc.)
Dropbox does absolutely nothing to solve this problem. They've made a good stab at solving the in-cloud backup problem, but their one-way, account-centric nature makes them nearly useless at the core business of sharing files. There is still plenty of room for innovation in this space. Make large email attachments Just Work(tm) somehow, and you will own the planet.
Plus I would argue that up until recently the whole file sharing industry was living by some form of "illegal" filesharing (rapidshare, megaupload, etc). Systems like dropbox are most likely benefiting from the same idea but making the whole thing more "private" among friends and therefore making it less obvious. I still can't see there any substantial market in the filesharing area for normal users outside of the classic movie and music sharing. It is not like we are all now operating with music and video master files and need to juggle 1gig+ data files around.
It should just give me access to it, in the cloud, not just download everything behind my back and using up many, many megabytes, on my rather limited diskspace. (Diskspace is always limited, no matter how large disks get.)
The problem is that you need control over the email clients to really have a shot at solving the problem.
"Filesystem of the internet" is the end goal for them -- dropbox of what you have today is nowhere near what it will be like in 3-4 years if they are still kicking ass.
What you will often find is a gang mentality within sectors. Investors won't get in on one-deal, but they may think the sector is going to experience huge growth, so they invest in the next best company. We saw it with Foursquare, gowalla, etc.etc, as well as groupon, livingsocial...
It seems the distribution is normally a big dog, an also ran, and then everybody else fighting for scraps.
With respect to why Dropbox is interesting, it is my understanding that the interesting parts aren't that you as a user can store and share your files. I think the long-term potential is for applications you interact with to access your data through services like dropbox. This could mean that you don't end up paying for it directly, but rather it would be built into the costs of other services you use.
Think of it like iCloud, but for all platforms and open to any developer. That's my understanding of where Dropbox is going, but like I said, I don't follow that segment.
But yeah, i think you are right about the thing about programs connecting with the file sharing site to make an complete ex.
But where the sites are right now they are mostly online, but they would properly come to desktop too.
Investors already in this space may see investing in other guys like an insurance policy to maximize the chances of one of their portfolio companies making it big. But there are other investors who missed the boat on earlier opportunities and are looking for ways to enter this market through the newcomers.
From the perspective of a cofounder in this space - there are many interesting problems that no one has solved yet and there is a lot of potential to innovate, disrupt, and make a difference. At least that's what's driving my passion.
Disclaimer: cofounder of TitanFile.
1.) Clear advantage in a specific Niche (for us it was legal compliance, security and tracking - all of it matters a lot to lawyers and auditors).
2.) Have a serious (and usually viable) plan to further differentiate.
Disclaimer: I am from bellow mentioned TitanFile.
