Comments on: What’s going on? http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on A behind-the-scenes look at selling dropsend.com Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:52:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Nick http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5776 Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:32:45 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5776 Ryan I've been following your work for quite some time now and I must say I've been very impressed by your whole approach. I think your definitely picking the right time to sell DropSend but I'm interested to know why anyone would want to pay in excess of 900k USD for a product that probably has a very short self-life. There is no doubting that DropSend solved the problem of emailing large files very well, but free services of an equivalent nature are springing out of the wood work all the time (and I don't believe their is much customer loyalty when it comes to money) and surely the life of this type of service is limited to no more than 18 months, after which you can be sure this problem will be solved directly by the email service providers. I guess what I'm asking is that in the continued nature of barenakedapp and your general openness that maybe one of the interested buyers would explain how they believe as a business investment they can justify such a purchase? I look forward to seeing how things unfold and good luck with acquiring the best price possible! Ryan
I’ve been following your work for quite some time now and I must say I’ve been very impressed by your whole approach. I think your definitely picking the right time to sell DropSend but I’m interested to know why anyone would want to pay in excess of 900k USD for a product that probably has a very short self-life. There is no doubting that DropSend solved the problem of emailing large files very well, but free services of an equivalent nature are springing out of the wood work all the time (and I don’t believe their is much customer loyalty when it comes to money) and surely the life of this type of service is limited to no more than 18 months, after which you can be sure this problem will be solved directly by the email service providers. I guess what I’m asking is that in the continued nature of barenakedapp and your general openness that maybe one of the interested buyers would explain how they believe as a business investment they can justify such a purchase?

I look forward to seeing how things unfold and good luck with acquiring the best price possible!

]]> by: Eric M. http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5763 Thu, 23 Nov 2006 01:59:21 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5763 Hey Ryan-- congrats on the 900k bid price, that's terrific. Good luck with the other ventures; love the idea of start it up and sell it off. best, Eric Hey Ryan– congrats on the 900k bid price, that’s terrific. Good luck with the other ventures; love the idea of start it up and sell it off. best, Eric

]]> by: Aaron http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5737 Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:01:14 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5737 Ha! Got the same desk in my home office :) Ha! Got the same desk in my home office :)

]]> by: Michael T. Halligan http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5384 Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:53:29 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5384 All the fuss about the advertising, and in the end, does the advertising really matter? Advertising really exists to brand your product, it's not really something that helps with sales. I'm willing to bet that Ryan would have done just as well without any advertising. From personal experience, the $10k I've wasted on advertising with Google, OSTG, and Tribe was $10k I should have been putting into more servers or more contract programmers. All the fuss about the advertising, and in the end, does the advertising really matter? Advertising really exists to brand your product, it’s not really something that helps with sales. I’m willing to bet that Ryan would have done just as well without any advertising. From personal experience, the $10k I’ve wasted on advertising with Google, OSTG, and Tribe was $10k I should have been putting into more servers or more contract programmers.

]]> by: Sunder Iyer http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5378 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 18:59:19 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5378 Thanks for publishing and sharing all this information. I think Carson Workshops is really really good at guerrilla marketing. This blog is a great example of that. DropSend buyers are already getting tons of free publicity even before they buy this product. Brilliant! Carson Workshops is very successful at this level of marketing because of their ability to build successful brands. They also seem to have uncanny knack of making the right pitch at the right time, for ex: they are heavily involved in the Web2.0 world and get the best speakers etc. You guys should write a book similar to the Getting Real book from 37signals. Thanks for publishing and sharing all this information. I think Carson Workshops is really really good at guerrilla marketing. This blog is a great example of that. DropSend buyers are already getting tons of free publicity even before they buy this product. Brilliant!
Carson Workshops is very successful at this level of marketing because of their ability to build successful brands. They also seem to have uncanny knack of making the right pitch at the right time, for ex: they are heavily involved in the Web2.0 world and get the best speakers etc. You guys should write a book similar to the Getting Real book from 37signals.

]]> by: Joel Python http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5372 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:49:18 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5372 What advantages does having an office give you? Over at 37 Signals, they seem to prefer to work from home mostly and use Campfire for communication. What advantages does having an office give you? Over at 37 Signals, they seem to prefer to work from home mostly and use Campfire for communication.

]]> by: John http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5371 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:49:17 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5371 Gillian - don't get me wrong - I think it's a perfectly legitimate and good thing to do. My point was mainly that not every potential buyer would have the same marketing power that you enjoy. Gillian - don’t get me wrong - I think it’s a perfectly legitimate and good thing to do. My point was mainly that not every potential buyer would have the same marketing power that you enjoy.

]]> by: dk » Know your audience http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5366 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:53:04 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5366 [...] Ryan Carson’s response to my last post on zero advertising got me thinking. He wonders why the advert was so unsuccessful. To me it has to be point one - “DropSend is not right for the audience.” That audience being ad agencies and the like who have subscriptions to Creative Review - I know you can buy it off the shelf but I think its mostly an industry mag, though i could well be wrong here. [...] […] Ryan Carson’s response to my last post on zero advertising got me thinking. He wonders why the advert was so unsuccessful. To me it has to be point one - “DropSend is not right for the audience.” That audience being ad agencies and the like who have subscriptions to Creative Review - I know you can buy it off the shelf but I think its mostly an industry mag, though i could well be wrong here. […]

]]> by: James Deer http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5364 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:50:10 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5364 Well guys, thanks for the interesting reading, im almost as excitecd as you are about the dropsend sale, i can remember when i first started reading the blog, you inspired me then so i got all my ideas etc together, ive been planning my first webapp for at least 6months now, although ive just started university so its going to take me a while to get it ready and shipped. Please keep the blog updated regulary its really good to know whats happening around the carson office, keeps me inspired and gives me something to work towards. Well guys, thanks for the interesting reading, im almost as excitecd as you are about the dropsend sale, i can remember when i first started reading the blog, you inspired me then so i got all my ideas etc together, ive been planning my first webapp for at least 6months now, although ive just started university so its going to take me a while to get it ready and shipped. Please keep the blog updated regulary its really good to know whats happening around the carson office, keeps me inspired and gives me something to work towards.

]]> by: Gillian http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5357 Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:20:53 +0000 http://www.barenakedapp.com/dropsend/whats-going-on#comment-5357 It seems to me that you're saying: "Well that's okay for you guys to say because you have Vitamin and FoWA and Carson Workshops and all these other sites that get lots of visitors, of course you don't need to pay for advertising. But in the real world people do". I would disagree. Every company has some kind of leverage somewhere that they would be crazy not to use. For instance, you might know someone who has a big blog and ask them to post a link to your site, any of you could start a site that could gain as many readers as Vitamin, there's nothing to stop you speaking at a conference about your product if you really wanted to. We're not going to apologise for using one part of our business to advance another. It's what all of you absolutely must do if you're serious about making your company work. Yes DropSend has been advertised but (with two exceptions) always for free. We don't have a marketing budget and yet our product is still successful. There's no reason why you can't do it too. It seems to me that you’re saying: “Well that’s okay for you guys to say because you have Vitamin and FoWA and Carson Workshops and all these other sites that get lots of visitors, of course you don’t need to pay for advertising. But in the real world people do”.

I would disagree. Every company has some kind of leverage somewhere that they would be crazy not to use. For instance, you might know someone who has a big blog and ask them to post a link to your site, any of you could start a site that could gain as many readers as Vitamin, there’s nothing to stop you speaking at a conference about your product if you really wanted to.

We’re not going to apologise for using one part of our business to advance another. It’s what all of you absolutely must do if you’re serious about making your company work.

Yes DropSend has been advertised but (with two exceptions) always for free. We don’t have a marketing budget and yet our product is still successful. There’s no reason why you can’t do it too.

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