Dropbox, 2007
How did Dropbox validate its idea before building it?
The short answer
Drew Houston posted a short demo video showing how Dropbox would work, with a link to join the waitlist. Sign-ups jumped from about 5,000 to 75,000 in a day, a year before the product launched.
The situation
Your file-syncing product isn't finished, and building it properly will take a year. You need proof people want it before you commit that year.
The options on the table
- Finish building it, then launch
- Make a short video showing how it will work, with a link to join the waitlistWhat they did
- Run a survey of potential users
- Pay for ads pointing to a landing page
What happened
Drew Houston posted a demo video of how Dropbox would work. The waitlist went from about 5,000 to 75,000 in a single day. The product launched a year later.
Sources: Alexander Jarvis
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