5 lessons from Mailbox’s shut-down

Mailbox had multiple causes of death. Most people don’t download email apps; those who do don’t want to pay for them. The only path forward for an email app is acquisition, and the fate of most acquired apps is death. Other email apps copied Mailbox’s best features; aside from a somewhat dubious automatic archiving feature, Mailbox stopped building... See more

This startup's revenue graph is the best illustration I've seen of the overnight success that takes years. The graph goes almost vertical at the start of 2023, six years in.

To me, the clearest example is Dropbox. I’ve used Dropbox since the earliest days, and I love it. Nothing has ever come close to providing the speed, reliability, and cross-platform compatibility for file synching of Dropbox. Even though I technically get iCloud File Storage “for free” as part of some broader package, I still pay for Dropbox with a... See more