DropSend, a file sharing application that is similar to the king of the space, YouSendIt, announced itself for sale today. The creator, Carson Systems, says that the site is profitable and growing, but that they don’t have enough time to focus on the service.
In a follow up post a few hours later Ryan Carson wrote that a number of people were already interested in buying the product, including Flock. I wonder how Flock feels about this disclosure.
DropSend falls into the general category of online storage and P2P File sharing, areas we’ve been tracking carefully as Google and Microsoft prepare to enter the space.
We will continue to track small startup sales (many on eBay, others direct). As the cost of creating web apps continues to decrease, small direct-sale liquidity events are turning into reasonably profitable exits for entrepreneurs who have invested little capital and time in a new business idea.
We got word of the sale through iShopr, who asks why no one was writing about this on a Saturday evening. The answer is because, well, it’s Saturday evening.
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If flock is really interested in buying DropSend I wonder what they will do with it. Maybe provide a built-in upload utility for flock users. It would be really cool though if flock would allow users to upload documents till the browser session is on and delete the documents once the user closes the browser window.
My guess is that Flock is kicking the tires only at this point.
Isn’t every web 2.0 company looking to sell,
Just Kidding, it’s saturday evening and only us true geeks are sitting in front of their LCD’s.
-Jeff O’Hara
http://blog.zemote.com
On more than one occasion TechCrunch has profiled file sharing and online storage apps with DropSend typically left of the list. I’ve been among those who have commented that DropSend was worth of inclusion.
Now DropSend announces they’ve been profitable, are selling, and someone tips of TechCrunch. They get covered.
That seems to indicate to me that TechCrunch may be at risk of overlooking genuine value in favor of acquisition buzz.
*worthy of inclusion
*tips off
this is a cooooool app.. got to have it.
Thanks for the vote of confidence Mark
The emails are really pouring in now, so it’ll be interesting to see where this goes. Head over to Bare Naked App to follow along.
Just a small correction: Microsoft has entered this space a while ago. They bought Foldershare.com in November 2005. It just hasn’t really found it’s way into the Live.com portfolio yet.
NEWS FLASH: FLOCK NOT INTERESTED! Story at 11. Had an IM session with Ryan yesterday when he told me he was looking to sell. I did have questions because a friend of mine is looking to start or buy a small company. As for Flock’s interest in this area, (if our users ask for it ) I would be much more likely to partner with a more established company than someone looking for a quick flip.
Geoffrey, that is a little harsh. I don’t see Carson Systems as a company who is just looking for a quick sell. They have a good product and I have a lot of respect for Ryan and his team. Maybe some respect in turn would be nice? They are profitable (or so I have heard), so I don’t see why this would be bad buy. Personally, as someone who travels a lot and uses multiple computers, a built in, easy, ready-to-go-at-a-click-of-a-button upload utility inside a browser would be fun!
This type of company should target the entertainment industry. Files sent between agents, managers, producers, etc., are huge and therefore still primarily sent via messenger - it can cost up to $30 a pop per item each day for even a boutique level company in this space. Electronic delivery would do well in the right hands - direct publicity and marketing I guess to the dozens of talent firms, media houses and production companies in the U.S. concentrating on NY and of course LA.
The market would probably adopt quickly but whoever snags this needs to hurry. It’s a slim window and something will fill it fast.
Amigo must already be showing some traction. If the DropSend application revenue steadily grows and is truly low maintenance, they must need some fast cash in-house funding right now for Amigo.
Dear All,
How is this any different from a regular P2P app in terms of copyright issues?
If I send music or a movie to my friends using DropSend, are they not facilitating breach of copyrights?
I posted my thoughts about the sale and the communications here:
http://www.centernetworks.com/dropsend-for-sale
Basically as a former public accountant, I think it would be a mistake to post tons of financial info in a public forum.
Decent product, but company seems limited in terms of acquisition potential. I’ve been using MioNet for the last week and digging it. Good question by the onion regarding copyright - anyone know?
With this story developing, does this mean that the file transfer/storage space is consolidating? There are countless sites big and small that are offering such service and I have always wondered how does any of them make money to begin with and when will the consolidation begin.
Thinking out loud, YF Juan
…seems that it’s ‘cashing in’-time again in dot-com-world.
No?