37 days to go from $0 to $100 million

Mailbox, a new email programme from Gentry Underwood, was introduced in January 2013.

It was bought by Dropbox for an estimated $100 million after 37 days.

How?

1. They concentrated on finding a solution to one enormous issue: the abundance of unread email.

2. They came up with a clever, straightforward fix.

3. They developed a “referral reservation method” that is automated:

You register to receive notifications when the app is made available to you.

3.2. You can see how many people are in line ahead of you.

The system alerts you that you will move up in line and gain access to the programme more quickly the more friends you invite.

You invite your friends, they invite their friends, and so on.

4. They produced a straightforward video that went viral (https://vimeo.com/groups/159435/videos/54553882) because the issue was urgent and unresolved and the answer was beautiful.

5. They alerted the tech press, who were eager to write about the app (because the issue was urgent and unresolved and the solution was sophisticated).

6. After the video went viral, it received media attention, was multiplied by the “referral reservation scheme,” and in 37 days, 538,000 users waited in line to access the app.

7. Dropbox paid $100 million to purchase the business