"Dropbox Acquires The Domain Everyone Thought It Had: Dropbox.com"TechCrunch headline (October 2009)
The story
Dropbox launched on getdropbox.com because dropbox.com was held by someone else.
TechCrunch noted in October 2009 that Dropbox "has been using the domain GetDropbox.com for years", and that the name was easy to confuse with Dropbox.com. Then dropbox.com started redirecting to Dropbox's site: the company had acquired it.
The same month, Dropbox's parent company, Evenflow, Inc., was renamed Dropbox, Inc.
What founders can learn
- A "get-" prefix works for a launch, but people still type the plain .com.
- Many users assume you already own the .com. Until you do, that traffic goes elsewhere.
- Upgrading the domain and tidying up the brand often happen together.
Sources
This case study is based on public reporting and the company's own statements. NameUpgrade was not involved in this transaction.
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