⚡ How a Forgotten USB Drive Led to a Cloud Storage Revolution

Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…

🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the start-up world
📰 The biggest news stories in the start-up world
📦 How a forgotten USB drive led to a cloud storage revolution
👟 How a trainer release video was created using CCTV
👀 Our favourite start-up to keep an eye on this week
🖌️ A tool that helps you generate and modify digital illustrations

✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this article about Molten Ventures raising a £55m fund.

Happy hustling,
Rich & Gary

🎤 Events/Opportunities

🚀 Playfair are hosting their 11th edition of Female Founder Office Hours on 18th April, with the support of 170 incredible investors from across Europe. They have capacity for more than 300 women founders to join and meet with 4 investors for 15 minute quick fire mentoring and pitching sessions.

🧑‍💻 EasyA, one of the UK’s fastest growing EdTech startups founded by Oxbridge grads, are hosting a hackathon (£20,000 in prize money to be won!) on 16-17th March in Cambridge together with BCG and vechain. The competition is open to all students regardless of technical experience (whether it’s ideation, marketing or presenting, they encourage all students to enter!).

💰 Solid Bond are on the lookout for UK-based pre-seed start-ups raising between £150-500k pre-seed, who have a founder with sector experience, and a tech/tech-enabled business.

⭐ Tech Nation’s Rising Stars pitch competition is back giving start-ups across the UK the chance to showcase their innovation and secure a spot on stage at London Tech Week. If you’re a pre-seed to pre-series A start-up based in Wales find out more about eligibility requirements, and the application process here.

💷 FundIQ offers an in-depth report of a start-up’s investability, based on 24 independent variables. Sixth Wave Ventures invests directly in select start-ups that score in the top decile, and works with them to close their full rounds and enact an actionable plan to drive up valuation.

💼 Job opportunities

❤️ B2B SaaS Marketing Associate, syd
⌨️ Product Engineer, Fluent
🏋️ Junior FullStack Developer, Bookwhen

🍟 The UK has joined an EU Scheme (the Chips Joint Undertaking) to advance the European semiconductor ecosystem. By joining UK chip firms will have enhanced access to a €1.3bn funding pot for collaborative research set aside by Horizon Europe. UKTN

✈️ UK start-up, Aerovolt has switched on what it says is the world’s first public charging network for electric planes. Sifted

💳 There’s a new challenger to Stripe! Paris-based open-source billing platform Lago has raised $22m and is officially launching having been in a closed beta for some time. TechCrunch

🏦 Starling Bank has announced that OVO Energy chief executive Raman Bhatia will take over as the fintech’s CEO following the departure of founder Anne Boden. UKTN

📦 Dropbox: From Bus Ride Frustration to Cloud Storage Revolution

Dropbox's journey from a simple idea to a global powerhouse is a masterclass in leveraging a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) strategy, astute marketing, and relentless focus on user feedback to scale a business. The genesis of Dropbox can be traced back to a personal frustration encountered by Drew Houston, its co-founder. Faced with the recurring inconvenience of forgetting his USB drive and the cumbersome process of file sharing and synchronization, Houston envisioned a cloud-based solution that would allow users to access their files from anywhere, on any device.

The idea for Dropbox was hatched on a bus ride from Boston to New York when Houston realised he had forgotten his USB drive, rendering him unable to work during the journey. This moment of frustration sparked the concept of creating a seamless, cloud-based file synchronization and sharing service. Drew Houston teamed up with Arash Ferdowsi, whom he convinced to drop out of MIT to co-found Dropbox.

The MVP for Dropbox was a simple yet functional file synchronization tool. It allowed users to save files to a folder on their computer, which was then synchronized with the cloud and any other devices connected to the user's Dropbox account. This straightforward functionality addressed the core problem Houston had identified - the need for accessible and reliable file synchronization across multiple devices.

Houston recognised the importance of validating the product and gaining early traction. He created a demonstrative video showcasing how Dropbox worked and shared it on tech forums like Digg and Reddit. The video, filled with tech in-jokes and a clear demonstration of Dropbox's value proposition, resonated with the tech-savvy audience on these platforms. This early exposure was instrumental in putting Dropbox on the radar of potential users and gaining initial sign-ups.

One of Dropbox's most successful growth strategies was its referral program. Inspired by the viral growth mechanisms of companies like PayPal, Dropbox incentivised existing users to refer new users by offering additional storage space for both the referrer and the referee. This clever strategy turned Dropbox's user base into evangelists for the service, driving exponential growth and significantly reducing customer acquisition costs.

Dropbox's application to Y Combinator (YC), a renowned start-up accelerator, marked a pivotal moment in its early days. Despite an initial rejection for a previous start-up idea, Houston's persistence paid off when Dropbox was accepted into YC, providing crucial funding and mentorship. However, the journey was not without challenges. The competitive landscape for cloud storage was crowded, with many sceptics doubting Dropbox's potential in the face of giants like Google.

Dropbox's commitment to iteration and user feedback was central to its product development strategy. The team closely monitored how users interacted with the service, identifying pain points and areas for improvement. This relentless focus on user experience allowed Dropbox to refine its offering continually, adding features like shared folders and improving the overall reliability and speed of synchronization.

Dropbox's journey from an MVP to a product used by millions worldwide exemplifies the power of starting small, focusing on core functionality, and scaling with user feedback. The company's ability to execute on its MVP strategy, combined with smart marketing tactics and a genuine commitment to solving user problems, laid the foundation for its impressive growth trajectory.

Don’t have the budget for a full camera and production crew? Take a page out of Notwoways’ book!

Instead of splashing out on a massive production for their new trainer release, they realised that they could do it all for free through the Freedom of Information Act. This act was passed to make Government bodies more transparent and accountable, which means the public are allowed to request access to any CCTV footage you might’ve been in.

Knowing this, the Notwoways team set up in front of CCTV cameras in kebab shops, tube stations, supermarkets and a bunch of other places to film their advert. You can see the full advert by clicking here! (They even used their competitor’s store’s CCTV)

Not only was the camera work entirely free, it also got nearly 500,000 organic views across the different social media platforms. How can you leverage free content like this?

Each week we’re featuring one start-up we love. We’d love this to come from community recommendations, so if you know a start-up doing something awesome who deserves a shout-out, please reply to this email. 

Gilley is a London-based start-up redefining the traditional umbrella with innovation and sustainability. Their product boasts a lightweight, watertight case that doubles as an optional handle, offering a no-drip solution for wet umbrellas. Designed to withstand winds up to 30mph, the Gilley umbrella features a durable frame made of reinforced fibreglass and aluminium alloy, and a canopy with a hydrophobic coating for superior water resistance. Emphasising sustainability, Gilley aims to reduce umbrella waste by crafting a durable product meant to last, challenging the disposable nature of conventional umbrellas.

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.

This week, we’re sharing Recraft.ai - a pioneering AI-powered design tool that allows users to generate and modify digital illustrations, vector art, icons, and 3D graphics. It's designed to maintain a uniform brand style, catering to over 400K users who have created more than 50M graphics. Recraft offers intuitive, user-friendly tools that enable creators to transform images into stylised sets, iterate designs easily, and play with colour and style. It's a platform where both seasoned designers and novices can explore, create, and share their work, fostering a vibrant community of AI-assisted artistic expression.

Next week we’ll be looking at how two siblings found success with ice-cream balls and a little help from a viral tiktok video. As usual we’ll also be highlighting our favourite start-up of the week, funding opportunities, and plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

P.S. Connect with us on LinkedIn…