ABSTRACT
The year 2012—when the groundbreaking iPhone 5 appeared—was a tipping point for mobile, particularly in the United States, where smartphone penetration grew to 55.5% of the population, from just 41% a year earlier, according to Nielsen. In the summer of 2012, as Forbes reported, the majority of Dropbox sign-ups were mobile users for the first time, due to a combination of our partnerships and the general trends toward mobile. Ultimately, it led us to over 100 million registered users and was the foundation for a patent we filed on it. Personally, it represented a Eureka moment. The author describes this strategy as devising a growth currency, where something of genuine value, be it free storage space or a code or voucher to share with friends, can be traded or offered to turbocharge viral growth. While a startup needs to have genuine growth to begin with the keys to launching a successful growth currency are timing and value.
