[jxf]

Dropbox is the classic example, where a commenter on this very website wrote:

> For a Linux user, you can already build such a system yourself quite trivially by getting an FTP account, mounting it locally with curlftpfs, and then using SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. From Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software.

and then went on to say

> It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know this is premature at this point, but without charging users for the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of this?

Today, Dropbox is a public company. Its net income for the twelve months ending March 31, 2023 was $540M, a 47% increase year-over-year. I think that should count as successful.

[MattGaiser]

The Launch HN for Dropbox, such as it was at the time:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863

[romanhn]

Not only that, but it was the first YC company to go public. That said, their performance post-IPO leaves a lot to be desired.

[satvikpendem]

To be fair, it seems like most IPOs these days are simply a way for founders and investors to cash out after 15 years.