Hey everyone, on today’s show I had the opportunity to pick the brain of Damian Bradfield, President and CMO of WeTransfer, the world’s largest file-sharing service.
Tune in to hear Damian share how they managed to build a business through organic growth and acquire 200K users from word-of-mouth, why partnering with artists like Moby and 21 Pilots is a genius marketing move (and why WeTransfer donates a percentage of ad revenue to the arts), and how user design and experience is key to their success.
Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: Damian Bradfield Partnered with Moby in a Genius Marketing Move that Gained WeTransfer 200K Users TRANSCRIPT
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- 00:50 – Before we begin, please leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast
- 01:28 – Damian Bradfield gives us a brief bio, including how he started WeTransfer, the biggest file-sharing service in the world.
- 02:13 – He explains WeTransfer’s revenue streams.
- 02:45 – He describes WeTransfer’s rate of growth.
- 03:37 – What WeTransfer’s basic free service entails.
- 03:58 – What WeTransfer’s premium experience is like.
- 05:20 – WeTransfer oversees 42 million units per month and donates a percentage of ad revenue to the arts.
- 07:04 – As the business has grown, so have the operating costs, which has affected their donations to the arts.
- 7:52 – Benefits of paying for the premium experience if you are a small business.
- 08:20 – How WeTransfer was “bootstrapped” by the founders and how they managed to have organic growth.
- 09:46 – 200,000 users were gained from word-of-mouth organic growth.
- 10:35 – WeTransfer had amazing goodwill from the Dutch press and the Dutch people, because they want to stimulate growth and potentially be the next Silicon Valley.
- 10:38 – Werner Vogels, the CTO of Amazon, helped WeTransfer migrate from Flash to AWS.
- 12:22 – WeTransfer was one of the few sites out there focused on user design and experience; accessibility was and is key.
- 13:20 – How the company is very piracy-averse.
- 13:50 – Damian attributes trust to their customer retention and success.
- 15:48 – Partnering with Moby and 21 Pilots has helped as a marketing tool.
- 16:27 – Personal relationships are what drive WeTransfer’s business and business partnerships.
- 17:22 – The company’s biggest struggle was managing the grand scale of the business with a small team.
- 18:40 – The great thing about basing a company in Holland is that the focus is on being lean and pragmatic.
- 19:15 – The downside to being based in Holland, is that there isn’t the type of voracious ambition that exists in the United States.
- 19:59 – WeTransfer is going through major changes: they’ve hired a new COO, Head of Advertising, and a new marketing team.
- 20:45 – Two new programs are coming out this year, which Damian thinks will strengthen their brand and fill in gaps in their business.
- 21:42 – Damian’s book recommendation is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One.
Resources from this Interview:
- WeTransfer
- Moby’s Album on WeTransfer
- Twenty One Pilots’ Album on WeTransfer
- Must-read book: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
- Damian on Twitter
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