I think a big part of the "company of the year" bit is because they've done something most people thought wasn't possible-- build a big business charging consumers. It's refreshing!
I don't know much about their business, but I'm guessing they are sacrificing a lot of revenue/profit for growth.
They could probably double their conversion by slowly dialing down the awesomeness of the free version in favor of the paid version. Could they do advertising/leadgen to their massive free audience? I'm skeptical, but it's a big/untapped asset. Is the data asset interesting? You never know.
They are clearly onto something-- I saw a comment here was someone said, "it's as important to me as email."
Shouldn't you narrow down "build a big business charging consumers"?
Even in just digital goods, there are general software companies (Microsoft, Intuit, McAfee), gaming companies (Zynga, EA, Valve), online dating companies (Match, Eharmony), geneology (Ancestry), health (Weight Watchers Online) that make 1+ orders of magnitude more money than Evernote.
Most of them also have freemium models. What's special here?
I don't know much about their business, but I'm guessing they are sacrificing a lot of revenue/profit for growth.
They could probably double their conversion by slowly dialing down the awesomeness of the free version in favor of the paid version. Could they do advertising/leadgen to their massive free audience? I'm skeptical, but it's a big/untapped asset. Is the data asset interesting? You never know.
They are clearly onto something-- I saw a comment here was someone said, "it's as important to me as email."