We started MiDrive Transfer as a result of our frustration with using other similar transfer platforms. I am an independent filmmaker and regularly send a downloadable version of my film frequently to film festivals. Some of the issues I had with other transfer platforms
Limited file size for the free plan (most offer about 2GB file size)
Expiry date! ( Virtually all transfer platforms set the expiration of a file download link to 1 week)
Some require me to sign up! Really?
Some have very crappy UX.
We simply decided to create a better alternative with more latitude for the basic subscriber.
MiDrive Transfer was going to have more compelling deliverables. These were our differentiating features
Free for all to use.
Doesn't require you to sign-up
No ads
Up to 10GB file size for free (compared to 2GB for other platforms)
30 days expiry date (compared to 7 days for other platforms)
Simple and responsive
Everything that added up as a premium feature on other platforms was simply free. e.g. Password Protection.
While my other 2 partners were busy with building a world-class product, I was busy with marketing. I had initially reached out to my personal contacts about the project and many were waiting to give the platform a spin. We also had the usual regular marketing plans too. Launch on Product Hunt, Indiehacker etc.
MiDrive Transfer was ready for an open beta launch about a month later. We were very excited that we missed some very important things. Our launch on Indiehacker actually went relatively well (https://www.indiehackers.com/post/w...transfer-platform-midrive-transfer-297653168b). People tested the platform and found it cool. We only made one silly mistake. We didn't critically test the platform! We didn't test the platform with larger file sizes. I know that sounds bad but well, it's just what it is.
Shortly after we launched, I cold-emailed some tech bloggers with special focus on cloud storage publications and this was when we realized we had just loaded a gun, pointed it to our heads and shot ourselves in the head! It was bad.
The job we were supposed to have done was now being done by the people we reached out to. Here is one of the replies we got from a blogger.
First of all, we were very humbled he took the time to take the platform for a spin, however, we were very embarrassed with his response. That was when we knew we had messed up!
We immediately went to work to figure out what happened. We initially thought this was just going to be a 1-2 days fix but when we eventually found the problem, we discovered there were more than a just a couple of serious bugs! Some of the issues we initially missed were
Upload Speed
Password Protection Bug
Upload time discrepancies etc.
We eventually started tackling each one of them and this took about 4 weeks in total to fix.
People advise you to move fast! The product doesn't have to be perfect, launch now, blablabla! While they are all not bad advice in practicality, we now see that there is a thin line in-between. We wanted to move fast and break things hence missed some very critical things. My advice is to be sure your product (MVP) is at least as solid as it can be. Take your time to test and test (Especially if your product is a SAAS). Some products will do just fine if you move fast and break things but I believe some products will do much better if you take a little more time and cover all the kinks and obvious rough edges before throwing it out there. The first impression they say matters so make it count!
Now, if you enjoyed this write-up, be kind to give https://trasfer.midrive.io a spin! We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Limited file size for the free plan (most offer about 2GB file size)
Expiry date! ( Virtually all transfer platforms set the expiration of a file download link to 1 week)
Some require me to sign up! Really?
Some have very crappy UX.
We simply decided to create a better alternative with more latitude for the basic subscriber.
MiDrive Transfer was going to have more compelling deliverables. These were our differentiating features
Free for all to use.
Doesn't require you to sign-up
No ads
Up to 10GB file size for free (compared to 2GB for other platforms)
30 days expiry date (compared to 7 days for other platforms)
Simple and responsive
Everything that added up as a premium feature on other platforms was simply free. e.g. Password Protection.
While my other 2 partners were busy with building a world-class product, I was busy with marketing. I had initially reached out to my personal contacts about the project and many were waiting to give the platform a spin. We also had the usual regular marketing plans too. Launch on Product Hunt, Indiehacker etc.
MiDrive Transfer was ready for an open beta launch about a month later. We were very excited that we missed some very important things. Our launch on Indiehacker actually went relatively well (https://www.indiehackers.com/post/w...transfer-platform-midrive-transfer-297653168b). People tested the platform and found it cool. We only made one silly mistake. We didn't critically test the platform! We didn't test the platform with larger file sizes. I know that sounds bad but well, it's just what it is.
Shortly after we launched, I cold-emailed some tech bloggers with special focus on cloud storage publications and this was when we realized we had just loaded a gun, pointed it to our heads and shot ourselves in the head! It was bad.
The job we were supposed to have done was now being done by the people we reached out to. Here is one of the replies we got from a blogger.
First of all, we were very humbled he took the time to take the platform for a spin, however, we were very embarrassed with his response. That was when we knew we had messed up!
We immediately went to work to figure out what happened. We initially thought this was just going to be a 1-2 days fix but when we eventually found the problem, we discovered there were more than a just a couple of serious bugs! Some of the issues we initially missed were
Upload Speed
Password Protection Bug
Upload time discrepancies etc.
We eventually started tackling each one of them and this took about 4 weeks in total to fix.
People advise you to move fast! The product doesn't have to be perfect, launch now, blablabla! While they are all not bad advice in practicality, we now see that there is a thin line in-between. We wanted to move fast and break things hence missed some very critical things. My advice is to be sure your product (MVP) is at least as solid as it can be. Take your time to test and test (Especially if your product is a SAAS). Some products will do just fine if you move fast and break things but I believe some products will do much better if you take a little more time and cover all the kinks and obvious rough edges before throwing it out there. The first impression they say matters so make it count!
Now, if you enjoyed this write-up, be kind to give https://trasfer.midrive.io a spin! We guarantee you won’t be disappointed.