Hightail

Hightail
Industry Technology
Founded 2004
Headquarters Campbell, California
Key people
 Ranjith Kumaran (CEO)[1]
Website www.hightail.com

Hightail – formerly YouSendIt – is a cloud service that lets users send, receive, digitally sign and synchronize files. YouSendIt.com and YouSendIt Inc. were founded in 2004; the company renamed itself Hightail in 2013.

The company's early focus was on helping users send files that were too large for email; it started adding features and plug-ins for businesses in 2007. The service grew quickly, and the firm raised $49 million in funding between 2005 and 2010. The service can now be used via the web, a desktop client, mobile devices, or from within business applications with a Hightail plugin.

In May 2015, the company launched Hightail Spaces, designed to encourage creative professionals from conception of an idea to delivery.[2]

History

Hightail was founded as YouSendIt Inc. in 2004[3] by three cofounders: Ranjith Kumaram, Amir Shaikh and Khalid Shaikh.[4] In its early years, Amir pursued advertising revenues, Jimmy Vienneau managed business development, Francis Wu created the graphic design including the logo, while Kumaran focused on the user experience and Khalid did technical work.[4] By May 2004, the company had 300,000 users and was growing 30 percent each month. That September, Cambrian Ventures invested $250,000.[4] At first, YouSendIt was mainly used to send large files, such as photos or audio files, which were too large for the file-size limits set by email providers at the time.[3][5][6]

$5 million in funding was raised in August 2005. Afterwards there was a falling out between the founders. Within a few years, Khalid and Amir Shaikh left the company,[4] while Kumaran stayed in a product management and marketing role.[7] In 2011, Shaikh plead guilty to making denial of service (DoS) attacks on the website for the YouSendIt service between December 2008 to June 2009.[8][9]

Ivan Koon took over as CEO and YouSendIt continued to raise a total of $49 million.[10] YouSendIt grew as file recipients saw how the service works, reaching 100,000 paying users and 8.5 million registered users by March 2009.[11] In January 2011, YouSendIt Inc. acquired a developer of Microsoft Outlook add-ons, Attassa, and an iPhone app developer, Zosh.[12][13]

In May 2012, a former AOL and Yahoo! executive, Brad Garlinghouse, was appointed as CEO.[14] He refocused the company on file sharing and remote document access,[15] placing it in competition with Dropbox Inc. and Box Inc.[16][17] Hightail began advertising against competitors Dropbox and Box with slogans like "Your files should be neither Dropped nor Boxed".[18]

In January 2013, YouSendIt acquired Found Software, a company that develops the Found for Mac application that searches for files on Macintosh computers and connected networks.[19][20] In July of that year YouSendIt announced its rebranding as Hightail, to represent its move beyond file sharing and into file collaboration services.[21][22] New mobile apps for iOS and Windows devices were also introduced,[23] as well as an unlimited storage option.[24][25]

In September 2013, Hightail acquired adeptCloud, a security-focused file-sharing service for hosting files inside a corporate firewall.[26][27] In November, Hightail raised $34 million in additional funding.[28][29] Brad Garlinghouse resigned as CEO in September 2014, allegedly due to disagreements with the board of directors. He was replaced by co-founder Ranjith Kumaran.[30]

Products and services

Hightail on iPhone

Users of the Hightail service upload a file to Hightail's servers and recipients are provided with a link where the file can be downloaded.[31][32] Users can also manage files in an online folder system,[33] or create desktop folders that access online storage.[34][35]

In addition to Hightail.com, the service can be used from desktop applications for Windows and Mac,[36] or from mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.[37] There are also plugins for business applications, such as Microsoft Outlook[38] and Yahoo! Mail,[39] that allow users to send files from within the application. Documents can be signed digitally with Hightail using a mouse or touch-screen.[40][41] The service has a pay-per-use security feature[5] and files sent through Hightail are encrypted during transit and while stored on individual devices or servers.[33]

The consumer version is sold on a freemium basis,[42] while a business product is sold as YouSendIt for Business, which was originally released as Workstream. YouSendIt for Business integrates with Active Directory and Microsoft Sharepoint.[43] The business version has additional features for corporate use, such as remote data wipes on mobile devices, service level agreements and controls for compliance requirements, such as HIPAA and PCI.[44][45]

As of 2013, the company has more than 40 million registered users, in about 200 countries. Most use its free service for 2 GB of storage, while a half-million pay for unlimited storage and additional features.[28][29]

Software versions

YouSendIt for Mac desktops in Beta - 2011

YouSendIt was initially known as a way for individuals to share personal files and images on YouSendIt.com.[3][46] In 2007, a Corporate Suite was released that had management and reporting features for business users.[47] The following year, a tool for embedding YouSendIt into third-party websites, called SiteDrop, was introduced.[48]

Throughout 2008, YouSendIt added plugins that allowed files to be sent through YouSendIt from within applications like Final Cut Pro,[49] Microsoft Outlook,[50] and Adobe Acrobat.[51] In May of that year, a new release of Yahoo! Mail included YouSendIt built-in,[39] which added a million YouSendIt users over the following two months.[52] In July, YouSendIt's online folder management system and digital signing features were introduced in order to compete with Dropbox.[5][53] The following month, YouSendIt added applications for Mac and PC desktops, as well as iOS and Android devices.[37]

In March 2012, YouSendIt released a separate product intended for business users called Workstream, which was later renamed to YouSendIt for Business.[54]

Reception

PC Magazine gave the service a 4/5 rating. The reviewer, Jeffrey Wilson, found its app easy to use and noted its digital signing and cloud storage features. Wilson reported problems when trying to use the digital signing feature with the phone held vertically and experienced occasional crashes.[55] TopTenReviews gave the service a 9.5 out of 10. TopTenReviews praised the product for unlimited downloads and accessibility from a desktop, laptop or other mobile device.[56] In benchmark tests, the service took seven minutes to upload a 30 MB file, compared to an industry average of six minutes.[56]

According to a review in Small Business Trends, "Probably one of the most powerful features is the ability to sign digital documents."[57] A review in About.com said the service was easy-to-use and noted its features for password protection, file-tracking and interface branding, but also pointed out that users cannot copy themselves on files sent through the Hightail Outlook application.[58] A reviewer at MacLife liked its synchronization and collaboration tools, but had some complaints about a "clunky" user interface.[59]

For the "for Business" product, PC Advisor stated that Dropbox, had better customization, while YouSendIt had the advantage of integration with Sharepoint and Active Directory for corporate environments.[60] Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) conducted a comparative review of vendors in the file sharing and collaboration market in 2012. It gave an average score from an end-user's perspective and a slightly below-average score from an administrator's perspective. ESG noted that the pricing model was expensive on a per-user basis, but its lack of caps or surcharges made it more affordable for heavy users. ESG testers found it easy and secure, but noted it lacked the auditing and workflow features of some competitors.[45]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Board of Directors". Hightail.
  2. ↑ Schuberth, Cromwell. "YouSendIt cofounder narrows focus at Hightail". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Xavier, Jon (October 22, 2010). "YouSendIt Delivers e-files and Rapid Growth". Bizjournals. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Helm, Burt (February 28, 2012). "A Silicon Valley Tale of Humiliation and Revenge". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Gayomali, Chris (July 26, 2011). "YouSendIt Now Offering Cheap, Unlimited Dropbox-style Storage". Time Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  6. ↑ Saitto, Serena (November 19, 2013). "Hightail Raises $34 Million to Finance International Expansion". BusinessWeek.
  7. ↑ Bradley L. Jones (14 April 2008). Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 178–. ISBN 978-0-470-24199-8. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
  8. ↑ Goodin, Dan (October 30, 2009). "California man accused of DOSing site he founded". The Register. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Former YouSendIt CEO Pleads Guilty to Web Attack on his Old Company". Los Angeles Times. June 27, 2011. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
  10. ↑ Farr, Christina (January 15, 2013). "With Strategic Buy-up, YouSendIt Plans to do more than File Delivery". VentureBeat. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  11. ↑ Gadkin, James (March 26, 2009). "Web 2.0 Works to Solve Problems". Network World. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
  12. ↑ Dortch, Michael (June 13, 2011). "Your Business' Processes, Its Intellectual Property and the Cloud(s)". eBizQ. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  13. ↑ DesMarais, Christina. "YouSendIt Launches New Services for Businesses". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  14. ↑ Tam, Pui-Wing (May 15, 2012). "Brad Garlinghouse Lands at YouSendIt". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  15. ↑ Saitto, Serena (November 19, 2013). "Hightail Raises $34 Million to Finance International Expansion". BusinessWeek. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  16. ↑ Waters, Richard (November 19, 2013). "Hightail joins the cloud storage funding race". Financial Times. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  17. ↑ Carr, David (December 14, 2011). "YouSendIt Takes on Box Dropbox in Cloud". InformationWeek. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  18. ↑ Levy, Ari (July 14, 2014). "Silicon Valley's billboard wars are back". CNBC. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  19. ↑ Yeung, Ken (January 15, 2013). "YouSendIt Acquired Found, adds File Searching to its 48m Users Closer to a 'Cloud-Nostic Future'". TheNextWeb. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  20. ↑ Swisher, Kara (January 15, 2013). "YouSendIt's Brad Garlinghouse Talks About Found Acquisition, Rebranding and More!". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  21. ↑ Mangalindan, JP (July 10, 2013). "Why YouSendIt had to change its name". Fortune. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  22. ↑ Winkler, Rolfe (July 10, 2013). "Hightail Goes after DropBox with Unlimited Storage". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
  23. ↑ Hesseldahl, Arik (July 10, 2013). "In New Challenge to Dropbox and Box, YouSendIt Morphs into Hightail". AllThingsD.
  24. ↑ Winkler, Rolfe (July 10, 2013). "Hightail goes after DropBox with Unlimited Storage". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  25. ↑ Gupta, Poornima (July 11, 2013). "How about Hightail-ing it?". Reuters. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  26. ↑ Kelly, Meghan (September 17, 2013). "Hightail buys adeptCloud to make file storage safer in the cloud". VentureBeat. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  27. ↑ Rao, Leena (September 17, 2013). "Hightail Buys AdeptCloud to Add High Level Security and Privacy Features to File-Sharing". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  28. 1 2 Blattberg, Eric (November 19, 2013). "File-sharing service Hightail lands $34M to court the enterprise". VentureBeat. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  29. 1 2 Hesseldahl, Arik (November 19, 2013). "Fresh Off Rebranding Effort, Hightail Lands $34 Million in New Funding". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  30. ↑ "Why Brad Garlinghouse Left Hightail". re/code. September 12, 2014. Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  31. ↑ Mossberg, Walt (June 14, 2007). "Is There a Tool to Help Send Large Files Over the Internet?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  32. ↑ Gibbs, Mark (June 5, 2006). "YouSendIt when Attachments don't Work". Network World. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  33. 1 2 Perez, Sarah (December 13, 2011). "YouSendIt ups its Game with new Desktop & Mobile Apps". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  34. ↑ Geron, Tomio. "YouSendIt Launches File Syncing, Takes on Dropbox". Forbes. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  35. ↑ Simonds, Lauren (July 24, 2007). "E-mail Attachments: Size no Longer Matters". SmallBusinessComputing. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Services can help send large videos.(Business)". Daily Herald. August 3, 2008. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  37. 1 2 Darrow, Barb (December 13, 2011). "YouSendIt sends iPad, Android Apps to Cloud Storage War". GigaOm. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  38. ↑ Reisinger, Don (November 20, 2008). "YouSendIt brings file delivery to Microsoft Office". CNET. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  39. 1 2 Fried, Ina (May 23, 2011). "Revamped Yahoo Mail Peels off Beta Stamp". Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  40. ↑ Bryant, Martin (July 26, 2011). "YouSendIt Steps on Dropbox's Turf with Unlimited Cloud Storage Service". TheNextWeb. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  41. ↑ Graham, Jefferson (July 27, 2011). "Meet the all-new YouSendIt". USA Today. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  42. ↑ Carr, Austin (October 11, 2010). "Why You Should Never Pay for a Premium Online Subscription". Fast Company. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  43. ↑ Carr, David (March 6, 2012). "YouSendIt Gives Enterprises New Sharepoint Power". InformationWeek. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  44. ↑ Terri McClure; Kristine Kao (2011), "Online File Sharing and Collaboration in the Enterprise", Market Landscape Report (Enterprise Strategy Group)
  45. 1 2 Terri McClure; Kristine Kao (November 2012), "Workstream by YouSendIt", Online File Sharing and Collaboration Test Drive (Enterprise Strategy Group), retrieved January 25, 2013
  46. ↑ Christoffers, Cameron (July 24, 2009). "Chris Anderson Discusses the Free Business Model and What it Means in the Enterprise". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
  47. ↑ Needle, David (October 30, 2007). "YouSendIt Suite Targets Business". Internetnews. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  48. ↑ Palotie, Laura. "A Winning Pitch". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  49. ↑ Nicole, Kristen (July 30, 2008). "Share Media Directly from iPhoto with YouSendIt Plugins". Mashable. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  50. ↑ Brynko, Barbara (October 1, 2009). "YouSendIt: one-click ease for outlook". Information Today. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  51. ↑ Gunderloy, Mike (September 9, 2008). "YouSendIt Pursues Integration Strategy". GigaOm. Retrieved January 14, 2013.
  52. ↑ Carr, Austin (May 26, 2011). "YouSendIt hits 30 Million Users, Bests Dropbox". FAST Company. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  53. ↑ Ludwig, Sean (July 26, 2011). "YouSendIt makes a play for businesses with unlimited cloud storage". VentureBeat. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
  54. ↑ Barton, Mike (March 6, 2012). "YouSendIt Guns for Dropbox, Box.net with Workstream". WIRED. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  55. ↑ Wilson, Jeffrey. "YouSendIt(for iPhone) (article retitled Hightail July 2013)". PC Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  56. 1 2 YouSendIt, TopTenReviews, retrieved January 18, 2013
  57. ↑ McCue, TJ (January 3, 2012). "Small Business Online File Sharing: Review of YouSendIt". Small Business Trends. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  58. ↑ Tschabitscher, Heinz. "YouSendIt - Free Large File Sending Service". About.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  59. ↑ Bookwalter, J.R. (January 11, 2012). "YouSendIt Review". MacLife. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  60. ↑ West, Angela (March 7, 2012). "YouSendIt Launches Collaboration Tool with SharePoint Tie-ins". PC Advisor. Retrieved January 17, 2013.

External links

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