users login through their existing accounts on Google, Facebook, or Yahoo. All the files and data that users share through Episend are stored on the Amazon Cloud, so the information is “not going across the wire to somebody else’s servers,” minimizing the chance of security issues, DiBona says. And Episend uses Amazon payments and PayPal to charge users, so it doesn’t have to worry about storing payment information either.
Speaking of payment, Episend operates on the “freemium” model, where users get to test out the product at no cost, with 50MB of storage, and the ability to store up to 10 files in the digital asset library. Beyond that, it charges the $15 a year for personal use of the system, and $85 a year per business user, DiBona says. He’s also working on a monthly subscription plan, for those users who aren’t looking for a long-term commitment.
Episend has about 500 users at this point, though DiBona says he hasn’t done a big marketing push for the product yet. He started developing the interface in 2007, incorporated the company in October of last year, and launched the site in February of 2010. In between TJX and starting the Episend, whose team totals three people, DiBona worked at Hopkinton, MA-based Flimp Media, a provider of rich media marketing platforms. The Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange also named the startup a winner of its PricewaterhouseCoopers Promise award this year.
The company has been bootstrapped to date, and DiBona says he isn’t exactly eyeing outside money at this point. Many entrepreneurs look to venture capital in order to get the resources necessary to dedicate toward development, he says. “I’m an engineer and I have the product out there; I’m not trying to develop a product and push it out.”
Episend’s big push at this point will be marketing to customers, and the company has some (free) help on that end, too. It’s been selected to for some social media marketing strategy help from Emerson College’s Social Media class (hash tag #ESM on Twitter), DiBona says.
“It’s time to start getting it out there.” he says.
