Inside and Outside the Box: An Interview With Box.net Community Manager Sean Lindo

Well, it's Interview Thursday here at Oldest Living. this week, we're hearing from Sean Lindo, Community Manager for Box.net.

Q1: For the benefit of people who may not have heard of you, can you give me an elevator pitch of Box.net? What you do and the need you meet?

Box.net is a service for people to store, access, and share files online and, more importantly, collaborate on them with family, friends, and colleagues. Whether those files are productivity documents, like Word docs, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations or digital photos, audio and video, Box.net provides individual and enterprise customers with a simple and secure service for storing and sharing the files that matter to them.

Q2: Lots of companies begin with a story. A catalyzing moment that made the founders know they had a real need to meet. What is Box.net’s story?

While he was a student at USC, Aaron Levie, Box.net’s CEO and co-founder, wanted to figure out a way he could access and share any file he had, wherever he was. He wanted to do it in a way that was easier than how most people accessed and shared files then - and, as a matter of fact, how many people still do today.

As Aaron says, Box.net wasn’t established to be a leader in online file storage and collaboration. He and his co-founders just wanted to solve a problem they experienced themselves. 2 million users later, it turns out a lot of people shared their sentiments.

Q3: There are several companies offering file sharing services right now. What’s unique about your offering? Are there new services we should be aware of?

Box.net puts an emphasis on collaboration. It isn’t enough that we provide a simple way to store files online. For us, the magic is in how people get to use, share and collaborate with their files. We make it really easy for Box customers let others, whether they’re a Box user or not, to view and edit files, contribute and track changes in a centralized place.

The cool thing is that a lot of people are noticing what we bring to the table. As you know, Dell recently announced a partnership with us, providing users of the new Inspiron Mini 9 netbook with free online storage and collaboration services from Box.net. The fact that one of the most respected leaders in the industry picked Box speaks volumes about what we offer.

We are also working on a Box.net application for the iPhone. I’m an iPhone user myself, so I’m especially excited about being able to access and share files on my beloved phone. We’ve already gotten rave reviews on our iPhone browser-based application. Users can expect an easier, more robust experience when the native app comes out. And in general, we update Box.net on a weekly basis to optimize performance and security and address customer requests.

The key takeaway in all of this is that Box.net provides customers with a user-centric experience - not a closed, application-centric one. We want to provide an open experience that lets customers use files with the applications, operating systems and devices they prefer, all in a way that’s fun, simple, secure and reliable.

Q4: Your site touts how OpenBox is integrated with some service platforms like Picnik. How does that work and what does that mean for the user?

We are especially proud of what the OpenBox platform brings to customers. Box was the first online storage service to provide an open API for third party developers to write applications that work seamlessly with files stored in a Box.net account.

For example, if you use Picnik to edit digital photos, Zoho to edit documents or Facebook to post files on your profile page, you can access files stored on Box.net right inside these applications. When you create or make edits to files using these apps, you can store them on Box.net and share them easily. Customers can do this with tons of other services and applications from iPaper, Zazzle, eFax, Wordpress and even Autodesk.

Q5: Ultimately, this is a blog about marketing, and your background is in marketing. What have you found are the biggest challenges of promoting an online service in this constantly changing marketing environment?

The web has given consumers an almost infinite amount of ways to learn about anything. In researching and evaluating a product, people put a premium on learning about something from a credible and trustworthy source. The challenge is knowing what those sources are and how to get your word out on them at the right time and in the right way, whether it’s an established site like TechCrunch and Engadget, or the blog that has a few dozen dedicated, but really vocal readers. While it is a changing environment, it poses the same marketing challenges that have been around forever. The web just multiplies them many times over. At the same time, you have so many more options and things you can try out, but it’s definitely a challenge.

Q6: Companies are ultimately about people. What made you choose to work at Box.net? What’s YOUR story?

It had long been a dream of mine to work for an exciting company in Silicon Valley. I worked for some great companies in Chicago, but I’m a tech fanatic. I read tons of books and watched a lot of documentaries on Apple, Steve Jobs, Microsoft and Google, which made me excited about working in a place where history is made and world-changing products are born. In Box.net, I came across a company that was young, playing in an exciting space and growing at a fast pace. It was just the kind of company I imagined joining once I was in California.

Just as importantly, I get to work with people who are fun, smart, hard-working and passionate about their work. It’s easy to get out of bed in the morning because I sincerely look forward to working with the people I get to work with at Box.

Q7: What is your role at Box.net? What does a Community Manager do?

I’m basically Box.net's main point of contact with the blogosphere. My job is to stay up-to-date on what’s being said about Box.net on tech news sites, journals, podcasts, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and so forth. We want to make sure we get our story out to the online community and effectively address the needs and concerns of current and potential users.

Q8: What excites you about working at Box.net?

I’m excited that Box.net gets to play a big role in this trend towards true cloud computing. I know a lot of people love to hate that term. But the move towards using files and applications that are web-based is undeniable. The market is looking for a simple, rich and secure experience in accessing information and content wherever, however and on any device, whether it‘s a PC on your desk or the phone in your pocket. I think Box.net is ideally positioned to deliver on a lot of what people want in this space.

Q9: Anything else you want to tell us?

If your readers haven‘t already, I would encourage them to visit www.Box.net to learn more, sign up and stay tuned! Oh, and pick up a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 - or two!