One of the founders of WeTransfer, the popular free file-sharing service used by millions around the world, has publicly criticized the company’s new direction. Nalden, a Dutch entrepreneur who co-founded the platform in 2009, says he is very unhappy with the changes made since the service was acquired last year by Vending Spoons, a Milan-based tech company known for acquiring and reinventing popular apps.
“Bending Spoons doesn’t really care about people. I understand it’s their private equity strategy, but I realized that after I left.” [WeTransfer] “From my perspective, there were a lot of updates in 2019 that basically ruined the product,” he told TechCrunch.
After the acquisition, WeTransfer made opaque changes to how its transfer links worked and laid off 75% of its staff. The company sparked controversy earlier this year by using user content to train its AI models, and had to reverse changes to its terms.
Shortly after, Nalden says, creatives began reaching out to share their frustrations with WeTransfer. He wanted to build a WeTransfer alternative that recaptured the service’s original spirit of simplicity. The service is called Boomerang and allows users to transfer files without logging in.
“Why do tech companies always make things so complicated? This has always bothered me, and I simply wanted to offer another tool that: [is entirely focused on the] User experience, its ease of use. You can easily share something instantly and save time. There’s no need to sign up, no need to authenticate via email,” Nalden told TechCrunch about the service.
For casual users, a limited, but no-login experience is sufficient. Total storage is limited to 1 GB, file size is limited to 1 GB, and the expiration date is 7 days. When you create a free account, you get 3 GB of total storage and a 3 GB file size limit. You also get an upload history, the ability to add and remove files at any time, and custom emojis on file sharing pages.
If you want more, the €6.99/month plan offers 500 GB of total storage with 200 GB per folder and a 5 GB file size limit, plus custom covers for folders, password protection, up to 90 days of file expiration, and unlimited user invitations per folder.
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Nalden says it does not serve ads or collect unnecessary user data. He feels that advertising adds complexity and wants Boomerang to collect as little information as possible.
“I just want to provide tools that are useful to users. It’s like buying a hammer. You might not want to buy a fancy hammer, you might just want to buy a hammer that works,” he said.
Boomerang’s interface is intentionally minimalistic, which Nalden says is a refreshing change from a design aimed at impressing investors. While many companies are adding more and more AI capabilities, Nalden said they are using AI to build products, but not adding AI to user-facing features.
Boomerang is available on the web, with a dedicated Mac app coming soon.
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