Referral program
An explicit reward for existing users who bring in new users.
Counts as evidence: A named referral or invite incentive described by the company.
Who ran it
Replit · Agent pivot to non-developer builders · 2024 to 2025
Referral program SupportingA credits-for-referrals program paid $10 per new Core customer in February 2025. The current page gives both sides $20 in credits for every new paying customer.
Dropbox · Free sync, shared folders, two-sided referral · 2008 to 2010
Referral program PrimaryA two-sided incentive gave both the person who referred and the person referred free storage. Houston says it was modeled on PayPal's referral bonus, and Ferdowsi says it doubled the growth rate overnight.
Dropbox · Team plans on top of individual adoption · 2011 to 2015
Referral program SupportingIn 2012 the reward was doubled to 500 MB for both sides on free accounts, capped at 32 referrals, and 1 GB per referral on paid Pro accounts.
Dropbox · Multi-product, restructuring, and AI · 2020 to now
Referral program SupportingReferrals still run for individual plans, at 500 MB or 1 GB per referral plus 500 MB for the new user. Team accounts cannot send referrals, and sharing a folder does not count.
Vercel · v0: an AI product-led front door · 2023 to 2025
Referral program SupportingThe v0 Ambassador Program pays $10 for every Premium referral and $30 for every Team referral.