The services provided by MyDropBox are recognized globally among students and professionals alike. As one of the pioneers offering online tools for checking grammar and plagiarism in English-language texts, the company has revolutionized academic and professional writing. AVentures Capital CEO Yevgen Sysoev valued the services at $100 million, calling the developers billionaires. Learn how their startup transformed into a successful business in Toronto at toronto-future.
How the Idea That Brought Kyiv Natives Worldwide Fame Was Born
The founders of MyDropBox are Oleksiy Shevchenko and Maksym Lytvyn, who met in the late 1990s as students at a Christian university in Kyiv. This institution was among the first in Ukraine to hold classes in English, taught by native speakers from the United States. However, the high level of English proficiency among students did not guarantee the quality of their education.
Many students downloaded pre-written essays and assignments online, submitting them under their own names. This was a widespread issue in Ukrainian and international universities. Professors couldn’t check the originality of the texts, often giving good grades because tools for plagiarism detection didn’t yet exist.
While some students exploited this loophole, others sought to improve the education system. Among those driven to make a difference were Kyiv natives Oleksiy Shevchenko, Maksym Lytvyn, and Dmytro Lider. Maksym wrote the program code, while the others developed the service’s operational technology. This collaboration birthed an idea that would soon become a lucrative business.
Testing and Early Sales of the Plagiarism Detection Service
Initially, Maksym and Oleksiy tested their service with clients in Singapore and the United States. After several successful launches, they decided to sell their innovative technology’s license to prestigious American universities. However, this proved challenging; in the late 1990s, selling a new product to Americans while based in Ukraine was difficult. Consequently, the Grammarly team relocated to Toronto.
Maksym enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Toronto, while the other team members actively pursued license sales. They sought clients at educational conferences focused on IT development, promoting their service, gathering feedback, and networking with professors.
Soon, educational publishers became interested in their service. These publishers started selling textbooks bundled with the plagiarism detection program at a higher price. After selling their first licenses, the Kyiv IT specialists established a company and hired additional staff, growing their team to 12 members who worked from an office in Toronto.
How Kyiv Natives Made Their Plagiarism Detection Service Globally Popular
After launching their first sales, MyDropBox joined the Blackboard Developer Network. The team created the SafeAssignment plugin for the U.S.-based Blackboard platform, making plagiarism checks simple and convenient for users. As a result, users began recommending the service to others. Eventually, a two-year contract was signed with Maksym Lytvyn’s company, MyDropBox.
The team then developed another groundbreaking product. Reflecting on their earlier project, they identified a widespread issue in the U.S.: even native English speakers struggled with writing proficiency. This inspired them to create a service to help users write better English texts.
In 2008, they launched the first version of their new service. Days before the launch, the team created a landing page and spent a small sum on advertising. To their surprise, a single user purchased a subscription worth 10 times the advertising cost. This validated the utility of their product.
“We realized we could create a tool useful for anyone writing in English online and decided to focus on improving grammar checking for the mass market,” Dmytro Lider recalls.
By late 2009, they introduced Grammarly, a service for checking English texts for grammatical accuracy. Their algorithm automatically detected errors and suggested corrections, which users could accept or reject. The developers also added a feature allowing users to vote on the accuracy of the suggested corrections, improving the system.
From its early days, the Grammarly team used user feedback to refine their algorithms, ensuring accurate results. The service combines English grammar rules with machine learning, enabling effective processing of large text volumes. Within a few years, Grammarly became popular not only in Toronto but worldwide.
Around 20% of Grammarly’s clients are companies and higher education institutions requiring large-scale text processing. Social media users and educational conference participants also rely on the service.
Secrets to the Success of MyDropBox in Toronto
Attracting New Clients
Over the years, MyDropBox secured over 700 clients, including Boeing, Dow Jones, Dell, Expedia, and numerous American universities. Their initial sales stemmed from their connections with MyDropBox clients, while conferences and lead-generation websites helped attract more users. Drawing from their extensive experience, the team established three key principles for selling to large corporations:
- Treat clients as business partners, fostering relationships before pitching a product. This builds trust, increasing the likelihood of a sale and leaving a positive impression.
- Be prepared to adapt the product to meet client needs. External feedback provides valuable insights into strengths and weaknesses, enabling quality improvements.
- Hire consultant managers. Avoid rushing to promote a product for quick profit; instead, take the time to understand client interests and needs before proposing a solution.
Leveraging Social Media
Like many IT companies, MyDropBox sells its products exclusively online. The team uses modern digital marketing methods, including email campaigns, social media marketing, banner ads, and content marketing, to attract clients and promote services.
Employee Motivation
Every team member should have a driving force that inspires and unites them to create or improve the product. Grammarly’s developers believe financial motivation shouldn’t be the priority. Personal growth and passion for the creative process hold far greater value.