I talked about UploadRobots about 3 weeks ago saying that it was “cool, fast and with a great UI”. Today, I had the chance to interview Nick Cammarata, Director of Software at Upload Robots.
You’ll find the interview after the jump. And we’ve got a giveaway as well!
The Interview
- Hi there! Can you please introduce yourself to MacStories readers?
Hello. I’m Nick Cammarata, Director of Software (head nerd) at Upload Robots. Previous to Upload Robots, I used to work as a freelance LAMP developer, working for companies such as Microsoft, and Sonicwall.
- Can you please describe us what Upload Robots is?
Upload Robots is an easy to use file uploading service. We believe that most file uploading sites are pretty bad *cough*Rapidshare*cough*. They bloat down their site with heavy advertisements, require wait times before downloads, have slow service, and provide an unorganized interface. Upload Robots currently has no advertisements, and we don’t over complicate things, our interface is very clean, and most things can be done in a single click.
- What’s the difference between Free and Pro accounts?
Pro accounts are the primary revenue stream for Upload Robots, and we work hard to keep them at just $5/month, as server space is expensive. Pro accounts offer many awesome features: Priority uploading, making everything even faster, 128-bit SSL encryption, a higher max file upload size, as well as increased maximum storage space. A more recent feature we have added is support for custom URLs: http://uploadrobots.com/macstories
Also, in the works we currently have group sharing, allowing you to link to a whole group rather than just a file, as well as an iPhone application. These should be out sometime in October.
- When did you decide to start this career into the file uploading business? Was it hard to find people who believed in it at the beginning?
I have been a part of Upload Robots since the beginning, about two years ago. It was a very difficult decision, as is working with any startup, whether initially go with it, because once you go with it, you’re all in.
People were skeptical of our potential during development, because there are already so many large file uploading sites out there, but when we started showing them prototypes, people began to have faith in us.
- Why is Upload Robots different from other similar online services?
Upload Robots is unique because we actually care about you. Many uploading sites just care about the money. They will annoy you until you upgrade to their premium accounts, even if it means making their product barely functional. Upload Robots responds to all support requests within 24 hours, although usually much sooner.
Our interface makes it easy to manage your files, which can be grouped into folders, or previewed before you decide to download.
- The user interface of Upload Robots is amazing. Who designed it? What’s - in your opinion - the importance of a good UI in an online service?
David Merfield, the creative director here, designed the interface, which is based off of one idea: keep things simple. Too many sites mistake power for complexity, sacrificing ease-of-use for functions that no one uses.
- Has the feedback been good since the official launch?
Feedback on Upload Robots has been amazing, many blogs are have been writing about us, over a dozen css galleries have listed us, and we have received hundreds of positive tweets(@uploadrobots).
- Can you tell us which plans do you have for the future?
In the future, we want to have a desktop application to supplement our web-based interface. This app would of course be Mac friendly.
We would also like to create an embeddable widget, as well as create an Upload Robots API.
- Thanks for chatting with us! Have a great Festival :)
Thanks for interviewing me, I’ll be paying close attention to the festival, I hope it goes well.
Win a free Upload Robots Pro account!
You heard that right. As a special gift for MacStories readers during the #macfestival, we’re giving away a free 1 year Pro account!
This means you’ll have SSL connections, 120GB storage per year and 250MB/File.
To enter the giveaway you just have to:
- Tweet this message: “Win a 1 Year Pro Account @UploadRobots thanks to #macfestival http://j.mp/Cot0N”
and
- Leave a comment to this post with the link to your tweet.
Anyone can enter, either if you’re partecipating to the other contests or not!
Good Luck!
