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Amium — A collaboration app that brings conversation to your files
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Can't wait to try this out! Amium seems like the natural evolution to what file sharing should be.
I've known Yuri and the AeroFS team for a while, and got very excited when they showed me the early prototypes for Amium.
Collaboration on files is still much harder than it needs to be. We create files in one place, and then send them as attachments or links over e-mail back and forth when we actually collaborate on them. So, it turns out, most collaboration actually happens outside of the collaboration tools! Sad!
As soon as Yuri showed me the alpha for Amium I could immediately see how much faster and more seamless it makes collaboration. Being able to have a conversation directly on a file and capture the full history of that file is invaluable.
Developers have Git and Github where they can work on revisions together and capture history and changes. Amium provides a similar experience, but for any type of file.
Try it and let them know what you think! I know they'll be reading + participating in this thread.
Looks a lot like Slack (chat + documents) but it's actually more Quip (documents + chat).
How do you plan to compete against those two big players?
Microsoft Office Online support is a very strong argument in some companies, security by design as well. Is there something more?
@the_minh Great comments, and great observations. It _is_ like Quip, but for any file. And in some ways it's like Slack (chat), but with real time file updates (Dropbox/Box/AeroFS/etc). Slack's own file functionality is more like an ftp server than a file sharing / syncing service.
We think of Amium as "Content Centric Collaboration"
In Amium, a shared-folder is a chat room, and a file is a thread. You can have conversations on both, and see activity on these files as it happens. You can easily see when a file was updated and where, so you don't accidentally clobber each others work (as often happens with remote teams or people working out of office).
By treating files as threads, we're also able to add workflows directly around the files. For example, one of the integrations we're launching with is an integration with HelloSign. You can request a document signature directly from a file thread by typing /sign
Our blog post has some of the other features we're launching with https://blog.amium.com/a-better-...
Let me know if you have any more questions!
Hey @darynakulya, thanks!
Amium is an evolution in thinking from our traditional ("classic") file sharing tool -- AeroFS.
We saw a few things happening in the market that led us towards Amium.
First, we saw a theme amongst our customers that even though they were using file sync & share tools (FSS), a lot of the actual "collaboration" would happen outside of these tools (in chat, email, SMS, etc).
This seemed like a huge inefficiency -- if all the collaboration happens outside the tools, most of the time the files ended up outside the tools as well (how often have you searched for a file in gmail first?)
Second, I think customers are expecting more out of their file sync tools. Google does a holistic approach in terms of the collaboration suite they offer (Docs, Hangouts, etc), but even they don't really link them well together. Sure, you can leave a comment on a file, but there's no real conversation or collaboration.
We wanted to offer something which worked alongside the way people work today. In teams, on projects, on files.
I think over time, we'll see more file sync and share tools move in this direction, or at least in the direction of offering more complete solutions than just pure FSS :)
Hope that answers your question!
@yuris Makes sense, I definitely gravitate to searching files in Gmail. Excited to give it a try! Is there a reason why you named the product Amium?
@darynakulya I loved the way it sounded. Also, I loved the design our designer @rebecca_zhang came up with the "IU" in the middle of Amium -- bringing "I" and "U" together :)
@darynakulya @yuris Now that you say it… I knew it sounded familiar: I used Adium for years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adium
Thanks @alexisohanian for hunting us!
So, what's this Amium thing?
First, let's get the innevitable X for Y's out of the way:
Amium is like Github but for any file
Amium is like Slack and Dropbox had a baby, a beautiful baby
Amium is like Quip but for any file (seriously, but also couldn't resist)
Have you ever worked with a remote team or even just a co-worker and wondered if they updated a file? when did they update it? what changed?
It turns out that collaboration on files (like real, honest-to-goodness, collaboration) is still pretty hard. Most of us use file syncing/sharing tools, but when it times to actually collaborating on the files, we send them as attachments or links, and we do all the back-and-forth collaboration over email or chat, completely out of band of the file syncing tool. You still end up with multiple versions in your downloads folder, and you often still end up searching email for the latest version of that file you worked on based on some comment someone left you.
When we talked to people, we found out that one of the most important things that most file sharing tools miss today is actually being able to have a conversation about the files we create. We wanted to see if we could address this.
One of the things we've realized is that by treating shared folders as chat rooms, and treating files as threads in these chat rooms, we could enable collaboration workflows that are incredibly powerful. This led us to create Amium.
Amium brings conversation and activity feeds to your file. Any file.
With Amium you can easily see what files were updated and when, preview the updates, live collaborate on them, and so on.
We've been testing it in private beta for quite some time, and the response has been phenomenal: Our early testers completely stopped sending/downloading file attachments and links. They've told us they improved their productivity dramatically because they don't have to hunt for files anymore (or try to figure out if/when something they were waiting for was updated), and the ability to comment on any files acts almost as a natural "version commit message".
I'll be here most of the morning to answer questions, but I hope you try it out for yourself. We think you'll like it!
Yuri
edit: Check out our blog post! https://blog.amium.com/a-better-...
@yuris Hey!! This looks pretty slick. Couple of questions from me :)
What sets this apart from others in this space? Quip coming to mind (which sold to Salesforce yesterday) - I know you reference this above too ;)
During the beta have you see people using solely this versus collaborating in Amium but chatting in Slack and separating the two?
What have been some of the biggest challenges while building the platform?
and lastly - What's next? :)
@bentossell Thanks! Happy to answer some questions :)
RE: Quip. I'm a fan of what they've done, and am obviously happy for their outcome! I think you could think of Amium as "Quip for any file". We go beyond documents and spreadsheets and also support conversations/collaboration on photoshop, powerpoint, CAD, etc. types of files. Literally any file :)
In the beta, we've seen people use us alongside Slack, or as a resplacement. Amium combines the functionality of file sharing and messaging. I think it intuitively replaces existing file sharing tools because it makes collaboration on these files easier, and eventually may replace general chat tools inside the organization as well.
One of the things I've noticed about our own usage of Amium is that since we started using it, I've *completely* stopped using Finder or Windows Explorer. Almost all interaction with the files and the filesystem happens through Amium, and so I think of this product almost as a "collaborative filesystem".
In terms of what's next -- I think part of the really interesting thing that happens when you have file threads is you can start creating workflows around these files with notifications directly on them. So, for example, one of the first integrations we did is with HelloSign, which allows you to send a file you're chatting/working on for signature by simply typing `/sign` in the file thread. You never have to attach it, upload it, or do anything!
I think these types of integrations become very interesting long term, and we'll be spending more time on them.
@yuris Thanks!
Ahh I see - kinda like a Quip on steroids + Slack + Basecamp + Invision + magic powder + fairy dust + secret sauce ? ;)
Remote teams use a variety of different things which are only connected by things like a Slack integration. Definitely see the opportunity here for a rocking all-in-one platform.
How do you ensure Amium is/or becomes that much better than current solutions?
@bentossell How much fairy dust am I allowed to take? One spoonful? :-)
I think for us it's around making collaboration on files as easy as possible. The process of creating, revising, etc. any type of document. Developers have GitHub, but for non-developers, there's really no good tools here.
One analogy that comes to mind is that Amium is to File Sharing as Windows was to DOS.
@yuris @alexisohanian awesome product guys, is this something we could use for vector files as well? Artwork and high quality eps files or just documents? Thanks!
This is super interesting. Collaboration is broken. Really broken.
Its why I've fallen in love with @quip. Quip has completely replaced my use of word. They've done a great job of finding an elegant way for all of the workflow around a document to exist with and in the document itself. Microsoft has yet to solve this for Office, so when I use @msexcel I am back to emailing people and sending links to file locations. And then there is Keynote...same thing. In other words - there is a real opportunity for a platform agnostic solution. KUDOS.
Now shifting from User to COO - I'm trying to decide what tool should be replaced by Amium. Both because if too many places exist to 'organize' things then you actually become disorganized, and then I'm always careful about adding more CPH expenses to the team. Overtime they add up. I have a hypothesis regarding what product/tool I'd replace, but I'd love your perspective. What product budget do you see Amium replacing, @yuris?
@corleyh @quip @msexcel
Agreed on all counts. I think the comparison with @quip is apt (and timely). "Quip for any file" is not a bad description here.
RE: product/budget replacement -- I think it depends on your organization. I think "classic" file sync and share (FSS) tools are the easiest to displace. I would not attempt displacing an existing/entrenched chat tool because I think that may be harder as people have stronger affinity to them. FSS tools are the ones where your users probably derive the least amount of value today, and where we can add the most amount of value. That being said, as a COO, you should know that if the deployment is successful, you'll likely be able to replace other tools down the line :)
@corleyh @quip @msexcel @yuris Corley brings up a few great points here. Collaboration is still a big opportunity--especially within the file doc space--because so many of the options out there have one or a couple of features I'm looking for, but not really all of them. I think one of the things about collaboration that gets overlooked a lot of times is flexibility on the part of the user; as things progress and my responsibilities might change, I need a tool that will evolve with my set of circumstances. Nothing is ever static, so tools that are inflexible this way have a certain shelf-life that reaches its limit sooner or later. Organization can be a challenging road because too much rigidity can quickly overwhelm one's sense--it needs to be fluid and easy. Intrigued to see how this solution works for people. Great job, Yuri!
Is this an answer to my prayers? I can't tell you how often we find ourselves annoyed with file sharing limitations at the office. I always find myself wishing there was a love child between Slack and google docs or dropbox. Very excited to give this a try.
nice. makes sharing docs on microsoft office from super irritating / that actually existed?! to all-day-every-day.
I really excited about this! Looking forward to seeing you develop! I like the Office integration - perhaps you would do the same with Google Docs?
I'm getting a 404 on the terms page, no bueno for actual businesses who care about things like security... https://www.amium.com/terms
@tonypelosi it should be https://www.amium.com/legal/ -- I'll take a look to see if we use /terms/ somewhere accidentally
This is intriguing ... I'm wondering if you find that people are using this as a direct replacement for something like slack? or have you seen it used as supplemental?
@zach_bruhnke We've seen both. It seems to more immediately supplement an existing file syncing tool if people already use Slack because they feel the pain point around the collaboration on files.
@yuris thanks for the reply ... what do you plan on doing around pricing long term? This pricepoint seems like it may be too good to be true for the team plan
Yuri, this beautiful and I definitely get the need. I'm curious what feedback you've had from managers on getting contributors to participate. In my experience we've tried various tools that get the version tracking done on a technical level and don't demand too much from users. But if someone can't be bothered to change a file name from 25 May to 26 May when they save, how do you make it a habit to update their team in your solution?
@meganmatt42 The good thing about a product like this is that much of the participation happens "automatically" -- People save files, and those changes immediately show up in the conversation, even if they don't do anything. As other people see them, they will ask questions, leave comments, and so on, drawing people into the conversation :)
This looks awesome! Can't wait to never filter my gmail by attachments again :)
I was really excited, but the bubble burst when I read "Use Amium’s built in Microsoft Office Online integration to create, edit, and co-author documents directly from Amium. Or share and discuss any file (pdfs, design files, etc.) by dropping it into Amium."
It sounds like proper inline document editing only works if I (a) have MS Office, and (b) want to use it to write my docs? (Both of which are a "no".) Otherwise I have to go into another app and then manually update it?
Basically what I want is a really good WYSIWYG Markdown editor directly in the app. Which is why I'm still rooting for Quip, even though I have zero chance of convincing my company that it's worth paying for it as an alternative to Google Docs.
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