Docstoc is an electronic document repository and online store, aimed at
providing professional, financial and legal documents for the business
community. Users can upload, share and sell their own documents, or
purchase professional documents written in-house by professionals and
lawyers.
Docstoc was officially launched by co-founders Jason Nazar (CEO) and Alon
Shwartz (CTO) in October 2007, one month after its debut at the
TechCrunch40 Conference.[1] Docstoc began as a resource for sharing
documents (including .doc, .pdf and .ppt formats), and allowed users to
embed documents on their blog or website. Docstoc announced its emergence
from beta on May 13, 2009[2] and introduced several new features,
including revenue sharing with users through advertisements.[3]. Docstoc
was initially compared to content sharing databases such as Scribd, but
after its departure from beta evolved into a resource focused on the
needs of business owners. The company expanded rapidly in 2011, and
currently employs over 30 people.
The original Docstoc technology allows users to upload, share or embed
documents on their website. Features such as DocShots allow users to
hover over an embedded document link and view a preview without having to
download it.[4] Documents can also be set to private, and shared with
select people.
In 2010, The Docstore Marketplace was launched, and Docstoc encouraged
professional users such as lawyers, accountants and real estate brokers
to earn revenue from selling their own business documents on the
site.[5]. Users can sell their commercial documents (such as contracts,
business templates, technical guides or academic papers) and split the
revenue with Docstoc. All of these seller documents must be approved by
Docstoc before being placed in the Docstore, in order to manage
professional quality. Document owners can also register for DocCash, a
service which generates 50/50 revenue from advertisements between Docstoc
and the user.
In 2011, Docstoc focused on producing its own high-quality business
content, with the goal of creating 10,000 professional documents
internally by the end of the year; these premium documents were in
addition to the over 20 million documents already uploaded by users.[6]
It also developed partnerships with content providers such as LegalZoom
and ProQuest Dissertations, and produced its own articles and videos
featuring tips for business professionals. For users interested in
frequent use, the website launched Docstoc Premium, a subscription
service that allows users to access premium business documents and
packages using credits, and surf the website without advertisements.[7]
Users can also access Docstoc Premium documents remotely through the iPad
app, which was launched in May, 2011.
DocStoc's CEE was quoted by CNN Money in February 2010 saying that the
DocStoc database held 13 million documents, was getting twenty million
visitors per month, and hosting a million downloads per month.[10] In
2011, the website reported hosting over 20 million user documents and
growing from 3 million registered users to over 11 million users.