One of the original founders of WeTransfer is openly distancing himself from the platform he helped build and is now backing a competing file transfer service rooted in a very different set of priorities. Nalden, a Dutch entrepreneur who co-founded WeTransfer in 2009 and exited the company in 2019, has been increasingly critical of the product’s evolution following its acquisition by Bending Spoons in 2024. In his view, recent decisions reflect a shift away from user-focused design toward operational and financial optimization.
Nalden argues that the changes introduced after the acquisition undermined the simplicity that originally made WeTransfer popular with creatives and small teams. He points to alterations in how transfer links behave, significant staff reductions that eliminated roughly three-quarters of the workforce, and a brief but controversial attempt to allow user-uploaded files to be used for AI training. Although WeTransfer ultimately reversed parts of its revised terms, the episode contributed to growing unease among long-time users.
According to Nalden, that dissatisfaction became especially apparent when designers, artists, and other creatives began contacting him directly to express frustration with the service. Those conversations helped clarify his motivation to build an alternative that stripped file sharing back to its essentials. The result is Boomerang, a new file transfer service that allows users to send files without creating an account and without navigating additional features that are not directly related to the transfer itself.
The core experience is intentionally limited. Users who do not log in can send files with a total storage cap of 1GB, individual file size limits of 1GB, and an automatic expiration after seven days. Creating a free account expands those limits modestly and adds basic management tools such as upload history and file deletion. A paid tier priced at €6.99 per month increases storage allowances substantially, introduces password protection and longer expiration periods, and enables collaborative folders with multiple users.
Nalden has been clear that Boomerang is not intended to compete on scale or feature breadth with large cloud storage platforms. Instead, it is positioned as a lightweight utility designed for quick exchanges. He has also stated that the service will not rely on advertising or extensive data collection, arguing that both tend to introduce friction and complexity over time. While AI tools are being used internally during development, he does not plan to expose AI-driven features to end users.
This approach runs counter to broader trends in consumer software, where services often expand into bundled platforms in pursuit of higher engagement and revenue per user. Whether a deliberately narrow product like Boomerang can sustain itself remains uncertain, but its existence reflects a growing appetite among some users for simpler tools that prioritize function over expansion. For Nalden, the project appears less about reclaiming market share and more about revisiting the design philosophy that originally made WeTransfer widely adopted.
