Drew Houston
Encyclopedia
Andrew "Drew" Houston is an American internet entrepreneur
and is best known for being the founder and CEO of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service. According to Forbes magazine, he has a net worth of $400 million US dollarshttp://www.forbes.com/pictures/ekge45eg/drew-houston.
in 1983. He attended Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
in the 1990s. He later graduated in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity. It was there that he met Arash Ferdowsi
who would later go on to be co-founder and CTO of Dropbox.
while he was a student at MIT
. He says that existing services at the time "suffered problems with Internet latency
, large files, bugs
, or just made me think too much." He began making something for himself, but then realized that it could benefit others with the same problem. Drew Houston founded Dropbox, Inc. in 2007, and shortly thereafter secured seed funding from Y Combinator
. Dropbox officially launched at 2008's TechCrunch50
, an annual technology conference.
has been called the best young tech entrepreneur by Business Week and Dropbox has been touted as Y Combinator
's most successful investment to date.
Drew Houston has been named among the top 30 under 30 enterpreneurs by inc.com.
Dropbox has been called one of the 20 best startups of Silicon Valley
.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and is best known for being the founder and CEO of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service. According to Forbes magazine, he has a net worth of $400 million US dollarshttp://www.forbes.com/pictures/ekge45eg/drew-houston.
Early life
Drew Houston was born in Acton, MassachusettsActon, Massachusetts
Acton is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States about twenty-one miles west-northwest of Boston along Route 2 west of Concord and about ten miles southwest of Lowell. The population was 21,924 at the 2010 census...
in 1983. He attended Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School is an open enrollment high school in Acton, Massachusetts. It serves the Massachusetts towns of Acton and Boxborough, with roughly 500 students per grade level in grades 9 through 12. ABRHS has consistently ranked among the top secondary schools in Massachusetts...
in the 1990s. He later graduated in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
fraternity. It was there that he met Arash Ferdowsi
Arash Ferdowsi
Arash Ferdowsi is an Iranian-American entrepreneur known as the co-founder and chief technology officer of Dropbox.-Career:Ferdowsi launched Dropbox in June of 2007 with his business partner at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
who would later go on to be co-founder and CTO of Dropbox.
Early Startups
Before working on Dropbox, Drew Houston worked on a number of other startups which include Bit9, Accolade and Hubspot.Dropbox
Drew Houston reportedly conceived the idea for Dropbox after repeatedly forgetting his USB driveUSB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
while he was a student at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. He says that existing services at the time "suffered problems with Internet latency
CAS Latency
Column Address Strobe latency, or CL, is the delay time between the moment a memory controller tells the memory module to access a particular memory column on a RAM memory module, and the moment the data from given array location is available on the module's output pins...
, large files, bugs
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
, or just made me think too much." He began making something for himself, but then realized that it could benefit others with the same problem. Drew Houston founded Dropbox, Inc. in 2007, and shortly thereafter secured seed funding from Y Combinator
Y Combinator
Y Combinator is an American seed-stage startup funding firm, started in March 2005. Y Combinator provides seed money, advice, and connections at two 3-month programs per year...
. Dropbox officially launched at 2008's TechCrunch50
TechCrunch50
TechCrunch50 was a conference held at the Design Center Concourse in San Francisco, California on September 14-15, 2009, hosted by TechCrunch and Jason Calacanis. Its aim was to find the best Web 2.0 start-ups and launch them in front of the industry's most influential venture capitalists,...
, an annual technology conference.
Accolades
Drew HoustonDrew Houston
Andrew "Drew" Houston is an American internet entrepreneur and is best known for being the founder and CEO of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service. According to Forbes magazine, he has a net worth of $400 million US dollars.-Early life:...
has been called the best young tech entrepreneur by Business Week and Dropbox has been touted as Y Combinator
Y Combinator
Y Combinator is an American seed-stage startup funding firm, started in March 2005. Y Combinator provides seed money, advice, and connections at two 3-month programs per year...
's most successful investment to date.
Drew Houston has been named among the top 30 under 30 enterpreneurs by inc.com.
Dropbox has been called one of the 20 best startups of Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
.
External links
- http://www.crunchbase.com/person/drew-houston
- http://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston
- http://www.younoodle.com/people/drew_houston
- http://www.dropbox.com/about
- http://www.quora.com/Drew-Houston