Episode

#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
Description
"Write an interesting story, not a perfect story." — Drew HoustonDrew Houston (@DrewHouston) is co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. Since founding the company in 2007 with Arash Ferdowsi, Drew has led the company's growth from a simple idea to a service used by 500 million people around the world.Drew received his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2006. After graduating, he turned his frustration with carrying USB drives and emailing files to himself into a demo for what became Dropbox. Today Dropbox is one of the world's leading business collaboration platforms, with 11 million paying subscribers and 1,800 employees across 12 global offices.Enjoy!This podcast is brought to you by 99designs, the global creative platform that makes it easy for designers and clients to work together to create designs they love. Its creative process has become the go-to solution for businesses, agencies, and individuals, and I have used it for years to help with display advertising and illustrations and to rapid prototype the cover for The Tao of Seneca. Whether your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99designs.You can work with multiple designers at once to get a bunch of different ideas, or hire the perfect designer for your project based based on their style and industry specialization. It's simple to review concepts and leave feedback so you'll end up with a design that you're happy with. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade.This podcast is also brought to you by WordPress, my go-to platform for 24/7-supported, zero downtime blogging, writing online, creating websites. I love it to bits, and the lead developer, Matt Mullenweg, has appeared on this podcast many times.Whether for personal use or business, you're in good company with WordPress, which is used by The New Yorker, Jay Z, Beyoncé, FiveThirtyEight, TechCrunch, TED, CNN, and Time, just to name a few. A source at Google told me that WordPress offers "the best out-of-the-box SEO imaginable," which is probably why it runs nearly 30% of the Internet. Go to WordPress.com/Tim to get 15% off your website today!***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapters
Tim Ferriss interviews Drew Houston, the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox.
00:00 - 05:35 (05:35)
Summary
Tim Ferriss interviews Drew Houston, the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. They discuss the habits, routines and ideas that help Drew manage a team of thousands while still keeping the company's start-up ethos intact.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker talks about how reading was a good way to introduce him to various topics, and how working in programming internships and summer jobs, as well being labeled "most likely to start a company," led him to take a leave of absence from undergrad to start a startup focused on SAT prep.
05:35 - 15:55 (10:19)
Summary
The speaker talks about how reading was a good way to introduce him to various topics, and how working in programming internships and summer jobs, as well being labeled "most likely to start a company," led him to take a leave of absence from undergrad to start a startup focused on SAT prep.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker recommends several books for personal and professional development including "High Output Management" by Andy Grove, "The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker, and "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen.
15:55 - 22:49 (06:54)
Summary
The speaker recommends several books for personal and professional development including "High Output Management" by Andy Grove, "The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker, and "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
Developing wisdom and judgment requires building a catalog of mental models and concepts that can be applied in various situations.
22:49 - 31:58 (09:08)
Summary
Developing wisdom and judgment requires building a catalog of mental models and concepts that can be applied in various situations. Textbooks and personal experiences like Ben Horowitz's "Hard Thing About Hard Things" and Ray Delio's "Principles" are great sources for practical and tactical advice.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
Many requests that come through email can be filtered out and ignored.
31:59 - 38:26 (06:27)
Summary
Many requests that come through email can be filtered out and ignored. However, finding ways to handle the important requests and manage your inbox can be tough.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The best way to manage your email inbox is to batch process the small requests and have a weekly cadence to deal with them, as well as to talk to people in person instead of getting into long email threads.
38:28 - 43:32 (05:04)
Summary
The best way to manage your email inbox is to batch process the small requests and have a weekly cadence to deal with them, as well as to talk to people in person instead of getting into long email threads. It's important to measure your time and understand where it goes, which can be achieved by keeping a log and categorizing activities.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
This podcast episode discusses time management tips from Peter Drucker's book "The Effective Executive", including the importance of creating systems and taking time for reflection in order to make progress on important priorities.
43:32 - 48:32 (04:59)
Summary
This podcast episode discusses time management tips from Peter Drucker's book "The Effective Executive", including the importance of creating systems and taking time for reflection in order to make progress on important priorities.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
Frustrated with the tedious task of emailing files to himself, Drew Houston started coding a solution which became Dropbox.
48:32 - 59:25 (10:53)
Summary
Frustrated with the tedious task of emailing files to himself, Drew Houston started coding a solution which became Dropbox. He was also inspired by the success of his earlier project, a poker bot that played with real money.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker reflects on their experience of failing to become a co-founder due to a bad first impression at a Y Combinator event.
59:25 - 1:10:37 (11:12)
Summary
The speaker reflects on their experience of failing to become a co-founder due to a bad first impression at a Y Combinator event.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
Drew Houston, co-founder of Dropbox, shares the story behind the company's name and his nerdy high school hobby of attending LAN parties.
1:10:37 - 1:19:36 (08:59)
Summary
Drew Houston, co-founder of Dropbox, shares the story behind the company's name and his nerdy high school hobby of attending LAN parties.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The founder of Dropbox, Drew Houston, shares the story of how the company got started and the challenges they faced, including doubts from investors and criticisms of their name.
1:19:36 - 1:31:46 (12:09)
Summary
The founder of Dropbox, Drew Houston, shares the story of how the company got started and the challenges they faced, including doubts from investors and criticisms of their name.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker shares their perspective on the importance of coaching, self-awareness and setting healthy boundaries for a sustainable workload while managing a startup company.
1:31:46 - 1:40:10 (08:23)
Summary
The speaker shares their perspective on the importance of coaching, self-awareness and setting healthy boundaries for a sustainable workload while managing a startup company. The goal post of success should not only be about the money, but also personal growth and success.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker advises to live life more as an adventure or a story and not just as a series of tasks with worldly achievements averaged into a GPA.
1:40:10 - 1:50:52 (10:42)
Summary
The speaker advises to live life more as an adventure or a story and not just as a series of tasks with worldly achievements averaged into a GPA.
Episode#334: Drew Houston — The Billionaire Founder of Dropbox
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
In this episode, the guest shares the benefits of using Wordpress.com for website building, including its out-of-box SEO features, user-friendly interface, and support services.
1:50:52 - 1:56:07 (05:14)
Summary
In this episode, the guest shares the benefits of using Wordpress.com for website building, including its out-of-box SEO features, user-friendly interface, and support services. The episode also includes advertisements for 99designs and a free email newsletter by the host.