# Dropbox: Drew Houston

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2020-11-09
- Length: 47m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston

## Summary

Drew Houston, co-founder of Dropbox, explains how a forgotten thumb drive on a bus ride in 2006 inspired the creation of a cloud-based file synchronization service. He details the process of joining Y Combinator, finding co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and leveraging a viral demo video on Hacker News to gain early traction. Houston discusses securing funding from Sequoia Capital, navigating a hostile meeting with Steve Jobs, and pivoting the business model to focus on enterprise clients to ensure long-term survival against tech giants.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=0) Introduction: Drew Houston and the Dropbox Origin Story
- [5:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=336) Early Programming Experience and SAT Prep Startup
- [11:30](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=690) The Bus Ride Idea and Initial Prototyping
- [15:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=917) Y Combinator Application and Finding Co-founder Arash Ferdowsi
- [27:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=1648) Investor Skepticism and Sequoia Capital Funding
- [37:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=2248) Meeting with Steve Jobs and Apple Competition
- [41:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston#t=2496) Pivoting to Enterprise and Shutting Down Consumer Products

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Dropbox (product)
- Y Combinator (other)
- Hacker News (other)
- Sequoia Capital (company)
- Bit 9 (company)
- Accolade (company)
- Soft Servo Systems (company)
- Kite (company)
- Zobni (company)
- Mailbox (product)
- Carousel (product)
- iCloud (product)
- Google (company)
- Microsoft (company)
- Apple (company)
- Facebook (company)
- MIT (other)
- Reddit (other)
- Digg (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Fail Whaling](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-04-26-fail-whaling) (Oxide and Friends)
- [Competing with Tech Giants: Approaches and Challenges with Morgan Teachworth of Cisco](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2023-03-02-competing-with-tech-giants-approaches-and-challenges-with-morgan-teachworth-of-c) (Over the Air)
- [Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-05-27-rooting-for-the-home-team-with-paul-freedman-and-bryan-carmel) (Oxide and Friends)
- [Tune in for Season 3 of Moore's Lobby](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-08-19-tune-in-for-season-3-of-moores-lobby) (Moore's Lobby)
- [Garrett McCurrach and Canon Reeves (Co-Founders, Pipedream Labs)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/just-gonna-send-it/2025-12-17-garrett-mccurrach-and-canon-reeves-co-founders-pipedream-labs) (Just Gonna Send It)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-11-09-dropbox-drew-houston. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.