305: Dropbox’s Drew Houston on Continuous Learning, Decision Making, and Fixing the Way We Work

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By now, the story is legend. When Drew Houston boarded a bus from Boston to New York and discovered that he had—yet again—forgotten to bring his thumb drive, he was frustrated. So frustrated that he sat down and began writing the first lines of code of what would eventually become Dropbox. After over a decade of changing the way files are stored, synced, and shared, Houston is changing the way people work, once again. This time, to solve a problem that likely plagues every single knowledge worker today: our fragmented, overcomplicated workspaces. In this episode, you’ll learn more about Houston’s journey—from ideation to launch—with Dropbox Spaces, as well as the most important lessons he’s collected while building a multibillion-dollar company with over 500 million users. Key Takeaways The relatable experience that inspired Houston to come up with the idea for Dropbox Why Houston doesn’t believe there’s any “magic” involved in building a multibillion-dollar company The importance of decision making and learning continuously on the job How a conversation with a SpaceX engineer sparked the vision behind Dropbox Spaces Houston’s advice on “harvesting” versus “planting” when it comes to your business Why Houston is such a huge believer in intentionally designing your environment—at work and with your personal relationships

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is episode number 305 with Drew Houston of the Founder Podcast.
0:07.6	What you need is thirst.
0:09.3	You need to be a thirsty human who is intent on learning.
0:12.9	It's a really fascinating exploration of human potential.
0:19.2	The Founder Podcast. Even the greatest entrepreneurs had help. now. The founder podcast.
0:22.1	Even the greatest entrepreneurs had help.
0:25.1	If you want to learn from the most successful founders on the planet,
0:28.5	you are in the right place.
0:30.8	Branson, Mark Cuban, Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Ariana Huffington,
0:33.7	Steve Case, Gary V, Sophia Amoroso, Barbara Corcoran, Damon John.
0:37.8	Learn from the greatest minds in business today with interviews hosted by Nathan Chan.
0:42.4	This is not your average entrepreneur podcast.
0:46.0	The Founder Podcast.
0:53.0	Hey guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Before we start today's episode, I just want to let
0:59.2	you know that our goal at founder is to help entrepreneurs succeed however we can by giving
1:04.8	away high quality content in the form of interviews, blog posts, podcasts, YouTube videos,
1:13.5	you name it. We put out so much content to help you. And another interesting project that we're working on right now is partnering with
1:18.1	world-class founders like Damon John, Alexa von Tobel, Greta Van Riel, and so many more to teach
1:24.4	crucial skills like negotiation, finance, e-commerce, and so much more.
1:31.2	So if you'd like to get access to these free trainings with founders like this, which is 100% free,
1:38.2	just go to founder.com forward slash free.
1:41.4	Okay, so now let's talk about today's episode. Hey guys, hope you are doing well. Welcome back to
	...

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