Andrew W. Houston (; born March 4, 1983) is an American Internet

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

best known as the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', his net worth is about $2.2 billion. Houston held 24.4% of voting power in Dropbox before the company filed for IPO in February 2018.

Early life

Houston was born in Acton, Massachusetts, in 1983. He attended

Acton-Boxborough Regional High School Acton-Boxborough Regional High School (ABRHS or simply AB) is an open-enrollment high school in Acton, Massachusetts, United States. A part of the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District, it serves the Massachusetts towns of Acton and Boxboroug ...

in the 1990s. He later graduated with a degree in computer science from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT), 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. During his time in college, Houston also co-founded a

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

prep company.

Career

Houston and Ferdowsi co-founded Dropbox in 2007. Houston currently is CEO and 25% owner of Dropbox. In February 2020, Houston joined the board of directors of

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, replacing Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who left in May 2019.

Reputation

In 2008, Houston was named one of the "most promising players aged 30 and under" by Business Week, and Dropbox has been touted as

Y Combinator Y Combinator, LLC (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm launched in March 2005 which has been used to launch more than 5,000 companies. The accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, Californi ...

's most successful investment to date. Houston was also named among the top 30 under-30 entrepreneurs by Inc., and Dropbox has been called one of the 20 best startups of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

. In 2013, MIT invited Houston to serve as speaker at its annual commencement ceremonies.

Personal life

Houston lives in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us (aimed at lobbying for immigration reform and improvements to education) was launched, with Houston listed as one of the founders. In 2016, he endorsed

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

in the 2016 United States presidential election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houston, Drew 1983 births Living people American computer businesspeople American computer scientists Businesspeople from Massachusetts Businesspeople in software MIT School of Engineering alumni American technology company founders American technology chief executives Y Combinator people American billionaires People from Acton, Massachusetts Directors of Facebook Phi Delta Theta members 21st-century American businesspeople