Drew Houston Quotes

Powerful Drew Houston for Daily Growth

About Drew Houston

Drew Houston, an innovative and visionary tech entrepreneur, was born on March 13, 1983, in Mitchell, Indiana. His family relocated to New York City when he was a child, where he grew up with a deep interest in technology and programming. Houston attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and computer science in 2005. While at MIT, Houston experienced the frustration of email systems crashing due to large file transfers, an issue that many students faced. This predicament sparked the idea for Dropbox, a cloud-based file storage platform that would later revolutionize digital data sharing. In 2007, Houston co-founded Dropbox with Arash Ferdowsi, initially working from their dorm rooms at MIT. The pair aimed to provide an easy-to-use solution for users to store and share files online without worrying about storage limitations or system crashes. After graduating in 2008, Houston moved to San Francisco to focus on Dropbox full-time. Dropbox officially launched in September 2008 and quickly gained popularity due to its user-friendly interface and convenient file sharing capabilities. In 2014, the company went public and is now one of the most successful cloud storage platforms worldwide. Houston served as CEO until 2017, when he stepped down but remained on the board of directors. Houston's work with Dropbox has earned him numerous accolades, including being named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014. His story serves as an inspiration for young entrepreneurs and demonstrates the power of innovation and perseverance in the tech industry.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Perfection is the enemy of progress."

The quote "Perfection is the enemy of progress" by Drew Houston emphasizes the idea that an overemphasis on achieving perfection can hinder forward movement or innovation. In striving for flawlessness, individuals may become paralyzed by the fear of failure or the need to meet unrealistic standards, preventing them from taking action and making progress. This quote serves as a reminder that sometimes it's more important to make tangible advancements and learn from mistakes, rather than aiming for an elusive ideal of perfection that may never be attainable.


"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

This quote emphasizes the importance of action, particularly regarding long-term goals or projects. It suggests that while it's ideal to have started something beneficial (like planting a tree) in the past, it's never too late to start today. The message is to not let regret for previous inaction hinder current progress and always strive to improve or make positive changes moving forward.


"Innovation doesn't happen when you meet the schedule."

Drew Houston's quote emphasizes that true innovation often does not adhere to strict timelines or schedules. It suggests that in order for groundbreaking ideas and solutions to emerge, there should be ample time and flexibility to explore, experiment, and refine concepts beyond the constraints of fixed deadlines. This perspective encourages a mindset where creativity, experimentation, and risk-taking are prioritized over meeting predetermined milestones, leading to significant advancements and breakthroughs in various fields.


"When you're not scaling, you're dying."

Drew Houston's quote, "When you're not scaling, you're dying," highlights the importance of growth and adaptation in today's rapidly-changing business landscape. It suggests that stagnation or lack of growth can lead to irrelevance and eventual demise for businesses, as the competition constantly evolves and new players enter the market. This quote encourages companies to continuously innovate, scale up operations, and adapt to stay relevant and thrive in their respective industries.


"If you want something done right, do it yourself – or find someone who can do it better." (This quote is often attributed to Drew Houston but it's actually from Leonard R. Bassett)

This quote emphasizes the importance of either taking responsibility for a task oneself or delegating it to someone who can accomplish it more effectively. It suggests that in order to ensure something is done correctly, one must either possess the necessary skills or find an individual with those skills, rather than blindly relying on others or simply doing it oneself without proper knowledge or expertise. This mindset promotes efficiency and productivity within a team or organization by ensuring tasks are given to the most capable individuals, thereby maximizing the potential for success.


Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward.

- Drew Houston

Give, Perfect, Go, Upward

To the casual observer, the Dropbox demo video looked like a normal product demonstration, but we put in about a dozen Easter eggs that were tailored for the Digg audience. References to Tay Zonday and 'Chocolate Rain' and allusions to 'Office Space' and 'XKCD.' It was a tongue-in-cheek nod to that crowd, and it kicked off a chain reaction.

- Drew Houston

References, Tailored, Nod, Kicked

Our users are trapeze artists, high school football coaches - I got cornered by a couple of theoretical physicists who said Dropbox lets them collaborate across the world and share their experiments' results. They were raving about how it's driving their research.

- Drew Houston

Couple, About, Theoretical, Trapeze

You think about who needs Dropbox, and it's just about anybody with a pulse.

- Drew Houston

Think, Needs, Anybody, Pulse

Devices are getting smarter - your television, your car - and that means more data spread around. There needs to be a fabric that connects all these devices. That's what we do.

- Drew Houston

Data, Needs, Means, Smarter

When I think about it, the happiest and most successful people I know don't just love what they do, they're obsessed with solving something that matters to them. They remind me of a dog chasing a tennis ball: Their eyes go a little crazy, the leash snaps and they go bounding off, plowing through whatever gets in the way.

- Drew Houston

Love, Through, I Think, Plowing

One misconception is that entrepreneurs love risk. Actually, we all want things to go as we expect. What you need is a blind optimism and a tolerance for uncertainty.

- Drew Houston

Love, Blind, Need, Tolerance

When you're in school, every little mistake is a permanent crack in your windshield. But in the real world, if you're not swerving around and hitting the guard rails every now and then, you're not going fast enough. Your biggest risk isn't failing; it's getting too comfortable.

- Drew Houston

Your, Guard, Hitting, Rails

Reading a book about management isn't going to make you a good manager any more than a book about guitar will make you a good guitarist, but it can get you thinking about the most important concepts.

- Drew Houston

The Most Important, Going, Good Manager

With something like Dropbox, it was immediately like, 'Wow, this is literally something that anyone with an Internet connection could use.' Everyone needs something like this; they just don't realize it yet.

- Drew Houston

Everyone, Like, Needs, Wow

One of the great things about moving to Silicon Valley is that you're surrounded by all these people who've done it before. This place is an assembly line that takes a couple of twenty-somethings and walks you through everything you need to learn.

- Drew Houston

Through, Surrounded, Couple, Assembly Line

If you're going to go to the moon, you don't shoot the rocket right at the moon. You have to go at it obliquely.

- Drew Houston

Space, Moon, Going, Shoot

Dropbox is useful to anyone with a phone. That's, like, two billion people.

- Drew Houston

Phone, Like, Billion, Useful

There are 30,000 days in your life. When I was 24, I realized I'm almost 9,000 days down. There are no warm-ups, no practice rounds, no reset buttons. Your biggest risk isn't failing, it's getting too comfortable. Every day, we're writing a few more words of a story. I wanted my story to be an adventure and that's made all the difference.

- Drew Houston

Practice, Every Day, Almost, Rounds

Where you live matters. Whatever you're doing, there's usually only one place where the top people go. You should go there. Don't settle for anywhere else. Meeting my heroes and learning from them gave me a huge advantage. Your heroes are part of your circle, too - follow them. If the real action is happening somewhere else, move.

- Drew Houston

Doing, Settle, Part, Meeting

There's this joy that comes from sitting down to solve a problem and standing up when it's done and good. Building a company or managing people is never just done.

- Drew Houston

Good, Down, Done, Standing Up

People make basic assumptions based on what they have now. But you have to ask yourself, 'Is this really what people are going to be doing in five years?' Very few people ask themselves what they would actually want instead if they could wave a magic wand.

- Drew Houston

Magic, Doing, Very, Basic

What scares me the most is that both the poker bot and Dropbox started out as distractions. That little voice in my head was telling me where to go, and the whole time I was telling it to shut up so I could get back to work. Sometimes that little voice knows best.

- Drew Houston

Voice, Shut, Telling, Distractions

You're not going to become a great manager overnight. You're not going to become a great public speaker or figure out how to raise money. These are the things you want to start the clock on as early as possible.

- Drew Houston

Manager, Going, Figure, Clock

A lot of really great, innovative things have happened when people just didn't know it wasn't supposed to be possible.

- Drew Houston

Great, People, Possible, Happened

If you have a dream, you can spend a lifetime studying, planning, and getting ready for it. What you should be doing is getting started.

- Drew Houston

Doing, Studying, Lifetime, Ready

No one is born a CEO, but no one tells you that.

- Drew Houston

Born, You, Tells, CEO

People do not choose Dropbox because it has this much space or gigabytes. They choose it for the experience.

- Drew Houston

Experience, People, Because, Choose

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.