Arash Ferdowsi
Arash Ferdowsi is an Iranian-American entrepreneur chiefly famous for being one of Dropbox’s co-founders. In 2015, his estimated net worth was 500 million USD.
Early life
Ferdowsi was born in Overland Park, Kansas, USA on October 7, 1985. He attended Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, from which he graduated in 2004.
MIT & Dropbox
During his last year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ferdowsi dropped out to focus on his business.
Dropbox was founded by Ferdowsi and his fellow MIT student Drew Houston in June 2007. In September, the company was moved to San Francisco where it raised venture capital. Among the investors were Sequoia Capita, Y Combinator and Accel Partners.
Accolades
In 2011, Ferdowsi appeared on Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30” top entrepreneurs list, and also on Fortune Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list.
Andrew W. “Drew” Houston
Andew W. “Drew” Houston in an American entrepreneur chiefly famous for being one of Dropbox’s co-founders. In 2017, his estimated net worth exceeded 1 billion USD.
Early life
Houston (pronounced HOUS-ton) was born in Acton, Massachusetts, USA on March 4, 1983. His father is a Harvard University graduate.
Houston received his first computer as a child and used it to learn how to program in BASIC.
He attended Acton-Boxborough Regional High School.
MIT & Dropbox
At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Houston was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. It was at MIT that he got know Arash Ferdowsi and founded Dropbox with him in June 2007. Before Dropbox, Houston worked on several other start-ups, including Hubspot, Bit9 and Accolade.
Houston graduated from MIT with a degree in Computer Science.
Accolades
- Included in Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” top entrepreneurs list.
- Included in Businesses Week’s list of the most promising players aged 30 and under.