Dropbox chief Drew Houston to join elite ranks of idea-to-IPO founders

Drew Houston had once made some changes during his high school to computer games such as Starcraft so that it could run more smoothly on his friends’ computer. Since then, Houston, now 35, has taken a version of that same concept and turned it into Dropbox, an online file storage and collaboration company that has grown rapidly since its founding in 2007.

Last month, Dropbox filed to go public, and when it does Houston will become the newest member of a small club of tech founders who steered a start-up all the way to Wall Street. In the process, Houston is also set to become the next bona fide tech billionaire.

According to Dropbox’s initial public offering (IPO) filing, he owns 25 per cent of the company, making him its single largest shareholder. Dropbox was last privately valued at about $10 billion, meaning Houston’s stake was worth about $2.5 billion on paper.

Whether Houston successfully takes Dropbox public will be closely watched, with other privately held tech companies like Uber and Airbnb also edging toward an IPO DWopbox, which is based in San Francisco, is unprofitable, and Houston now has to navigate through a challenging time, both guiding his company around the tech giants that are squeezing into its space and adapting his frat guy persona to a changing culture. 

Dropbox said Houston was unavailable for comment, citing the quiet period before an IPO. But according to interviews with more than a dozen people, Houston built his  company with an easy-going management style and a dry sense of humour, which helped him deal with the bumps along the way.