Home > Uncategorized > Interview with Aaron Levie of Box

Interview with Aaron Levie of Box

Box is a way that individuals and small businesses can easily access and share their files online. Box is also a platform that other applications and services can use to power their own storage and sharing needs.

Aaron grew up in Seattle and have always been interested and involved (in a variety of capacities) in technology. Aaron studied business at USC for a couple of years, but am now on leave to run Box.

What was the inspiration behind starting Box? Did you all identify a gap in the online storage space that you felt Box could provide a solution for?

The idea was very simple to start – we wanted people to have a place they could easily access and share files from. We weren’t satisfied with thumbdrives, and the web services that existed at the time weren’t cutting it. Over time, we also began to realize the power of having a flexible platform – this led us to our API, RSS file sharing, the Box widget, and more.

What was the decision making process like in deciding to relocate from Seattle to the bay area?

There’s nothing like the Bay Area if you’re in technology. Seattle gets close, but the Valley’s community, talent, ideas, and culture play a strong supporting role in building a web-based company. We’re no exception.

Being young entrepreneurs, have you run into any hesitations from potential investors when pitching them for funds?

I would say that investors are very open and willing to hear about ideas or businesses from the younger folks. Being younger dosn’t mean you lack great ideas, it just means you likely have less experience in building a team, scaling a service, etc. What’s important is to have advisors and a team that can fill in some of those gaps.

What it is like having Draper Fisher Jurvetson as an investor?

DFJ has been an amazing investor. They’re extremely supportive of our decisions, and have provided excellent guidance to us as young entrepreneurs.

BONUS: What is a typical day in the life of like at the Box headquarters? Is it difficult to live and work in the same space?

Good question. We’re actually on our way to not living in the HQ anymore. As we’ve built up the team, its important to keep a sane office environment 🙂

Copyright © 2007 by Will Kern

Categories: Uncategorized Tags:
  1. No comments yet.
  1. No trackbacks yet.
You must be logged in to post a comment.