Dropbox's Houston at SXSW

I plan to write a few posts as I digest the craziness of SXSW and get a sense of the trends and patterns emerging that affect PR. For now, I wanted to share some quick highlights from Kara Swisher’s interview yesterday with Drew Houston, co-founder of the amazing Dropbox.
I love Dropbox. We run our business on it.  It was cool to learn more about the 29 year old behind the company. (He’s on his sixth start-up having being hired for his first tech gig aged 14).

- To get funding, the key investors insisted Houston get a co-founder. Two heads are better than one.

- He moved from Boston because the eco-system in Silicon Valley for consumer internet companies is like nowhere else

- They tested the first iteration with “normal” “real” people they found on craigslist. It was a train wreck and got them to understand how to build a better producta- They built something simple because they didn’t have time to build something complicated – and it resulted in a better product

- They focus on trying to solve problems people have with their technology – (hallelujah!)

- His ideal is that the technology should serve you (not the other way around)

- Focus on the product and the employees – that’s all you have

Sounds simple, but having worked with numerous startups, getting all of this to align at the right time is what makes for an amazing product.