Arash Ferdowsi

Arash Ferdowsi
Born (1985-10-07) October 7, 1985
Overland Park, Kansas, US
Nationality American
Occupation Co-Founder, Dropbox
Net worth US$1.1 billion (April 2018)[1]

Arash Ferdowsi (Persian: آرش فردوسی‎, born October 7, 1985) is an Iranian-American billionaire entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Dropbox.[2]

Early life and education

Ferdowsi was born in Overland Park, Kansas, US on 7 October 1985, the son of Iranian immigrants Gholam Ferdowsi (b. 1950) and Tahmineh "Tammy" Faridazar (b. 1959). Ferdowsi's father, a mortgage broker, is a native of Tabriz in northwestern Iran.[3] His parents met and married in 1984, while students at the University of Central Missouri and the University of Missouri–Kansas City, respectively. They settled in the US following the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

He attended Blue Valley Northwest High School, a public high school in Overland Park, graduating first in his class in 2004.[4] Ferdowsi went on to study electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), dropping out of his program in his last year to focus on his business.[5]

Career

Ferdowsi launched Dropbox in June 2007 with his business partner, Drew Houston, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In September 2007, Ferdowsi moved his company to San Francisco and raised venture capital from Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Y Combinator, and a handful of individual investors.[5] In March 2018, Dropbox underwent an initial public offering, valuing the company at around USD 9.2 billion.[6]

From the company's establishment in June 2007 until October 2016, Ferdowsi served as the chief technology officer (CTO) of Dropbox.[7] He remains a member of Dropbox's management team and board of directors.[8]

Awards and highlights

References

  1. ↑ "Dropbox Stock Pop Puts Kansas Native in Tech Billionaires Club". Forbes. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  2. ↑ Arash Ferdowsi | CrunchBase Profile. Crunchbase.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-14.
  3. ↑ "Blue Valley Northwest grad is a billionaire, thanks to the tech company he founded". The Kansas City Star. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Meet the richest area native you've probably never heard of". The Kansas City Star. 9 February 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Carter, Nicole (2011-06-27). "Inc.com 30under30: Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, Founders of Dropbox". Inc.com. Mansueto Ventures. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  6. ↑ "Dropbox Priced at $21 a Share in I.P.O., Valuing Company at $9.2 Billion". New York Times. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  7. ↑ "Dropbox appoints new CTO, Aditya Agarwal, takes over for cofounder Arash Ferdowsi". Venture Beat. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  8. ↑ "About - Dropbox". Dropbox. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "40 Under 40 - Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi". money.cnn.com. Fortune. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  10. ↑ Constine, Josh (2014-02-11). "Dropbox's Cloud Storage Kings Drew Houston And Arash Ferdowsi Win Founder Of The Year Crunchie". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
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