Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi co-founded Dropbox in 2007.
Houston conceived the service after repeatedly forgetting a USB flash drive and wanting a more convenient way to access files. Ferdowsi joined him as a co-founder, and the company developed software that synchronized files across computers and later across phones and browsers.
Dropbox became a prominent example of consumer cloud storage. Its basic promise was straightforward: a file saved in one location could be made available on other connected devices. The company was initially developed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later headquartered in San Francisco.
Dropbox is commonly confused with Box, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. Those services also store files online, but they are separate products operated by different companies. Dropbox’s distinctive early growth came from simple synchronization and a referral program that rewarded users with additional storage.