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    Aaron Levie

    CEO of Box - The Content Cloud

    Aaron Levie: From College Dropout to Successful Entrepreneur

    Aaron Levie is the co-founder and CEO of Box, a leading enterprise cloud company. Born in Boulder, Colorado in 1984, Levie grew up in Mercer Island, Washington before attending the University of Southern California.2

    While studying at USC, Levie came up with the idea for Box, an online file storage and collaboration platform, as a college business project in 2004.2 He incorporated the company in 2005 with his friend Dylan Smith and secured initial funding from investor Mark Cuban after a cold email pitch.12

    Levie dropped out of USC during his junior year in 2005 to focus on growing Box full-time.12 The company pivoted from a consumer service to an enterprise cloud platform in 2007, which proved to be a key strategic move.2

    Under Levie's leadership, Box has grown to over 14 million paid users and is valued at an estimated $4 billion.1 The company went public on the NYSE in 2015.2 Today, Box counts 40% of Fortune 500 companies as paying customers.2

    Levie has been recognized as a thought leader in the enterprise software space, speaking at industry events and contributing articles to publications like The Washington Post, Fortune, and Forbes.2 He advises founders to maintain control of their destiny by keeping expenses low and getting close to revenue equaling expenses.4

    With his signature wit and insight, Levie continues to steer Box's growth as CEO, drawing on the lessons learned from his journey as a college dropout turned successful entrepreneur.13

    Highlights

    Yesterday · twitter

    More of this https://t.co/CgjkFwnBF2

    More of this https://t.co/CgjkFwnBF2
    Nov 12 · twitter

    America could enter a supercycle of growth in manufacturing, energy, housing, innovation, and more with the right policies going forward. https://t.co/PaG8IlEwtG

    America could enter a supercycle of growth in manufacturing, energy, housing, innovation, and more w
    Mar 19 · CNBC
    Activist investors take aim at cloud software after market swoon - CNBC
    Mar 18 · Entrepreneur
    3 Outperforming Software Stocks That Have More Room to Run: Akamai, Amdocs and Box - Entrepreneur
    Dec 3 · bvp.com
    Box's Aaron Levie on his journey from college dropout to public CEO
    Aug 21 · techcrunch.com
    Box CEO Aaron Levie says thrifty founders have more control

    Related Questions

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    Experience

    CEO at Box - The Content Cloud since Feb 2005
    Co-founder of a cloud-based content management and collaboration platform

    Education

    Leave of absence (dropout) from University of Southern California, studied Business, Marketing, Entrepreneurship

    Location

    Berkeley, California, United States