To validate the need for Dropbox, I created a demo video that gained significant traction on Hacker News, which helped us get into Y Combinator.

The partnership came together when I realized my heart wasn't in venture capital; I wanted to build. I felt lost after leaving Dropbox, where I was part of a product that 400-500 million people were using.

My first reaction at Dropbox was the need to move and launch faster, as I couldn't understand why we only released the desktop client every couple of months, unlike the daily releases at Facebook.

I met Arash, my co-founder, through a mutual friend, and we hit it off immediately, deciding to work together on Dropbox shortly after.

Dropbox's founders faced challenges in predicting their success early on because many others were working on similar solutions, highlighting the importance of execution.

Despite initial skepticism from investors about Dropbox competing with Google, I emphasized that just because others had tried similar ideas didn't mean it was a bad one.

Dropbox has evolved from merely storing files to facilitating team collaboration, highlighting the importance of sharing over just storage. It started as a file-sharing service, but I recognized early on that the role of files in people's lives was changing, especially with the rise of platforms like iTunes and Netflix.

To accelerate progress at Dropbox, I realized the fastest way was to grow the team size, as we started with only 30 engineers who were spread too thin across various platforms.

I missed out on investing in Dropbox because I canceled a meeting with Drew, which was poor investor behavior and cost me a significant opportunity.