At present, we introduced that Ashraf Alkarmi will turn out to be Dropbox co-CEO alongside Drew Houston. Following a transition interval, Ashraf will turn out to be sole CEO and Drew will transfer into the position of govt chairman. Drew and Ashraf shared the information with Dropboxers this morning within the emails under. Congratulations, Ashraf!
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Topic: Congratulations Ashraf, our new co-CEO!
Hello crew,
At present we’re selling Ashraf Alkarmi to co-CEO of Dropbox. Ashraf has finished an unimaginable job remodeling our core enterprise, and I can not consider a greater chief for Dropbox’s subsequent chapter. Ashraf and I’ll collectively lead the corporate, and after a transition interval I am going to transfer into the position of govt chairman and Ashraf would be the sole CEO.
I wish to share why we’re doing this and why now. Our enterprise is in a stronger place than it has been in years, and plenty of that’s due to Ashraf. He inherited a difficult setup when he took over our core enterprise. Many inside and out of doors the corporate have been skeptical that our trajectory may change, however Ashraf noticed issues in a different way. He made tough and brave calls, positioned some good bets, and people bets are paying off. Whereas there’s nonetheless loads of necessary work forward, the enterprise has been getting stronger each quarter.
Early in operating Dropbox, somebody gave me a chunk of recommendation: earlier than you rent anybody, ask your self in the event you’d be ok with your little brother or sister working for this particular person (I didn’t have youngsters on the time.) Ashraf is that chief. He cares deeply in regards to the work and he cares deeply in regards to the folks doing the work. He tells the reality even when it is laborious and disagrees with me after I’m flawed. And anybody who has finished karaoke with Ashraf at our offsites is aware of our tradition is in good fingers.
Ashraf has spent his complete profession—at Amazon, at Vimeo, and earlier than—constructing merchandise for the artistic and content-focused clients we serve. He is additionally been main from the entrance on AI. Final December, whereas a lot of the world was on break, Ashraf was constructing prototypes with AI instruments and pushing us to assume larger about what our merchandise may turn out to be. I can’t look ahead to our clients to see the subsequent technology of the Dropbox expertise.
Ashraf and I will likely be working side-by-side by way of the transition. I care about Dropbox as a lot as I ever have, and that is not going to alter. My focus proper now’s ensuring Dropbox is within the strongest doable form. However figuring out me, it will not be lengthy earlier than I am getting bank card alerts for my Cursor token spend.
Please be part of me in congratulating Ashraf. We’ll do an All Palms at this time at 10am PT the place we’ll take your questions, and we’ll have extra time collectively within the coming days.
Drew
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Reply from Ashraf:
Hello crew,
First, I wish to say how grateful I’m for the chance and belief that comes with this position. Dropbox is an organization and product I’ve admired for a very long time, and it’s been extremely rewarding to work alongside this crew. I’m additionally past enthusiastic about this subsequent chapter for Dropbox!
What’s energized me most since becoming a member of Dropbox is the connection folks have with our model. I’ve heard it time and again in conversations with clients all over the world, from artistic groups at Sundance to long-time customers who inform me Dropbox was one of many first merchandise they ever paid for. Dropbox is a trusted residence for his or her most necessary work, and that creates an actual accountability for us to maintain bettering the expertise for them.
I’m actually excited to double down on buyer obsession and construct merchandise that resolve laborious, actual issues for the individuals who depend on Dropbox day by day. Our clients are asking us to do rather more within the AI period, and we have to preserve innovating aggressively to enhance how work will get finished.
As Drew mentioned, we’re in a a lot stronger place than we’ve been in years, and that progress is due to all of you. Over the past 12 months and a half, we’ve gotten a lot clearer about our priorities, the place we make investments, and the way we function. We’ve constructed a a lot stronger basis as an organization, and that focus is exhibiting up in our outcomes and in how persons are partaking with our merchandise.
It offers me plenty of confidence in what’s forward for Dropbox, and I’m grateful to the groups throughout the corporate who’ve stepped up, taken possession, and helped drive that transformation!
My dedication to you is that we’ll be deliberate about the place we’re going and the way we work. We’re getting into a brand new chapter the place we’ll be much more targeted on our clients. We’ll make selections grounded of their wants and within the outcomes we’re seeing, and proceed rising from the inspiration we’ve put in place.
I’ve plenty of admiration and respect for the corporate Drew has constructed and the values which have formed it over time: buyer obsession, belief, and integrity. These issues matter deeply to me as a frontrunner, too.
These values have additionally formed how Drew and I work collectively. We’ve constructed a working relationship grounded in belief, reality telling, and doing what’s finest for our clients, and we’ll proceed working intently collectively by way of this subsequent section. We additionally each care about constructing a tradition the place persons are form, direct, and targeted on buyer impression.
Trying forward, my precedence is to present our leaders the assist and readability they should keep targeted and preserve acting at this stage. A giant a part of that’s the power we now have throughout our govt crew. We now have an unimaginable group with sturdy operational expertise who know our clients and know tips on how to execute.
On that observe, I’m actually excited to share that Mike Torres will likely be becoming a member of Dropbox and our senior management crew as our new Chief Product Officer on July 7. Mike brings deep expertise main and scaling merchandise utilized by lots of of hundreds of thousands of individuals, together with management roles throughout Chrome, Kindle, and OneDrive, together with a powerful monitor report of driving focus throughout massive organizations. We’ll share extra on Mike and the Product Group this week, with extra particulars to comply with this summer time.
I do know we now have all the appropriate substances to achieve success: a trusted model with greater than 700 million international registered customers, deep buyer relationships, and workers who genuinely care in regards to the high quality of what we construct.
I’m so enthusiastic about the place we are able to go from right here!
Trying ahead to persevering with the dialog on the All Palms shortly.
Ashraf
