Arash Ferdowsi

Early life and education

Ferdowsi was born in Overland Park, Kansas, United States on 7 October 1985. He attended Blue Valley Northwest High School, a public high school in Overland Park, graduating first in his class in 2004. Ferdowsi went on to study electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, he had a home in East Campus. Ferdowsi dropped out of MIT in his last semester to build the company, Dropbox, with his business partner.

Family

Ferdowsi is 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. His parents settled in the United States following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, then met and married in 1984 while students at the University of Central Missouri and the University of Missouri–Kansas City, respectively.

Career

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

From the company's establishment in June 2007 until October 2016, Ferdowsi was the chief technology officer of Dropbox. Arash left Dropbox in 2020.

References

References

1. (9 February 2013). "Meet the richest area native you've probably never heard of". The Kansas City Star.
2. Holt, John. (Jan 26, 2022). "Dropbox co-founder gives back to Blue Valley schools with massive donation".
3. Stokes, Samantha. (2018-03-24). "Meet the KC native who just became tech’s newest billionaire".
4. Carter, Nicole. (2011-06-27). "Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, Founders of Dropbox".
5. Ferriss, Tim. (2018-08-29). "The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Drew Houston (#334)".
6. "Good Starting Posts – This is the East Side".
7. (2017-06-20). "East Campus Pros and Cons, as Told by Residents".
8. Leskin, Paige. "These 23 successful tech moguls never graduated college".
9. (2014-01-11). "Tech millionaire college dropouts". The Guardian.
10. (28 March 2018). "Blue Valley Northwest grad is a billionaire, thanks to the tech company he founded". The Kansas City Star.
11. Adler, Eric. (29 March 2018). "Blue Valley Northwest grad is a billionaire, thanks to the tech company he founded".
12. Carter, Nicole. (2011-06-27). "Inc.com 30under30: Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, Founders of Dropbox". Mansueto Ventures.
13. (22 March 2018). "Dropbox Priced at $21 a Share in I.P.O., Valuing Company at $9.2 Billion". New York Times.
14. (13 October 2016). "Dropbox appoints new CTO, Aditya Agarwal, takes over for cofounder Arash Ferdowsi".
15. (31 December 2020). "Dropbox's Billionaire Co-Founder Arash Ferdowsi, Ex-MIT Student, Leaves Company".