Aaron Winsor Levie (pronounced /ˈærən ˈlɛvi/) is an American entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of the enterprise cloud company Box.
In a user lead model, users are bringing in their own technology. . . and you can build software then, around the user.
I'm certainly not into money and prestige. For me there is simply nothing more exciting than people involved in the creation of great products. That is what drives me.
We didn't really start the company to go build an enterprise software company.
You can keep 'consumer' DNA at the center of your product. That will always mean that adoption is easier.
I interned at Miramax and subsequently at Paramount because I was really curious about the future of entertainment - how were we going to get films online? While the inspiration for Box didn't come from that experience directly, it was very obvious that bigger businesses had a lot of slow processes and cumbersome technology.
I think because of the iPhone and the fact that we now have a ubiquitous internet, our creativity in the startup space is 10 times different. Every single industry, every single market, is going to be technology-driven in some way. There's an infinite opportunity for startups because now you can go and solve problems that previously looked like they had nothing to do with technology.
If every customer is using your product "correctly", you'll never learn anything interesting about what to do next.
Innovation is hard because solving problems people didn't know they had & building something no one needs look identical at first.
If people don't think the odds are against you, you're doing it wrong.
Do things that incumbents can't or won't do because it's economically or technically infeasible.
The product that wins is the one that bridges customers to the future, not the one that requires a giant leap.
I think bad politics are incredibly dangerous, so it's important to make sure that people are communicating well. Culture and morale are super important. It's best to not force it, but let it happen organically and genuinely.
The 10% between 90% done to 100% done takes most of the time, causes most of the stress, but is all of the value.
It's unfortunate biologically we have to sleep.
The chance of failure is almost always better than the guarantee of never knowing.
My workday begins around 11 A. M. , with a cup of black coffee in each hand. If I had more hands, there would be more coffee.
I tend to not discriminate when it comes to people I can learn from. Basically, if someone has built a meaningful business in software, technology or media, faced disruption and adversity, and overcame underdog status, I want to know how they did it.
Jeff Bezos is opening a retail store and owns a newspaper. Turns out everything we thought about the Internet is wrong.
Modularize, don't customize. Build a platform as opposed to building all of the custom technology and custom vertical experiences.
Everything about the enterprise, and then by definition the software the enterprise uses has changed - just in the last 5 years.