Aaron Levie

Born on December 27, 1984, in Boulder, Colorado, Aaron Winsor Levie is an American entrepreneur. His family moved to Mercer Island, Washington, when he was ten. Levie initially aspired to be a film director, even interning at Miramax and Paramount Pictures, but his film school application was rejected. He attended the University of Southern California with an undeclared major before taking a leave of absence during his junior year in 2005. During this time, he dedicated himself to launching Box.

The concept for Box originated in 2004 as a college business project where Levie identified a fragmented market for cloud storage solutions within businesses. He saw an opportunity to create an online file storage service, initially for individuals, where users could pay to store their files in the cloud. In December 2005, Levie co-founded Box (originally box.net) with his friend Dylan Smith, who was then attending Duke University. They incorporated the company in April 2005, operating out of Smith’s parents’ home before moving to Berkeley, California. They secured their first angel investment from Texas billionaire Mark Cuban after a cold email.

A significant turning point for Box came in 2007. Facing an increasingly crowded consumer cloud storage market, Levie and Smith strategically shifted their focus from a consumer service to catering exclusively to businesses. This pivot proved successful, enabling Box to expand its operations. By 2012, Box opened its first European office in London, England. As of 2014, Box reported that 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were paying customers. The company, headquartered in Redwood City, gained backing from numerous venture capital firms and investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Salesforce.com. Box filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange in March 2014, though it was delayed until January 23, 2015, due to market fluctuations.