Aaron Levie of Box #224

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Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie joined the show in a special Palo Alto episode to talk founding, funding and the power of consumer choice.

0:00-0:30 Today, we’re at the offices of Waze in Palo Alto with Aaron Levie, co-founder of Box.
1:00-1:30 What’s going on here in Palo Alto, tonight?
1:30-4:45 How long ago did you found the company? Tell everyone what Box is.
4:45-7:00 Is that because you used to have to go through such a ridiculous process to get what you needed from IT?
7:00-8:30 What experience do people who are using something like Salesforce now have?
8:30-13:15 Thank you to Walker Corporate Law for sponsoring the program. Everyone give Scott Walker a call at 310-288-6667.
13:15-15:30 What happens to the Oracles and Microsofts of the world from a historical perspective?
15:30-18:00 Have their been case studies of this? Of what Microsoft’s new strategies are?
18:00-20:15 Enterprise consumers now are the arbiters of what they get to use. They have a lot of choice, yes?
20:15-23:30 What don’t people like about Google docs?
23:30-25:00 Is security the biggest objection you get from customers?
25:00-26:00 What does that mean, “visibility is security”?
26:00-27:45 The most difficult thing is that users screw up. How do you fight against that?
27:45-30:00 Why haven’t biometrics, two factor keys, etc. become the standard yet? Why doesn’t my laptop have a thumb print authentication?
30:00-32:45 Lately, I’m having trouble choosing between Google Docs, Evernote, Dropbox, etc. on where to store everything. What does a consumer do? Is there going to be a reconciliation of this?
32:45-38:45 Did you start consumer and then go more enterprise or vice versa?
38:45-41:00 Aaron tells about when he pitched Andreessen Horrowitz and convinced Marc Andreeseen to invest.
41:00-43:00 Insight from Tyler: Giving away a free enterprise product was like giving away free blowjobs at an army base.
43:00-47:15 Thank you GoToMeeting for sponsoring the show. Everyone remember to thank @GoToMeeting!
47:15-50:30 Dropbox is obviously a competitor. Did they copy you?
50:30-54:45 Is the Google Teams product something you see as a competitive threat?
54:45-56:00 How do you go from raising a few hundred thousand dollars to being comfortable sitting in a room asking for tens of millions of dollars?
56:00-57:00 Does G drive keep you up at night?
57:00-1:00:00 How tough is it to hire people now?
1:00:00-1:04:00 How do you deal with your own people getting huge offers from Google and Facebook?
1:04:00-1:05:30 How embarrassing was it for Carol Bartz, getting into fights with Mike Arrington on stage?
1:05:30-1:08:45 Who do you respect most in the Internet space?
1:08:45-1:10:00 Who is the entrepreneur that you look to the most? Who’s your number two?
1:10:00-1:10:30 Aaron, you’ve been a great guest. Who knew the enterprise space could be so interesting?
1:10:30 We’ll see you all next time, on This Week in Startups.

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Aaron: @levie
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