Drew Houston's Commencement address

Key ideas

Houston tells graduates the recipe changes after school: find work that pulls you, surround yourself with people who push you, start before ready, and stop fearing failure.

1. 1

   Find the problem that pulls you

   Houston says the happiest and most successful people he knows don't just love their work but are obsessed with an important problem, like a dog chasing a tennis ball. He felt burned out on SAT prep yet possessed by a poker bot he wrote as a break, and notes that both the bot and Dropbox began as distractions. His advice is to stop pushing yourself and keep listening for what draws you in.

2. 2

   Choose your circle and your location

   Citing the saying that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, Houston credits a friend's $5 million raise with giving him the kick he needed. He argues that surrounding yourself with inspiring people is now as important as talent or hard work. He also says most fields have one place where the top people go, and that you should move there.

3. 3

   Start instead of getting ready

   Houston calls getting ready a trap, because after school the fastest way to learn is by doing. He says he has never felt ready, recalling how sick he felt when his company's account jumped to $1.2 million. He tells graduates to find a new firehose to drink from, and says Dropbox has been his, both the most fulfilling and the most painful experience of his life.

4. 4

   Stop keeping score on mistakes

   Houston argues that real life has no GPA, so mistakes no longer add up to a number you carry around. Pointing to the failed first companies of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, he says you only have to be right once. He names getting too comfortable as the bigger risk.

5. 5

   Aim for interesting over perfect

   Houston says reading that a life has 30,000 days, then working out he was almost 9,000 days in, is what calmed him down. He concludes there are no warmups or reset buttons, and says he stopped trying to make his life perfect and tried to make it interesting instead.

In Drew’s words

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