
Dropbox CTO Aditya Agarwal Is Leaving - doppp
https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/21/dropbox-cto-aditya-agarwal-is-leaving/
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seshagiric
Just curious - why is this important? Is it something like given the upcoming
IPO, the current investors asked for someone more experienced? but that would
be odd considering he was on the tech side and not on business

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bluetwo
I read elsewhere they were looking to IPO later this year. Seems like an odd
time to jump ship.

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frik
That's not unusual at all. A lecture at Harvard Business School about startup
IPO mentioned that first time founder CEO and first time board member get more
often then not replaced. Read about the business case of Lewis Cirne who got
replaced at his first company Wily, and founded later New Relic with many
lessons learned.

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moonman272
"Get more often then not replaced" not quite sure what you meant here. Could
you say a bit more?

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projectramo
So is Arash Ferdowsi no longer the CTO?

What is his position now?

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ccheever
his position now is just "co-founder".
[https://www.dropbox.com/about](https://www.dropbox.com/about)

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hkmurakami
>That kind of five-year tenure at a startup in Silicon Valley alone is pretty
long, to be sure

Does this journalist not even know about 4 year vesting schedule that are
common after an acquisition?

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GuiA
It's common, but many people do not stick it for the whole 4 years. In fact, I
have seen 12-24 months more often than the full 4. If your acquisition was
even a tiny bit high profile, any new job offer will come with a stock grant
that more than makes up for what you lose by leaving early. (And in fact, if
you are in that position, you should be using it as a leverage when
negotiating a new job offer)

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sulam
It really depends on what you think the EV is. Dropbox has pretty high EV if
you're in his role, I bet, which is why people are speculating in the first
place. (Does this mean Dropbox is not as valuable as it seems from the
outside?)

Personally, knowing how hard people there have worked over the last 6 years, I
imagine he just needs a break.

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ChuckMcM
If you have a sizable chunk of equity and the liquidity to exercise options
(or if they are already exercised) then leaving the company can make it easier
to trade on that equity.

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hkmurakami
I take it you're referring specifically to (1) lock up periods and (2) the
negative signals you send when a CXO liquidates shares while still being a
CXO?

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ChuckMcM
In other tumultuous times, the dot com days, there were many examples of
people simplifying all the rules about when to trade or what they could trade,
by ending their employment. I did not take that route but many did.

I was remarking that when the future has many variables and you want to
simplify, that can be sufficient motivation to leave a company.

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mikehines
I wonder if he will join Uber.

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moomin
Depends how many files he's downloaded, I guess.

