Dropbox CEO Drew Houston invoked an old and reliable piece of advice to choose his successor.
Houston told employees in a Tuesday memo that Dropbox named Ashraf Alkarmi as co-CEO and that Houston would be training him as his replacement. Following 19 years at the helm, Houston said he plans to step down as CEO after a transition period and become executive chairman.
The Dropbox cofounder said in the memo that the company’s culture was in “good hands” with Alkarmi.
“Early in running Dropbox, someone gave me a piece of advice: before you hire anyone, ask yourself if you’d feel good about your little brother or sister working for this person (I didn’t have kids at the time),” Houston wrote. “Ashraf is that leader.”
He said Alkarmi cares deeply about the people doing the work, and “tells the truth even when it’s hard and disagrees with me when I’m wrong.”
Houston credited Alkarmi, who previously oversaw Dropbox’s core business, with helping the company navigate challenging periods.
Just before Alkarmi joined Dropbox in November 2024, the company axed about 20% of its workforce due to softening demand and excess management.
Alkarmi has since overseen the launch of AI products, according to his LinkedIn profile. He said the company needs to keep “innovating aggressively” during the AI era in his own note to employees on Tuesday.
Read Houston’s full memo from Tuesday below:
Read Alkarmi’s full memo:
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