It’s an amazing time to join — for the right people:
- DropBox will IPO, and you’ll get to be part of it. This is an amazing experience to go through, at least once. Everyone that wants to have the full “start-up” experience IMHO should try to be at a start-up that IPOs, at least once, even if the economic returns to them personally are trivial. It’s a key part of the Silicon Valley experience.
- You’ll get RSUs (equity) with a certain value at the IPO. You won’t make $100m. But you’ll be able to see what you’ll make.
- The company is going through a transition — which creates opportunity. I’m not close to DropBox today, but it’s both going (x) more enterprise and (y) figuring out the post-file future. That’s interesting. It’s fun. Stimulating. And change creates opportunities to grow.
- You can understand it. Dropbox isn’t so complicated a product you can’t understand it. For many people, this helps.
- Great brand. There are other good brands, too. But having at least one great brand on your resume will help a lot down the road.
Not saying it’s right for everyone. But a Unicorn at $400m+ in revenues / ARR that will IPO is a fun experience to have. And with lots of change comes lots of opportunities to learn and grow.