<a href="https://www.bit9.com/"><img class="float_right" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5012e7deeab8ea3963000002/patrick-morley.jpg" border="0" alt="Patrick Morley" />Bit9</a>, a business that provides software and services to fight cyber attacks, just secured $34.5 million dollars in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital.
"This latest round of funding is the largest in the company's history and underscores the support <keyword id="1438513" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bit9">Bit9</keyword> has received from investors who understand the changing nature of the security market. It places a bet squarely on our vision and technology," CEO Patrick Morley said in a statement.
The company's main product is an <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Enterprise">enterprise</keyword> whitelisting application service; it controls which software and IP addresses are allowed to enter into a company's system. Bit9 plans on using the funds to add to the security services it already provides while also increasing its sales and marketing efforts.
According to Bit9 research, 59% of U.S companies believe they have been a victim to some sort of cyber threat. With both small and large businesses like Zappos and LinkedIn becoming targets for cyber attacks, investors thought it was time to take action.
"The market has reached a clear inflection point where organizations of all sizes across all industries need a new approach to <keyword id="137092" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cyber-security">cyber security</keyword>" Mickey Arabelovic, partner at Sequoia Capital, said in a statement. "Bit9 has emerged as a market leader with its trust-based security for endpoints and servers, and we're excited to help them build an enduring business."
Other investors participating in the round include Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers, and .406 Ventures.
Bit9 raised $72.8 million to date.

Sequoia Capital Leads $34.5 Million Round In Bit9 To Fight Cyber Attacks

<a href="https://www.bit9.com/"><img class="float_right" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5012e7deeab8ea3963000002/patrick-morley.jpg" border="0" alt="Patrick Morley" />Bit9</a>, a business that provides software and services to fight cyber attacks, just secured $34.5 million dollars in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital.
"This latest round of funding is the largest in the company’s history and underscores the support <keyword id="1438513" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bit9">Bit9</keyword> has received from investors who understand the changing nature of the security market. It places a bet squarely on our vision and technology," CEO Patrick Morley said in a statement.
The company’s main product is an <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Enterprise">enterprise</keyword> whitelisting application service; it controls which software and IP addresses are allowed to enter into a company’s system. Bit9 plans on using the funds to add to the security services it already provides while also increasing its sales and marketing efforts.
According to Bit9 research, 59% of U.S companies believe they have been a victim to some sort of cyber threat. With both small and large businesses like Zappos and LinkedIn becoming targets for cyber attacks, investors thought it was time to take action.
“The market has reached a clear inflection point where organizations of all sizes across all industries need a new approach to cyber security” Mickey Arabelovic, partner at Sequoia Capital, said in a statement. “Bit9 has emerged as a market leader with its trust-based security for endpoints and servers, and we’re excited to help them build an enduring business."
Other investors participating in the round include Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield &amp; Byers, and .406 Ventures.
Bit9 raised $72.8 million to date.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a7a118acdab5fb8038b471b-2400/ap16231591755467.jpg" alt="Travis Kalanick Anthony Levandowski" data-mce-source="Associated Press" />Associated PressFormer Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Anthony Levandowski are accused of conspiring to steal trade secrets from Waymo.</div></div></div><ul><li>IT and digital forensics played a big part of Day 2 testimonies at the Uber vs. Waymo trial on Tuesday.</li><li>Gary Brown, a security engineer at Google, was called to the stand by Waymo to testify on the allegations that former star self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski downloaded 14,107 files before leaving the company.</li><li>Brown testified that he discovered Levandowski's alleged theft by using three IT tools.</li></ul><hr />The IT department is playing a key role in the Uber vs. Waymo trial playing out in a San Francisco court room this week, as the two tech titans clash over whether Uber used Waymo trade secrets to advance its self-driving car research.One of the key witnesses called to the stand by Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, is a Google security engineer named Gary Brown. Brown testified on Tuesday that he was one of two people who ran forensics on the computer belonging to Anthony Levandowski, a former star engineer at Waymo accused of stealing trade secrets and sharing them with Uber. Following Uber's acquisition of his company Otto, Levandowski worked at the ride-hailing startup before getting fired in May 2017. Brown testified that he discovered logs that showed 9.74 GB of data, equalling 14,107 files, were downloaded onto a USB drive from a computer issued to Levandowski by Google. To uncover the logs, Brown said he used three key elements of Google's IT system: an internal database called Armada, an internal forensics tool called GRR, and a security application called Bit9. <h2>Armada </h2>Armada is an internal IT database at Google. Brown said he used Armada to confirm that the network address used to download the files was from Levandowski's computer.Lawyers for Uber <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/10/3/16411184/uber-alphabet-waymo-self-driving-lawsuit-anthony-levandowski-timeline">don't dispute that Levandowski took the files</a>, but argue that they weren't used for the startup's self-driving car program. Nonetheless, Uber's legal team has made a point of highlighting that the computer associated with the downloads was owned by Google and issued to Levandowski during his employment at the company. <h2>Bit9</h2>Brown testified that he used a tool called Bit9 to see that someone had moved the files in question on to a detachable thumb drive.Bit9, which has since been rebranded as "Cb Protection" after a merger with cybersecurity software company Carbon Black, logs when portable storage units like thumb drives are attached and removed from business computers.This is a key element of the case - Waymo contends that Levandowski took the thumb drive in question to Uber and used the trade secrets contained therein to accelerate its self-driving car program. <h2>GRR</h2>The bulk of this forensics detective work, though, appears to have relied on another internal tool at Google called GRR, short for "Google Rapid Response." Basically, GRR is a piece of software that's installed on corporate-issued devices like Levandowski's laptop. It logs certain events, like when sensitive files are accessed. And, importantly, that information gets sent back to Google on a regular basis, so the company can figure out what happened if a device is lost or stolen."When these machines are connected to the internet they send their logs back to Google infrastructure for events when the device might be unrecoverable," Brown said. Brown testified that he was able to use GRR to discover which files Levandowski accessed, without needing to physically access the laptop in question itself. The logs were apparently sent back to Google for review. The logs on Levandowski's computer, Brown testified, weren't unrecoverable from the computer itself because it was wiped clean of the Microsoft Windows operating system and rebooted using Linux. <div id="categorypromo" style="border:1px solid silver; min-height:90px; padding:10px;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/the-self-driving-car-race?IR=T"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/5a5f9a50f421496e0f8b5415-480" style="margin-right:15px;width:75px;float:left !important;" /></a>EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT: The Self-Driving Car Race Report by the BI Intelligence Research Team. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/the-self-driving-car-race?IR=T">Get the Report Now »</a></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/vince-stephanie-shane-mcmahon-wwe-successor-triple-h-jim-ross-wrestling-2018-1">JIM ROSS: Here's who will take over WWE after Vince McMahon</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/BDTTW4pO-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

We got a great glimpse into how Google figured out when a star former engineer allegedly stole 14,107 files

<a href="https://www.insider.com/category/es-capone-holiday"></a><div type="image" title="A table top created by party planner Ellie Nottoli." height="1049" width="1398" msid="88018446" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12470903" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="party" source="Orion">Party</keyword> planners <a href="https://www.elliestyled.com/#elliestyledhome">Ellie Nottoli</a> and <a href="https://blacksouthernbelle.com/">Michiel Perry</a> have shared tips for hosting a successful <keyword id="11906222" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="holiday" source="Orion">holiday</keyword> gathering.</li><li>They suggested decor that lasts all season and home-cooked food with premade options.</li></ul>The holiday season is here, which means revelers are bringing their holiday decor down from the attic, tweaking their recipes, and sending out their holiday invites.For many, this will be the first holiday party they've planned in years.To help hosts ease back into the season, here are 15 tips from professional party planners for creating a welcoming, successful holiday party. <h2>1. A successful party ultimately comes down to the basics: good food and drink</h2>Ellie Nottoli, the owner of <a href="https://www.elliestyled.com/#elliestyledhome">elliestyled</a>, a <keyword id="12426844" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="party-planning" source="Orion">party planning</keyword> and <keyword id="11893304" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="lifestyle" source="Orion">lifestyle</keyword> business, told Insider that the key to your guests' hearts is through their stomachs. When you're party planning, pay extra attention to the food and drinks you'll be serving. "I think being a good host goes down to the basics: food and drink," she said. "I always teach my children that when someone feeds you or when someone makes something for you or cooks for you, it's the ultimate form of 'I love you.'"Focus on those two elements, and your party is bound to be successful, she said. <h2>2. Start ordering everything now</h2>The country is currently experiencing a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supply-chain-crisis-worries-majority-americans-shipipng-delays-2021-9">supply-chain crisis</a>, Insider previously reported. For party hosts, that means some of your items might not be available or could take longer to ship.Michiel Perry, the founder of <a href="https://blacksouthernbelle.com/">Black Southern Belle</a>, a lifestyle brand, urges hosts to start ordering everything they need for their <keyword id="12644029" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="event" source="Orion">event</keyword> now. "You really can't assume anything is available or will reach you in time, so it's best to start shopping now," she told Insider. If something isn't available, be flexible. Your guests won't know you had to swap turkey for chicken or change your color scheme, so be adaptable, and don't stress if everything isn't available, she said. <h2>3. Repurpose items you already have</h2>A vase can turn into a champagne bucket and old curtains can be makeshift table linens. By repurposing the items you already have, you're going to save money, Perry said. Plus, you won't have to worry about items being out of stock.Perry suggested starting the planning process by going through your home and seeing what could already work for the party you're hosting.If there's anything you need, you can source it from friends and stores. <h2>4. Add personalized touches</h2><div type="image" title="A table top created by party planner Ellie Nottoli." height="1124" width="1500" msid="88018447" hostid="261"></div>No matter the theme of your event, adding personalized touches to your party will make it unforgettable, Nottoli said. It could be something simple like handmade children's ornaments on a <keyword id="12030580" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="christmas" source="Orion">Christmas</keyword> tree or dusting off antique dishware in your China cabinet. "We often have stacks of plates that we've inherited from our grandma, or maybe we found at a thrift store, and I encourage people to pull out their pretty plates or their pretty glassware and use them," she said"It just offers that really beautiful level of sentimentality to a holiday table," she said.<h2>5. Don't feel pressured to cook everything</h2><div type="image" title="A table top created by party planner Ellie Nottoli." height="1000" width="1333" msid="88018448" hostid="261"></div>It can feel overwhelming to cook every single dish that you're planning for your holiday party, so don't do it, Perry said.Instead, brainstorm a few ways you can create individualized additions to a premade entree. For example, you could buy a rotisserie chicken and add your own homemade glaze."Cooking everything is very stressful," she said. "I like to suggest going half homemade, half premade to take some stress off of the event, but it will still feel like you made something."<h2>6. If your event is catered, check with your go-to caterers </h2>Menus may have changed, costs could be higher, and a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/labor-shortage-millions-retired-early-pandemic-not-going-back-2021-11">labor shortage</a> could mean that your favorite caterer doesn't operate the same way they did pre-pandemic. Perry said to connect with your caterer as early as possible to make sure they offer everything you need for your event. <h2>7. Gauge your guests' comfort levels</h2>Nottoli said she's seen her clients lean toward smaller, more intimate events this holiday season since many people are still concerned about the ongoing pandemic. From COVID comfort levels to dietary restrictions, Perry said it's important to communicate expectations and "create a space that allows your guests to share their party preferences."Depending on everyone's comfort levels, you can adjust elements of your event, Nottoli said. Consider having a plated dinner instead of a buffet or single-serving appetizers. <h2>8. Tailor the event to your guest list</h2><div type="image" title="Christmas decor created by Ellie Nottoli." height="1124" width="1498" msid="88018450" hostid="261"></div>Nottoli said it's crucial to consider your guest list when planning a party. "To understand the audience, that's everything," Nottoli said. "Is it a cocktail party? Is it adults only? Is it black tie or family-oriented and kid-friendly?"For example, at one family holiday party Nottoli is planning this year, she said she's skipping the signature cocktail and opting for a gingerbread-house station instead. The children at the party will have something to do and adults can relive their childhood a bit. <h2>9. Purchase decor that will last all season long</h2>When Nottoli plans events inside people's homes, she brainstorms ways that the decor can seamlessly transition from a <keyword id="11909499" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="thanksgiving" source="Orion">Thanksgiving</keyword> dinner to a Christmas party and into the New Year. One of her favorite decor tips is using greenery and evergreen branches."I think evergreen is a brilliant way to save a coupe buck and have your space come alive," she said. "You can use it on your mantle, cut sprigs and place it in bud vases, or use a sprig and twine to tie a napkin. There are just so many uses for it."<h2>10. If you're looking to save money but want extravagant decor, consider renting big pieces</h2>Nottoli and her team at <a href="https://www.elliestyled.com/">elliestyled</a> offer decor like tabletops and pre-lit Christmas trees for clients to rent.Nottoli's team isn't the only decor rental service. Many event and party planners offer a similar service, Nottoli said.Renting a few oversized items creates an extravagant event without an over-the-top cost, Nottoli said. <h2>11. Start cleaning weeks in advance</h2>Hosting a party at your home is the ideal excuse to do some deep cleaning, Perry said. A few weeks before the date of the party, start drafting a list of everything you need to clean, Perry said.It might be dusting — something Perry always forgets to do — or cleaning your baseboards. By making a to-do list in advance, you can slowly check off an item every few days leading up to the event. <h2>12. Do everything you can the night before the party</h2>A productive prep day is a critical component of a successful holiday event, Perry said. When Perry hosts a party, she says she does as much as she possibly can the day before. She makes sure her home is clean, the food is ready, and her decor is in its perfect spot. Perry will even do small tasks like setting the table or putting out trash cans the night before. "The more you can do the night before, the better," she said. <div type="image" title="Friends roast marshmallows at a holiday party." height="1000" width="1333" msid="88018451" hostid="261"></div><h2>13. Don't be afraid to call on friends and family for help</h2>"You don't have to party plan alone," Perry said.Perry said that learning to accept help from others was a challenge for her, but it's worth it in the end. Plus, if you're hosting a party for friends and family, chances are, they're happy to help, Perry said. <div type="image" title="An outdoor holiday party." height="999" width="1332" msid="88018453" hostid="261"></div><h2>14. Get creative with how you use your space</h2>COVID is still a concern for many people, so consider moving your party outdoors, Nottoli and Perry suggested.Perry lives in the South, so it's typically warm enough to host her 100-person holiday party outside. But Nottoli, who plans events in the Midwest, has also hosted plenty of outdoor events in the thick of winter, she said.For example, last year she helped a grandmother coordinate a family get-together with outdoor igloos, heaters, and bonfires. "We created this winter wonderland," she said. "People are really looking outside of their dining rooms to create spaces and opportunities to gather where it feels a little bit more comfortable and safe." <h2>15. If you can, splurge on a post-party cleaning service</h2>Perry said it's always a huge weight off her shoulders when she knows she's budgeted for a cleaning service the next morning.If it's not in the budget, try to clean a little before and during the party and, again, don't be afraid to accept help, Perry said."Oftentimes, people really do want to help with the cleanup. So just accept the help," she said.

15 things party planners do to make their holiday event a no-brainer success

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5ab519593489d619008b4695-1200/dy-wqxbv4aat7tm.jpg" border="0" alt="Dropbox IPO Drew Houston Arash Ferdowsi" data-mce-source="Dropbox" data-mce-caption="Dropbox cofounders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi celebrated a long awaited IPO at the NASDAQ in New York City on March 23, 2018." />DropboxDropbox cofounders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi celebrated a long awaited IPO at the NASDAQ in New York City on March 23, 2018.</div></div></div><ul><li>Dropbox went public on Friday, and is now worth $20 billion.</li><li>In 2007, Houston was just trying to get his startup off the ground as a solo founder, and applied to the presitigous Y Combinator program for his first funding. </li><li>On the application, he says he would have sold Dropbox for $1 million after taxes in the first six months, if someone had made the offer. Now, his stake in Dropbox is almost certainly worth billions.</li><li>Read Houston's full application below.</li></ul><hr />In 2007, an MIT graduate named Drew Houston was trying to get his startup, Dropbox, off the ground.He didn't have another co-founder because the person who had agreed to work with him had to back out. Houston had been programming since age 5, and he was trying to get Y Combinator to invest in his file storing and sharing startup.Y Combinator is one of Silicon Valley's premiere startup incubator programs, offering early-stage companies some of their first investment funding, and access to mentors and experts. For Houston, it was one of Dropbox's best bets to make it big.He told Y Combinator he was determined to see the idea through...although if someone offered him $1-2 million for Dropbox after six months of work, he'd have trouble walking away.It's a good thing no one made Houston that offer, because now he's worth much more than that. On Friday, Dropbox held its long-awaited IPO, and had a huge pop in first-day trading. Now, it's worth about $20 billion - and Houston's 25.5% ownesrship of Dropbox almost certainly makes his stake in the company worth billions.Here's the application Houston submitted to Y Combinator's Paul Graham back then. <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html">From Dropbox</a>:Y Combinator Funding Application Summer 2007 Application deadline: 12 midnight (PST) April 2, 2007. Please try to answer each question in less than 120 words. We look at online demos only for the most promising applications, so don't skimp on the application because you're relying on a good demo. We don't make any formal promise about secrecy, but we don't plan to let anyone outside Y Combinator see these applications, including other startups we fund. We recommend you save regularly by clicking on the update button at the bottom of this page. Otherwise you may lose work if we restart the server. # Username: dhouston # Company name: Dropbox # Company url, if any: http://www.getdropbox.com/ # Phone number (preferably cell): [Redacted] # Usernames of all founders, separated by spaces. (Please have all founders create YC accounts, or create accounts for them.) dhouston # Usernames of all founders who will move to (or already live in) Boston for the summer if we fund you. dhouston # What is your company going to make? Dropbox synchronizes files across your/your team's computers. It's much better than uploading or email, because it's automatic, integrated into Windows, and fits into the way you already work. There's also a web interface, and the files are securely backed up to Amazon S3. Dropbox is kind of like taking the best elements of subversion, trac and rsync and making them "just work" for the average individual or team. Hackers have access to these tools, but normal people don't. There are lots of interesting possible features. One is syncing Google Docs/Spreadsheets (or other office web apps) to local .doc and .xls files for offline access, which would be strategically important as few web apps deal with the offline problem. # For each founder, please list: YC username; name; age; year, school, degree, and subject for each degree; email address; personal url (if any); and present employer and title (if any). Put unfinished degrees in parens. List the main contact first. Separate founders with blank lines. Put an asterisk before the name of anyone not able to move to Boston for the summer. dhouston; Drew Houston; 24; 2006, MIT, SB computer science; houston AT alum DOT (school i went to) DOT edu; --; Bit9, Inc (went full time to part time 1/07) - project lead/software engineer Although I'm working with other people on Dropbox, strictly speaking I'm the only founder right now. My friend [redacted], a great hacker, Stanford grad and creator of [redacted] is putting together a Mac port, but can't join as a founder right now as a former cofounder of his started an extremely similar company. My friend and roommate i from MIT is helping out too, but he works with me at Bit9, and a non-solicit clause in my employment contract prevents me from recruiting him (and the VP Eng explicitly told me not to recruit him.) In any case, I have several leads, have been networking aggressively, and fully intend to get someone else on board -- either another good hacker or a more sales-oriented guy (e.g. the role Matt fills at Xobni). I'm aware that the odds aren't good for single founders, and would rather work with other people anyway. # Please tell us in one or two sentences something about each founder that shows a high level of ability. Drew - Programming since age 5; startups since age 14; 1600 on SAT; started profitable online SAT prep company in college (accoladeprep.com). For fun last summer reverse engineered the software on a number of poker sites and wrote a real-money playing poker bot (it was about break-even; see screenshot url later in the app.) # What's new about what you're doing? Most small teams have a few basic needs: (1) team members need their important stuff in front of them wherever they are, (2) everyone needs to be working on the latest version of a given document (and ideally can track what's changed), (3) and team data needs to be protected from disaster. There are sync tools (e.g. beinsync, Foldershare), there are backup tools (Carbonite, Mozy), and there are web uploading/publishing tools (box.net, etc.), but there's no good integrated solution. Dropbox solves all these needs, and doesn't need configuration or babysitting. Put another way, it takes concepts that are proven winners from the dev community (version control, changelogs/trac, rsync, etc.) and puts them in a package that my little sister can figure out (she uses Dropbox to keep track of her high school term papers, and doesn't need to burn CDs or carry USB sticks anymore.) At a higher level, online storage and local disks are big and cheap. But the internet links in between have been and will continue to be slow in comparison. In "the future", you won't have to move your data around manually. The concept that I'm most excited about is that the core technology in Dropbox -- continuous efficient sync with compression and binary diffs -- is what will get us there. # What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get? Competing products work at the wrong layer of abstraction and/or force the user to constantly think and do things. The "online disk drive" abstraction sucks, because you can't work offline and the OS support is extremely brittle. Anything that depends on manual emailing/uploading (i.e. anything web-based) is a non-starter, because it's basically doing version control in your head. But virtually all competing services involve one or the other. With Dropbox, you hit "Save", as you normally would, and everything just works, even with large files (thanks to binary diffs). # What are people forced to do now because what you plan to make doesn't exist yet? Email themselves attachments. Upload stuff to online storage sites or use online drives like Xdrive, which don't work on planes. Carry around USB drives, which can be lost, stolen, or break/get bad sectors. Waste time revising the wrong versions of given documents, resulting in Frankendocuments that contain some changes but lose others. My friend Reuben is switching his financial consulting company from a PHP-based CMS to a beta of Dropbox because all they used it for was file sharing. Techies often hack together brittle solutions involving web hosting, rsync, and cron jobs, or entertaining abominations such as those listed in this slashdot article ("Small Office Windows Backup Software" - http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/04/0336246). # How will you make money? The current plan is a freemium approach, where we give away free 1GB accounts and charge for additional storage (maybe ~$5/mo or less for 10GB for individuals and team plans that start at maybe $20/mo.). It's hard to get consumers to pay for things, but fortunately small/medium businesses already pay for solutions that are subsets of what Dropbox does and are harder to use. There will be tiered pricing for business accounts (upper tiers will retain more older versions of documents, have branded extranets for secure file sharing with clients/partners, etc., and an '<keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword>' plan that features, well, a really high price.) I've already been approached by potential partners/customers asking for an API to programmatically create Dropboxes (e.g. to handle file sharing for Assembla.com, a web site for managing global dev teams). There's a natural synergy between Basecamp-like project mgmt/groupware web apps (for the to-do lists, calendaring, etc.) and Dropbox for file sharing. I've also had requests for an enterprise version that would sit on a company's network (as opposed to my S3 store) for which I could probably charge a lot. # Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most? Carbonite and Mozy do a good job with hassle-free backup, and a move into sync would make sense. Sharpcast (venture funded) announced a similar app called Hummingbird, but according to [redacted] they're taking an extraordinarily difficult approach involving NT kernel drivers. Google's coming out with GDrive at some point. Microsoft's Groove does sync and is part of Office 2007, but is very heavyweight and doesn't include any of the web stuff or backup. There are apps like Omnidrive and Titanize but the implementations are buggy or have bad UIs. # For founders who are hackers: what cool things have you built? (Include urls if possible.) Accolade Online SAT prep (launched in 2004) (http://www.accoladeprep.com/); a poker bot (here's an old screenshot: https://www.accoladeprep.com/sshot2.gif; it's using play money there but worked with real money too.) # How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? There's a joke in here somewhere. # What tools will you use to build your product? Python (top to bottom.) sqlite (client), mysql (server). Turbogears (at least until it won't scale.) Amazon EC2 and S3 for serving file data. # If you've already started working on it, how long have you been working and how many lines of code (if applicable) have you written? 3 months part time. About ~5KLOC client and ~2KLOC server of python, C++, Cheetah templates, installer scripts, etc. # If you have an online demo, what's the url? Here's a screencast that I'll also put up on news.yc: http://www.getdropbox.com/u/2/screencast%20-%20Copy.html If you do have a Windows box or two, here's the latest build: http://www.getdropbox.com/u/2/DropboxInstaller.exe # How long will it take before you have a prototype? A beta? A version you can charge for? Prototype - done in Feb. Version I can charge for: 8 weeks maybe? (ed: hahaha) # Which companies would be most likely to buy you? Google/MS/Yahoo are all acutely interested in this general space. Google announced GDrive/"Platypus" a long time ago but the release date is uncertain (a friend at Google says the first implementation was this ghetto VBScript/Java thing for internal use only). MS announced Live Drive and bought Foldershare in '05 which does a subset of what Dropbox does. Iron Mountain, Carbonite or Mozy or anyone else dealing with backup for SMBs could also be interested, as none of them have touched the sync problem to date. In some ways, Dropbox is for arbitrary files what Basecamp is for lightweight project management, and the two would plug together really well (although 37signals doesn't seem like the buying-companies type). At the end of the day, though, it's an extremely capital-efficient business. We know people are willing to pay for this and just want to put together something that rocks and get it in front of as many people as possible. # If one wanted to buy you three months in (August 2007), what's the lowest offer you'd take? I'd rather see the idea through, but I'd probably have a hard time turning down $1m after taxes for 6 months of work. # Why would your project be hard for someone else to duplicate? This idea requires executing well in several somewhat orthogonal directions, and missteps in any torpedo the entire product. For example, there's an academic/theoretical component: designing the protocol and app to behave consistently/recoverably when any power or ethernet cord in the chain could pop out at any time. There's a gross Win32 integration piece (ditto for a Mac port). There's a mostly Linux/Unix-oriented operations/sysadmin and scalability piece. Then there's the web design and UX piece to make things simple and sexy. Most of these hats are pretty different, and if executing in all these directions was easy, a good product/service would already exist. # Do you have any ideas you consider patentable? [Redacted] # What might go wrong? (This is a test of imagination, not confidence.) Google might finally unleash GDrive and steal a lot of Dropbox's thunder (especially if this takes place before launch.) In general, the online storage space is extremely noisy, so being marginally better isn't good enough; there has to be a leap in value worthy of writing/blogging/telling friends about. I'll need to bring on cofounder(s) and build a team, which takes time. Other competitors are much better funded; we might need to raise working capital to accelerate growth. There will be the usual growing pains scaling and finding bottlenecks (although I've provisioned load balanced, high availability web apps before.) Acquiring small business customers might be more expensive/take longer than hoped. Prioritizing features and choosing the right market segments to tackle will be hard. Getting love from early adopters will be important, but getting distracted by/releasing late due to frivolous feature requests could be fatal. # If you're already incorporated, when were you? Who are the shareholders and what percent does each own? If you've had funding, how much, at what valuation(s)? Not incorporated # If you're not incorporated yet, please list the percent of the company you plan to give each founder, and anyone else you plan to give stock to. (This question is as much for you as us.) Drew # If you'll have any major expenses beyond the living costs of your founders, bandwidth, and servers, what will they be? None; maybe AdWords. # If by August your startup seems to have a significant (say 20%) chance of making you rich, which of the founders would commit to working on it full-time for the next several years? Drew # Do any founders have other commitments between June and August 2007 inclusive? No; I've given notice at Bit9 to work on this full time regardless of YC funding. # Do any founders have commitments in the future (e.g. have been accepted to grad school), and if so what? No. Probably moving to SF in September # Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? Will any be working as employees or consultants for anyone else? Drew: Some work was done at the Bit9 office; I consulted an attorney and have a signed letter indicating Bit9 has no stake/ownership of any kind in Dropbox # Was any of your code written by someone who is not one of your founders? If so, how can you safely use it? (Open source is ok of course.) No # If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, feel free to list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. One click screen sharing (already done pretty well by Glance); a wiki with version-controlled drawing canvases that let you draw diagrams or mock up UIs (Thinkature is kind of related, but this is more text with canvases interspersed than a shared whiteboard) to help teams get on the same page and spec things out better (we use Visio and Powerpoint at Bit9, which sucks) # Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered. (The answer need not be related to your project.) The ridiculous things people name their documents to do versioning, like "proposal v2 good revised NEW 11-15-06.doc", continue to crack me up.

Dropbox just went public and is now worth $20 billion - now read the CEO's application for its first round of funding

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56364a869dd7cc1e008c6534-1428-1071/5536451808_c71808f6dc_o.jpg" alt="MacBook Air" data-mce-source="Flickr/Tim Trueman" />Flickr/Tim Trueman</div></div></div>It's no secret that Mac owners have historically enjoyed fewer viruses and malware attacks than their PC counterparts.Of course, Macs are hardly immune to cyber attacks, but hackers and attackers usually target the most popular operating systems, and before the rise of the Mac, that meant targeting the PC more than the Mac.But with more and more people buying Macs in recent years, the number of cyber attacks has also spiked, and 2015 has been a particularly brutal year.The Mac has seen more malware attacks in 2015 than the past five years combined, according to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2459197-bit9-carbon-black-threat-research-report-2015.html">a new cyber-security report</a> from the Bit9 + Carbon Black Threat Research team.The team's 10-week analysis looked at more than 1,400 unique OS X malware samples and revealed a surge in malware attacks in 2015."As big-picture trends from the data began to emerge, one data point struck the team as particularly noteworthy: 2015 has been the most prolific year in history for OS X malware," the research team wrote in its report. "In 2015 alone, the research found, the number of OS X malware samples has been five times greater than in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 combined."The report cites the Mac's growing market share in recent years as Apple devices including the Mac have become more mainstream. Apple has also entered the enterprise space, which means that more and more companies are allowing their employees to use Macs, which attackers could target in the hopes of accessing sensitive employee data."This rise in Mac OS X malware comes after several years of rapid OS X market share gains, with 16.4 percent of the market now running OS X, including expanding deployment in the enterprise," the report says. "This represents a growing attack surface for sensitive data, as 45 percent of companies now offer Macs as an option to their employees."So what can be done to prevent these attacks?All Macs have cyber-security software called "Gatekeeper" installed on their Mac, though it runs in the background and can't be accessed. If you're a consumer, it's also a good idea to make sure you have an antivirus software program installed and that it's up to date. Enterprise companies should also make sure their employees have antivirus software on their computer and that it's in use with the latest update installed.Both PCs and Macs will continue to face cyber attacks, and the spike in Mac attacks and vulnerabilities is no reason to panic. Many vulnerabilities are often discovered by cyber-security firms and researchers and never are weaponized by hackers. But reports like these are a good reminder that both operating systems are susceptible to attack, and it's always a good idea to make sure you have the proper antivirus software installed and run frequent checks to decrease the chances of your computer getting infected.You can read the full report from the Bit9 + Carbon Black Threat Research team <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2459197-bit9-carbon-black-threat-research-report-2015.html">by clicking here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meagan-cignoli-stop-motion-vines-2015-10">This woman was a genius at stop-motion Vine videos, so she turned her hobby into a business</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="QwY2JkeDo8iX9-RU2mub5u_bUAQ4EJXS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'QwY2JkeDo8iX9-RU2mub5u_bUAQ4EJXS',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

There have been more malware attacks on Macs this year than the last five years combined

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57add789db5ce9ad018b654e-2400/rtxygel.jpg" alt="Window house Alice" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo" data-mce-caption="A woman takes pictures of art installation &amp;quotAlice&quot; by Spanish artist Cristina Lucas in the Andalusian Centre of Contemporary Art in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain April 10, 2013." data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI58J8EBA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1680&amp;RH=960#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI58J8EBA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1680&amp;RH=960&amp;PN=3&amp;POPUPPN=129&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1NE4IG0" /><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI58J8EBA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1680&amp;RH=960#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI58J8EBA&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1680&amp;RH=960&amp;PN=3&amp;POPUPPN=129&amp;POPUPIID=2C0BF1NE4IG0">REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo</a>A woman takes pictures of art installation "Alice" by Spanish artist Cristina Lucas in the Andalusian Centre of Contemporary Art in the Andalusian capital of Seville, southern Spain April 10, 2013.</div></div></div>The tech IPO market is primed for a resurgence in September - after a historically <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-q1-for-banks-since-2009-2016-3">sluggish start to the year</a>.At least three tech startups that have filed for IPOs confidentially could make their intentions public as early as the week of August 22, according to people familiar with the matter.Those include the software-as-a-service company Apptio, the cybersecurity-software company Carbon Black, and the software company Coupa. Apptio, which is based in Bellevue, Washington, and develops business management applications, was reportedly planning for an IPO more than a year ago, but has yet to make a filing public. It hired Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch last July, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/apptio-taps-banks-for-ipo-1437171099">according to The Wall Street Journal</a>.Carbon Black, formerly known as Bit9, is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and develops endpoint security software. The startup, which is backed by Sequoia Capital and Blackstone, hired Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan to lead an IPO, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-15/blackstone-backed-carbon-black-said-to-hire-banks-for-ipo">Bloomberg reported in June</a>.Coupa is a cloud-based software company based in San Mateo, California, that helps companies manage their finances. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-coupa-ipo-software-idUSKCN0ZN2CT">Reuters in July reported</a> that it had hired Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Barclays, and Royal Bank of Canada for an IPO.All three are likely contenders for the post-Labor Day window - a natural time for dealmaking to pick up after a late summer slump - although that's not a guarantee they'll hit the road then. Even thought the Nasdaq Composite index is at a record, any turbulence in the market could discourage issuers. At the moment, though, IPO investors are indicated they'll be receptive to new listings right now, one of the people said, in part because of the scarcity of such deals this year. Mutual funds that invest in IPOs, for example, are looking for opportunities to bolster their returns before the end of the year. And, although there have only been six tech IPOs this year, those that did approach the market performed well.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57ade304ce38f235008b65eb-2400/rtshy1h.jpg" alt="Line IPO NYSE" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Brendan McDermid" data-mce-caption="NYSE president Tom Farley (R) congratulates Japan's Line Corp. CFO In Joon Hwang (2nd L) and Chief Global Officer and co-founder Jungho Shin (middle) and Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer Jun Masuda (2nd R) after ringing the opening bell to celebrate the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S. July 14, 2016." data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI5893041&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1597&amp;RH=947#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI5893041&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1597&amp;RH=947&amp;POPUPPN=4&amp;POPUPIID=2C0FQET4F1VX" /><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI5893041&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1597&amp;RH=947#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI5893041&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1597&amp;RH=947&amp;POPUPPN=4&amp;POPUPIID=2C0FQET4F1VX">REUTERS/Brendan McDermid</a>NYSE president Tom Farley (R) congratulates Line executives after ringing the opening bell to celebrate the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange July 14, 2016.</div></div></div>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twilio-stock-surging-2016-6">cloud communications company Twilio</a>, for example, priced above range in June and continued to soar for days. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/line-shares-surge-30-in-market-debut-2016-7">Japanese messaging app Line</a> priced above its range in July, jumped 27% on its first day of trading, and continues to hover in the same place.Strong tech IPO performance has also piqued the interest of momentum investors, or hedge funds that might be looking to play IPOs as an asset class by betting on the kinds of short-term gains that Twilio and Line posted.In short, bankers are advising companies that are in a position to launch to consider doing so, the person said.Other deals that could go in the fall include the enterprise storage company Nutanix, which has been on file publicly since late 2015, and the application intelligence software company AppDynamics, which has not yet filed publicly but is a likely contender for the fourth quarter, the people said.Most tech IPOs that are likely to go this year - including Apptio, Carbon Black, and Coupa - have revenues under $1 billion, allowing them to file confidentially with the SEC under the Jump start our Business Startups (or JOBS) Act.Companies that file confidentially must make their documents public 15 business days before holding a roadshow - which is why any tech startups looking to launch right after Labor Day could file publicly by the week of August 22.Of course, not every company that files will necessarily end up launching its deal. Recently, number of startups planning to go public have ended up being bought instead. Those include t<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blue-coat-ipo-filing-soon-2016-5">he security-software company Blue Coat Systems</a> and the Canadian auto marketplace Trader.And a failed deal, from a company that tries to price its shares too aggressively, would slam that window shut.Carbon Black declined to comment for this story. Apptio and Coupa could not immediately be reached for comment. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/malcolm-gladwell-revisionist-history-donate-princeton-vassar-bowdoin-tipping-point-outliers-blink-2016-7">MALCOLM GLADWELL: 'Anyone who gives a single dollar to Princeton has completely lost their mind' </a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tlNzV5NDE68LblejgkI-6sByYCuoiDZ7" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'tlNzV5NDE68LblejgkI-6sByYCuoiDZ7',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

The tech IPO window could be opening - here's what to expect in September

<div class="image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5232f4efeab8ea724ac8a355-683-512/dropbox-ceo-drew-houston-with-mark-zuckerberg-at-the-facebook-home-event.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Dropbox CEO Drew Houston with Mark Zuckerberg at the Facebook Home event." width="480" />Owen Thomas, Business Insider</div></div>In 2007, an MIT graduate named <keyword id="684171" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Drew-Houston">Drew Houston</keyword> was trying to get his startup, <keyword id="285445" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dropbox">Dropbox</keyword>, off the ground.
He didn't have another co-founder because the person who had agreed to work with him fell through. He had been programming since age 5, and he was trying to get Y Combinator to invest in his file storing and sharing startup.
He told Y Combinator he was determined to see the idea through...although if someone offered him $1-2 million for Dropbox after six months of work, he'd have trouble walking away.
It's a good thing no one made Houston that offer, because now he's worth much more than that, and his company is worth multiple billions.
Here's the application he submitted to Paul Graham back then. 
<a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html">From Dropbox</a>:
Y Combinator Funding Application Summer 2007 Application deadline: 12 midnight (PST) April 2, 2007. Please try to answer each question in less than 120 words. We look at online demos only for the most promising applications, so don't skimp on the application because you're relying on a good demo. We don't make any formal promise about secrecy, but we don't plan to let anyone outside Y Combinator see these applications, including other startups we fund. We recommend you save regularly by clicking on the update button at the bottom of this page. Otherwise you may lose work if we restart the server. # Username: dhouston # Company name: Dropbox # Company url, if any: http://www.getdropbox.com/ # Phone number (preferably cell): (redacted) # Usernames of all founders, separated by spaces. (Please have all founders create YC accounts, or create accounts for them.) dhouston # Usernames of all founders who will move to (or already live in) Boston for the summer if we fund you. dhouston # What is your company going to make? Dropbox synchronizes files across your/your team's computers. It's much better than uploading or email, because it's automatic, integrated into Windows, and fits into the way you already work. There's also a web interface, and the files are securely backed up to Amazon S3. Dropbox is kind of like taking the best elements of subversion, trac and rsync and making them "just work" for the average individual or team. Hackers have access to these tools, but normal people don't. There are lots of interesting possible features. One is syncing Google Docs/Spreadsheets (or other office web apps) to local .doc and .xls files for offline access, which would be strategically important as few web apps deal with the offline problem. # For each founder, please list: YC username; name; age; year, school, degree, and subject for each degree; email address; personal url (if any); and present employer and title (if any). Put unfinished degrees in parens. List the main contact first. Separate founders with blank lines. Put an asterisk before the name of anyone not able to move to Boston for the summer. dhouston; Drew Houston; 24; 2006, MIT, SB computer science; houston AT alum DOT (school i went to) DOT edu; --; Bit9, Inc (went full time to part time 1/07) - project lead/software engineer Although I'm working with other people on Dropbox, strictly speaking I'm the only founder right now. My friend (redacted), a great hacker, Stanford grad and creator of (redacted) is putting together a Mac port, but can't join as a founder right now as a former cofounder of his started an extremely similar company. My friend and roommate (redacted) from MIT is helping out too, but he works with me at Bit9, and a non-solicit clause in my employment contract prevents me from recruiting him (and the VP Eng explicitly told me not to recruit him.) In any case, I have several leads, have been networking aggressively, and fully intend to get someone else on board -- either another good hacker or a more sales-oriented guy (e.g. the role Matt fills at Xobni). I'm aware that the odds aren't good for single founders, and would rather work with other people anyway. # Please tell us in one or two sentences something about each founder that shows a high level of ability. Drew - Programming since age 5; startups since age 14; 1600 on SAT; started profitable online SAT prep company in college (accoladeprep.com). For fun last summer reverse engineered the software on a number of poker sites and wrote a real-money playing poker bot (it was about break-even; see screenshot url later in the app.) # What's new about what you're doing? Most small teams have a few basic needs: (1) team members need their important stuff in front of them wherever they are, (2) everyone needs to be working on the latest version of a given document (and ideally can track what's changed), (3) and team data needs to be protected from disaster. There are sync tools (e.g. beinsync, Foldershare), there are backup tools (Carbonite, Mozy), and there are web uploading/publishing tools (box.net, etc.), but there's no good integrated solution. Dropbox solves all these needs, and doesn't need configuration or babysitting. Put another way, it takes concepts that are proven winners from the dev community (version control, changelogs/trac, rsync, etc.) and puts them in a package that my little sister can figure out (she uses Dropbox to keep track of her high school term papers, and doesn't need to burn CDs or carry USB sticks anymore.) At a higher level, online storage and local disks are big and cheap. But the internet links in between have been and will continue to be slow in comparison. In "the future", you won't have to move your data around manually. The concept that I'm most excited about is that the core technology in Dropbox -- continuous efficient sync with compression and binary diffs -- is what will get us there. # What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get? Competing products work at the wrong layer of abstraction and/or force the user to constantly think and do things. The "online disk drive" abstraction sucks, because you can't work offline and the OS support is extremely brittle. Anything that depends on manual emailing/uploading (i.e. anything web-based) is a non-starter, because it's basically doing version control in your head. But virtually all competing services involve one or the other. With Dropbox, you hit "Save", as you normally would, and everything just works, even with large files (thanks to binary diffs). # What are people forced to do now because what you plan to make doesn't exist yet? Email themselves attachments. Upload stuff to online storage sites or use online drives like Xdrive, which don't work on planes. Carry around USB drives, which can be lost, stolen, or break/get bad sectors. Waste time revising the wrong versions of given documents, resulting in Frankendocuments that contain some changes but lose others. My friend Reuben is switching his financial consulting company from a PHP-based CMS to a beta of Dropbox because all they used it for was file sharing. Techies often hack together brittle solutions involving web hosting, rsync, and cron jobs, or entertaining abominations such as those listed in this slashdot article ("Small Office Windows Backup Software" - http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/04/0336246). # How will you make money? The current plan is a freemium approach, where we give away free 1GB accounts and charge for additional storage (maybe ~$5/mo or less for 10GB for individuals and team plans that start at maybe $20/mo.). It's hard to get consumers to pay for things, but fortunately small/medium businesses already pay for solutions that are subsets of what Dropbox does and are harder to use. There will be tiered pricing for business accounts (upper tiers will retain more older versions of documents, have branded extranets for secure file sharing with clients/partners, etc., and an 'enterprise' plan that features, well, a really high price.) I've already been approached by potential partners/customers asking for an API to programmatically create Dropboxes (e.g. to handle file sharing for Assembla.com, a web site for managing global dev teams). There's a natural synergy between Basecamp-like project mgmt/groupware web apps (for the to-do lists, calendaring, etc.) and Dropbox for file sharing. I've also had requests for an enterprise version that would sit on a company's network (as opposed to my S3 store) for which I could probably charge a lot. # Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most? Carbonite and Mozy do a good job with hassle-free backup, and a move into sync would make sense. Sharpcast (venture funded) announced a similar app called Hummingbird, but according to (redacted) they're taking an extraordinarily difficult approach involving NT kernel drivers. Google's coming out with GDrive at some point. Microsoft's Groove does sync and is part of Office 2007, but is very heavyweight and doesn't include any of the web stuff or backup. There are apps like Omnidrive and Titanize but the implementations are buggy or have bad UIs. # For founders who are hackers: what cool things have you built? (Include urls if possible.) Accolade Online SAT prep (launched in 2004) (http://www.accoladeprep.com/); a poker bot (here's an old screenshot: https://www.accoladeprep.com/sshot2.gif; it's using play money there but worked with real money too.) # How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? There's a joke in here somewhere. # What tools will you use to build your product? Python (top to bottom.) sqlite (client), mysql (server). Turbogears (at least until it won't scale.) Amazon EC2 and S3 for serving file data. # If you've already started working on it, how long have you been working and how many lines of code (if applicable) have you written? 3 months part time. About ~5KLOC client and ~2KLOC server of python, C++, Cheetah templates, installer scripts, etc. # If you have an online demo, what's the url? Here's a screencast that I'll also put up on news.yc: http://www.getdropbox.com/u/2/screencast%20-%20Copy.html If you do have a Windows box or two, here's the latest build: http://www.getdropbox.com/u/2/DropboxInstaller.exe # How long will it take before you have a prototype? A beta? A version you can charge for? Prototype - done in Feb. Version I can charge for: 8 weeks maybe? (ed: hahaha) # Which companies would be most likely to buy you? Google/MS/Yahoo are all acutely interested in this general space. Google announced GDrive/"Platypus" a long time ago but the release date is uncertain (a friend at Google says the first implementation was this ghetto VBScript/Java thing for internal use only). MS announced Live Drive and bought Foldershare in '05 which does a subset of what Dropbox does. Iron Mountain, Carbonite or Mozy or anyone else dealing with backup for SMBs could also be interested, as none of them have touched the sync problem to date. In some ways, Dropbox is for arbitrary files what Basecamp is for lightweight project management, and the two would plug together really well (although 37signals doesn't seem like the buying-companies type). At the end of the day, though, it's an extremely capital-efficient business. We know people are willing to pay for this and just want to put together something that rocks and get it in front of as many people as possible. # If one wanted to buy you three months in (August 2007), what's the lowest offer you'd take? I'd rather see the idea through, but I'd probably have a hard time turning down $1m after taxes for 6 months of work. # Why would your project be hard for someone else to duplicate? This idea requires executing well in several somewhat orthogonal directions, and missteps in any torpedo the entire product. For example, there's an academic/theoretical component: designing the protocol and app to behave consistently/recoverably when any power or ethernet cord in the chain could pop out at any time. There's a gross Win32 integration piece (ditto for a Mac port). There's a mostly Linux/Unix-oriented operations/sysadmin and scalability piece. Then there's the web design and UX piece to make things simple and sexy. Most of these hats are pretty different, and if executing in all these directions was easy, a good product/service would already exist. # Do you have any ideas you consider patentable? (redacted) # What might go wrong? (This is a test of imagination, not confidence.) Google might finally unleash GDrive and steal a lot of Dropbox's thunder (especially if this takes place before launch.) In general, the online storage space is extremely noisy, so being marginally better isn't good enough; there has to be a leap in value worthy of writing/blogging/telling friends about. I'll need to bring on cofounder(s) and build a team, which takes time. Other competitors are much better funded; we might need to raise working capital to accelerate growth. There will be the usual growing pains scaling and finding bottlenecks (although I've provisioned load balanced, high availability web apps before.) Acquiring small business customers might be more expensive/take longer than hoped. Prioritizing features and choosing the right market segments to tackle will be hard. Getting love from early adopters will be important, but getting distracted by/releasing late due to frivolous feature requests could be fatal. # If you're already incorporated, when were you? Who are the shareholders and what percent does each own? If you've had funding, how much, at what valuation(s)? Not incorporated # If you're not incorporated yet, please list the percent of the company you plan to give each founder, and anyone else you plan to give stock to. (This question is as much for you as us.) Drew # If you'll have any major expenses beyond the living costs of your founders, bandwidth, and servers, what will they be? None; maybe AdWords. # If by August your startup seems to have a significant (say 20%) chance of making you rich, which of the founders would commit to working on it full-time for the next several years? Drew # Do any founders have other commitments between June and August 2007 inclusive? No; I've given notice at Bit9 to work on this full time regardless of YC funding. # Do any founders have commitments in the future (e.g. have been accepted to grad school), and if so what? No. Probably moving to SF in September # Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? Will any be working as employees or consultants for anyone else? Drew: Some work was done at the Bit9 office; I consulted an attorney and have a signed letter indicating Bit9 has no stake/ownership of any kind in Dropbox # Was any of your code written by someone who is not one of your founders? If so, how can you safely use it? (Open source is ok of course.) No # If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, feel free to list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. One click screen sharing (already done pretty well by Glance); a wiki with version-controlled drawing canvases that let you draw diagrams or mock up UIs (Thinkature is kind of related, but this is more text with canvases interspersed than a shared whiteboard) to help teams get on the same page and spec things out better (we use Visio and Powerpoint at Bit9, which sucks) # Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered. (The answer need not be related to your project.) The ridiculous things people name their documents to do versioning, like "proposal v2 good revised NEW 11-15-06.doc", continue to crack me up.

This Is Drew Houston's 2007 Y Combinator Application For A Company That's Now Worth $4 Billion, Dropbox

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cf1538d11e20507da3d5b7b-2249/how-to-increase-your-credit-score.jpg" border="0" alt="how to increase your credit score" data-mce-source="TORWAISTUDIO / Getty Images" />TORWAISTUDIO / Getty ImagesIncreasing your credit score is a marathon, not a sprint.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>To increase your <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/credit-score">credit score</a>, the first thing you'll want to do is check your credit report and score and flag any inaccuracies that could be negatively impacting your credit.</li><li>Then, it's about good habits: creating a system to pay your bills on time, getting a handle on your debt, postponing opening any new credit lines, and resisting taking on debt.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>On the list of things you can do to improve your financial status, increasing your overall <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-have-excellent-credit-multiple-credit-cards-2019-4">credit score</a> is definitely near the top.People with good credit scores have access to better interest rates on loans and credit cards, which can impact everything from where you live and what kind of house you can buy on down to the car you drive and, potentially, even your employment, since it's not unheard of for employers to check credit reports before making a hire.Note that it's extremely difficult to increase your credit score overnight, just because of how credit works. If you really want to make it a difference, you'll need to be patient as you make changes and see them reflected in your score weeks, or even months, later. Increasing your credit score is a marathon, not a sprint.If you're wondering how to increase your score to reach that good, very good, or even excellent credit score range, here's how to do it.<h2>How to increase your credit score</h2><h3>1. Find out your current score</h3>It'll be hard to track your credit score progress without knowing where you began. Banks often offer free credit score tracking for customers, or you can check it for free at any time at sites like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and Credit.com. There is no need to ever pay for your credit score.Credit scoring company FICO issues five categories of credit score:<ul><li>poor: 300-579</li><li>fair: 580-669</li><li>good: 670-739</li><li>very good: 740-799</li><li>excellent: 800-850</li></ul>Note that for most things, you don't need perfect credit. Once you get solidly into "very good" territory, you should be able to get favorable terms from lenders.<h3>2. If it's lower than expected and it's not clear why, get your credit report</h3>Your credit score is three-digit shorthand for the information contained in your credit report, which monitors all of your credit-related activity. According to the Federal Trade Commission, you're entitled to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/get-my-free-credit-report">one free copy</a> of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.Note that there are plenty of opportunities to pay for your credit report, but <a href="https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action">annualcreditreport.com</a> is the best place to get your report for free (or call 1-877-322-8228). Be prepared to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth to verify your identity.Just like you shouldn't pay for your credit score, you shouldn't ever need to pay for your credit report.Once you have your credit report, sit down and go through it, line by line. It's not uncommon for there to be errors, or fraudulent activity, that are negatively affecting your score. If you do find an inaccuracy, you can correct it by "disputing" your credit report with the bureau. <a href="https://www.creditkarma.com/credit-cards/i/dispute-error-credit-report/">Credit Karma has a good guide on how to do it for free</a> - while there are services that will dispute it on your behalf for a fee, you shouldn't need to pay for help.<h3>3. Get a handle on your debt</h3>Credit bureaus generally won't explain exactly how your credit score is calculated, but we do know that there are five inputs, with these general weights:<ul><li>35% payment history</li><li>30% current debt balances</li><li>15% length of credit history</li><li>10% new credit</li><li>10% credit mix</li></ul>As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-improve-credit-score">Eric Rosenberg pointed out for Business Insider</a>, these percentages mean that the first two factors alone have more of an impact than the following three factors combined."While you should certainly not ignore your average age of credit, pursuit of new credit, and credit mix, those factors don't deserve much attention," he writes. "Unless you are planning to apply for a new mortgage or auto loan in the next six to 12 months, there are two clear places to put most of your efforts: payment history, and debt balances."Your debt balances are so important because they affect your credit utilization rate - the amount of credit you're currently using divided by the total amount of credit you have available. Generally, you want to be using as little of your available credit as possible, not maxing out every credit line. The lower, the better.If you have high credit card debt increasing your utilization rate, it will be hard to raise your overall score. Make a plan to figure out exactly how much debt you have, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-pay-off-credit-card-debt">then use the best tools at your disposal to help pay off credit card debt</a>, raise your credit score, and save thousands of dollars in the process.<h3>4. Keep your credit card balances low</h3>Once you're working on paying off existing debt, fight the urge to accrue new debt in its place. <a href="https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/credit-education/improving-credit/improve-credit-score/">According to Experian</a>, lenders usually like to see credit utilization rates of 30% or less because it shows that you can manage your credit well.<h3>5. Create a system to pay bills on time</h3>The two steps above should start impacting your credit utilization rate - now, on to the next most impactful bullet: payment history.There's not much you can do about the past (beyond resolving any payment issues flagged on you credit report in step two), but you have complete control over your payments going forward. Lenders like to see a steady and reliable past payment history, since it's a generally good indicator that you'll continue to pay your bills on time in the future.Don't rely on yourself to remember your payments. Set up calendar reminders or automatic payments to your bills so you never miss one. If you set up automatic payments, just make sure you're checking the bills when they come in (and the statements, if you're paying credit cards) to verify you're being charged as agreed and paying what you should be.<h3>6. Become an authorized user on someone else's account</h3>If you know someone who is very responsible with their credit, becoming an authorized user on their accounts can have a positive impact on your credit score, as well. Just be aware that the opposite is true, as well - as an authorized user with someone who is irresponsible with credit, you'll be negatively impacted.<h3>7. Open new cards sparingly</h3>If you're really trying to work on your credit score, be cautious about opening new cards.Credit cards don't hurt your credit by default, but they do provide opportunities for missteps if you have trouble keeping track of them. When you open a credit card, the issuer makes a "hard inquiry" into your credit, which temporarily knocks your score down a few points. It will recover within a few months, but if you're making a concentrated effort to improve your credit, you might not want to weather that blip.Plus, another credit card means more temptation to spend and more payments to remember. You might want to wait to open a new card until your credit is where you want it.<h3>8. Be cautious about anything that might create a hard inquiry on your credit report</h3>Hard inquiries occur when a lender or creditor - like for a mortgage or credit card, like we talked about above - looks at your credit report as part of a decision to lend you money.This type of inquiry can negatively impact your credit score, especially when there are too many of them. Again, your score will recover, but you might not want to take another knock when your credit is already low. If you're planning to do anything involving credit, like a personal loan, a mortgage, or an auto loan, you might want to hold off for a bit.<h3>9. Consider leaving unused credit card accounts open</h3>Unless having too many cards presents a challenge for you in terms of overspending, there really isn't any harm in keeping unused credit card accounts open and, in fact, it could be to your advantage.Because <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cancel-a-credit-card">closing a credit card</a> means you no longer have however much credit that account was offering, the closure may lead to an increase in credit utilization ratio - and remember, lenders like to see that number at 30% or lower.<h3>10. Keep tabs on both your credit score and your credit report</h3>Identity theft issues can wreak havoc on your credit score, so keeping close watch on your credit score and credit reports allows you to report any potential fraudulent activity as soon as you notice it.Remember to order a free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once a year. A good rule of thumb is to set a reminder in your calendar every four months throughout the year to check in with a different one. Plus, because websites like Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, and Credit.com don't make hard inquiries when they share your score with you, you might get in the habit of checking your score monthly.This will give you a pretty accurate view of your financial accounts so you can catch any potential problems as soon as possible. And finally, remember to be patient. Your credit won't improve overnight - but it will get there.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more about managing your money:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-a-loan-with-bad-credit" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">How to get a loan with bad credit</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-cancel-a-credit-card" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">How to cancel a credit card</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-open-an-ira-for-retirement" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">How to open an IRA for retirement</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-calculate-debt-to-income-ratio" data-read-more-link="" data-e2e-name="read-more-link">How to calculate debt-to-income ratio</a></li></ul> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ingredients-processed-foods-red-bull-twinkies-doritos-kraft-cheese-2016-10">This stunning visualization breaks down all the ingredients in your favorite processed foods</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/X3e5FNqV-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

How to increase your credit score, no matter when or where you start

Welcome to our new Payments Insights newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the digital payments industry, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every morning. 
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 AMERICAN BANKER'S TOP 10 IN FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY: American Banker ranks the top 100 most influential companies in fintech (<a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/fintech100/rankings/" target="_blank">complete ranking here</a>), <a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/gallery/meet-the-top-10-companies-in-fintech-1063302-1.html?start=2#" target="_blank">and this link will take you to a slideshow</a> where you can view more information about the top 10. Among them is "FIS, a company with $5.7 billion in revenue and more than 37,000 employees, [that] has seen 'tremendous growth' in its mobile device capabilities across the board." Also in the top 10 are Fiserv, Tata Consultancy Services, NCR, Diebold, Nomura Research Institute, and Cognizant. There were a few clear themes in the top 10 list. Most executives made clear that their companies' futures depended on mobile, cloud, and software-based products. (<a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/gallery/meet-the-top-10-companies-in-fintech-1063302-1.html?start=2#" target="_blank">American Banker</a>)
In other news ...
KREBS TURNS FOUR: Brian Krebs, a former reporter at The Washington Post, is celebrating his fourth birthday at his security blog, Krebs On Security, which now attracts between 10,000 t0 15,000 visitors daily. Here's part of what Krebs wrote to mark the occasion: "If there was an important data breach in 2013, chances are that news of it first broke on this blog. Among KrebsOnSecurity's biggest scoops this year were stories about breaches at Adobe, Bit9, Experian, LexisNexis, Target and The Washington Post." Krebs says he's still looking into the hows and whos of the Experian and Target breaches. (<a href="http://krebsonsecurity.com/" target="_blank">KrebsOnSecurity</a>)
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52c2dd3269beddb969880eb1-507-272/paypalthreat.png" border="0" alt="PaypAlthreat" style="float: right;" />BII</div></div></div>KPMG'S SURVEY OF US COMMUNITY BANKS: Among the highlights of the 2013 survey - 30% of community bankers believe new market entrants, like PayPal and Walmart, which offer credit products, are a threat to their business model. Also 40% said they considered mobile banking to be the most important IT investment for 2014 in terms of encouraging consumer growth. (<a href="https://www.kpmg.com/US/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/community-banking-industry-outlook-survey-2013.pdf" target="_blank">KPMG - PDF</a>)
Why Direct Debit Is A Dinosaur: A payments expert argues that in a modern payments system, there's no need for payments that are debited automatically from consumer accounts for bill paying, and that instead consumers should be easily able to approve payments that need to be made. The philosophy should be "push," not "pull." (<a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/video/why-direct-debit-is-a-dinosaur1064608-1.html" target="_blank">American Banker</a>)
An Opportunity To Serve Very Small Business In 2014 - Rene Reinsberg, CEO of local business marketing platform Locu, believes that over the next year very small businesses, those with five or fewer employees, will become the focus for companies pushing a new wave of mobile-first merchant tools. (<a href="http://streetfightmag.com/2013/12/31/hyperlocal-execs-2014-predictions-part-two-locu-radius-placed-thinknear/" target="_blank">Street Fight</a>)
Brazilian Mobile Payments Company Targets Low-Income Consumers: "PagPop, a Brazilian mobile card reader vendor, has announced it will join the Business Call to Action initiative, or BCtA, with plans to reach 300,000 new Brazilian credit card users in the next two years." The BCtA is a part of worldwide project aimed at backing new, creative businesses that are both economically viable and achieve positive developmental goals. (<a href="http://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/article/225399/mPOs-firm-Pagpop-to-target-300-000-low-income-Brazilians" target="_blank">Mobile Payments Today</a>)
<div> </div>

You Searched For "Bit9" and got 10 results

Sequoia Capital Leads $34.5 Million Round In Bit9 To Fight Cyber Attacks

Andrea Huspeni

Sequoia Capital Leads $34.5 Million Round In Bit9 To Fight Cyber Attacks

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We got a great glimpse into how Google figured out when a star former engineer allegedly stole 14,107 files

Becky Peterson

15 things party planners do to make their holiday event a no-brainer success

Monica Humphries

Dropbox just went public and is now worth $20 billion - now read the CEO's application for its first round of funding

Matt Weinberger,Alyson Shontell

There have been more malware attacks on Macs this year than the last five years combined

Steven Tweedie

The tech IPO window could be opening - here's what to expect in September

Portia Crowe

This Is Drew Houston's 2007 Y Combinator Application For A Company That's Now Worth $4 Billion, Dropbox

Alyson Shontell

How to increase your credit score, no matter when or where you start

Cheryl Lock

The 10 Most Innovative Financial Technology Companies Of 2013

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