EP 65: Aaron Levie's (CEO/Cofounder, Box) AI Takes and Advice for First Time Founders

Aaron Levie is the CEO and Co-founder of Box - a now profitable public company he founded in 2005 after dropping out of USC. In his second appearance on The Logan Bartlett Show, Aaron shares what he's most excited about in the AI world including real applications that Box is building today. He also shares his takes on who will win the AI battle between incumbents and startups, AI doom and where there are opportunities for new founders to build. As always, Aaron gives great operating advice for first-time founders and recounts some of the things that Box did well to get to where they are today. (0:00) Intro(0:54) Welcome back, Aaron Levie(4:28) Lightning bolt moment with AI(10:00) OG Customers(12:50) Describe Box's AI usage(24:13) Why have the big tech companies been able to execute as well as they have?(28:00) How would you start a company as a young enterprising founder today?(33:04) The social contracts of AI(37:21) Aaron's doom perspective(45:06) Operating profit(48:29) One lesson of operational excellence(52:59) Wrong startup advice(56:38) Reading recommendations Mixed and edited: Justin HrabovskyProduced: Rashad AssirExecutive Producer: Josh MachizMusic: Griff Lawson 🎙 Listen to the showApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the ShowLogan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes