Drew Houston
Co-founder and CEO, Dropbox
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston, an MIT alumnus, addresses graduates by encouraging them to embrace risk and failure as part of real-world success. He urges them to find their passion—what he calls their 'tennis ball'—a problem they can't resist pursuing, and reassures them that setbacks don't define their future. The address is part of MIT's 2013 Commencement, which also featured remarks from President L. Rafael Reif and student leaders.
“it's not about pushing yourself; it's about finding your tennis ball, the thing that pulls you.”
Key moments
- 01 Encouraging graduates to find a new 'fire hose' after MIT, referencing his Dropbox experience
- 02 Reframing failure: 'No one has a 5.0 in real life' and 'You only have to be right once'
- 03 Comparing passion for work to a dog chasing a tennis ball
- 04 Urging graduates to find the thing that pulls them rather than pushing themselves
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Drew Houston at MIT, 2013
A commencement address about the fire hose after MIT, Dropbox, failure, risk, passion, the tennis ball test, and being right once in real life.
Speech arc
- 01MIT alum
Opening move
- 02Dropbox
Speech beat
- 03Fire hose
Speech beat
- 04No 5.0
Speech beat
- 05Right once
Speech beat
- 06Risk
Speech beat
- 07Tennis ball
Speech beat
- 08Pull
Final charge
Return: An MIT founder speaks from the other side
Houston returns as a recent alumnus whose Dropbox story gives the address an entrepreneurial frame: the real world is less graded and more open-ended.
Alum
The advice comes from someone close enough to remember the Institute clearly.
Dropbox
A startup path becomes evidence that useful ideas can begin as personal frustration.
Transition
Leaving MIT means finding a new source of intensity and learning.
Houston returns as a recent alumnus whose Dropbox story gives the address an entrepreneurial frame: the real world is less graded and more open-ended.
Failure: No one has a 5.0 in real life
The speech reframes failure as normal information rather than a permanent label, lowering the fear that can keep talented people cautious.
Grades
Real life does not preserve a perfect transcript.
Setbacks
Mistakes become data when they are used instead of hidden.
Freedom
A less graded world creates room for experimentation.
The speech reframes failure as normal information rather than a permanent label, lowering the fear that can keep talented people cautious.
Risk: You only have to be right once
Houston urges graduates to accept asymmetric risk: many attempts can fail, but one deeply right choice can define a direction.
Odds
The path is not optimized by avoiding every miss.
Timing
Starting before certainty is part of creating opportunity.
Agency
Graduates can choose problems worth repeated attempts.
Houston urges graduates to accept asymmetric risk: many attempts can fail, but one deeply right choice can define a direction.
• Key takeaways •
Real life is ungraded
Connects to failure.
Failure is information
Connects to passion.
Risk can be asymmetric
Connects to entrepreneurship.
Passion pulls harder
Connects to risk-taking.
One right bet matters
Connects to purpose.
Closing charge
The closing image asks graduates to find the problem they cannot stop chasing, the work that pulls harder than discipline alone can push.
Find the tennis ball that pulls you
Signal
Passion is visible in sustained attention.
Energy
The right problem makes effort feel self-renewing.
Direction
A career can be organized around what keeps calling you back.
The closing image asks graduates to find the problem they cannot stop chasing, the work that pulls harder than discipline alone can push.
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Transcript
No official full transcript has been located yet. If you know of one, suggestions are welcome.
Provenance
Verified from official archive; cross-referenced with NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording
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