Dropbox inaugurates swanky new offices in Tel Aviv’s Sarona complex

Israeli team expected to double

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Updated: MAY 16, 2018 04:42
Meir Morgenstern, director of Dropbox's development center in Israel and Quentin Clark, senior vice president of engineering, product and design at Dropbox (photo credit: ISRAEL HADARI)
Meir Morgenstern, director of Dropbox's development center in Israel and Quentin Clark, senior vice president of engineering, product and design at Dropbox
(photo credit: ISRAEL HADARI)
Senior Dropbox executives and journalists gathered at the global collaboration platform’s new Israeli offices in Tel Aviv’s fashionable Sarona complex on Tuesday morning.
The offices opened last month, with the Israel R&D center expanding and moving from Herzliya to the new Azrieli Sarona Tower – the tallest building in Israel. There are some 40 employees in what is the second-largest international Dropbox office outside of the US. The Tel Aviv team develops administrator controls and other features for Dropbox Business customers.
“We’re in Israel because of the talent. Dropbox cannot afford not to be in Israel, because of the nature and the depth of the talent that is in this country,” said Quentin Clark, SVP of Engineering, Product and Design, who was visiting from San Francisco where the company’s headquarters are located.
“We have a team here working to ensure the success of Dropbox as we grow into larger enterprise solutions... [Israel Site Lead] Meir [Morgenstern] and the team here are instrumental in that growth,” Clark told the press conference.
Clark has visited Israel on multiple occasions; this is his second time as a Dropbox employee.
Asked by a reporter what distinguishes the Israeli team from others, Clark mentioned military experience. “Obviously there is a very wellknown educational system that goes beyond just university education,” he said, adding that military service “breeds a very strong set of talented people around security topics in IT, in computer science… that’s a smart opportunity.”
Dropbox first established a presence in Israel when it acquired the mobile-productivity startup Cloud- On and its 30-person team led by Morgenstern. Clark remarked that he was glad to learn, when he joined Dropbox last year, that the company was already in Israel, and spoke of the importance of plugging into Israel’s thriving tech ecosystem. He and Morgenstern also mentioned that the team would be expanding – expecting to double its workforce – and they will be seeking fresh talent.
The new office boasts spectacular views of the Mediterranean Sea and features a music and game room, a well-stocked kitchen, a tropical- themed tech-support station and a variety of meeting rooms as well as an open space with both sitting and standing tables. Neighbors of Dropbox in the skyscraper include Facebook and Amazon.
“This beautiful new office is perfect for our growing team and growing ambitions in Israel,” said Morgenstern. “The Tel Aviv team has already had a big impact on the Dropbox Business product, and we’re excited to hire and expand our presence in Israel.”
Dropbox was founded in 2007 by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdow, just recently making its public market debut on March 23, 2018. It has 12 offices around the world and 500 million registered users across 180 countries. 35% of its revenue is reinvested in R&D.
In Israel there are over 2.5 million registered users as of last year; Clark said that, proportional to population size, the figure is similar to the amount of users in the US. Tel Aviv, he noted, has by far the largest number of Dropbox users in Israel.