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Ignoring Rice's convictions, I'm really curious as to how a person like her ends up at Dropbox of all places.

Gustomaximus 13y ago
My pure speculation is; File hosting at the consumer level a race to the bottom with pricing. Given they are not in a position to price this service strategically at little to no margin like MS/Google, storage will likely have diminishing profitability and viability as a standalone business (also more new entrants). On the other hand some corporate and especially government department contracts shouldn't have the same margin pressure and retention issues. A high profile political person is the perfect fit to pursue government department contracts, and Rice would fit this strategy well.
mehwoot 13y ago
I get the feeling she has gained a lot of respect from wealthy and powerful people in general and has quite a few connections. For example, she is also on the newly created 13-person College Football Playoff selection committee even though she has never played or coached football. One sports writer justified it as she has a "plethora of experience making important decisions under intense pressure". This is the committee that will decide which 4 teams get to play for the championship.
- tomp 13y ago
  Heh, many people have a "plethora of experience making important decisions under intense pressure". The question is, were most (or any) of these decisions correct?
greenyoda 13y ago
As a professor and then the provost of Stanford, she probably knew a lot of people who were involved in the tech industry.
snowwrestler 13y ago
Because Internet services like Dropbox are only going to get more regulated, and Rice has the sort of connections and experience to help DropBox mitigate the impact.
bane 13y ago
Her firm [1] was already providing consulting services to DB. They specialize in companies trying to deal with doing business in Asia (South, SE and East). She probably saw that they're about to have a major expansion in those territories, invested or go some shares, got placed on the board so she can help with that expansion and get a huge payout in the end. http://www.ricehadleygates.com/ http://www.ricehadleygates.com/

My pure speculation is; File hosting at the consumer level a race to the bottom with pricing. Given they are not in a position to price this service strategically at little to no margin like MS/Google, storage will likely have diminishing profitability and viability as a standalone business (also more new entrants). On the other hand some corporate and especially government department contracts shouldn't have the same margin pressure and retention issues. A high profile political person is the perfect fit to pursue government department contracts, and Rice would fit this strategy well.

mehwoot 13y ago

I get the feeling she has gained a lot of respect from wealthy and powerful people in general and has quite a few connections. For example, she is also on the newly created 13-person College Football Playoff selection committee even though she has never played or coached football. One sports writer justified it as she has a "plethora of experience making important decisions under intense pressure". This is the committee that will decide which 4 teams get to play for the championship.

tomp 13y ago
Heh, many people have a "plethora of experience making important decisions under intense pressure". The question is, were most (or any) of these decisions correct?

greenyoda 13y ago

As a professor and then the provost of Stanford, she probably knew a lot of people who were involved in the tech industry.

snowwrestler 13y ago

Because Internet services like Dropbox are only going to get more regulated, and Rice has the sort of connections and experience to help DropBox mitigate the impact.

bane 13y ago

Her firm [1] was already providing consulting services to DB. They specialize in companies trying to deal with doing business in Asia (South, SE and East). She probably saw that they're about to have a major expansion in those territories, invested or go some shares, got placed on the board so she can help with that expansion and get a huge payout in the end. http://www.ricehadleygates.com/ http://www.ricehadleygates.com/