Success Story of Whatsapp Founder

Hello Friends,

(Those who want to listen the story in Hindi, can watch the video given below..)

The story of Whatsapp is a live example of where innovation in technology takes people and their communication. With billions of users addicted to Whatsapp style of keeping in touch, it is worthwhile to explore what went behind making this phenomenon happen.

Initial Life                                                                                                                                                    

The man we are talking about is the son of a construction labourer. The story of 41 year old Jan Koum(as of 2017), is inspiration for the current generation on internet entrepreneurs. A man who did not have hot water facility at his home, the man who cleaned the floors of a grocery store at the age of 16, the man who stood in the que for collecting food stamps, is now a Silicon Valley badshah.

 Jan was born and raised in a village on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine. He was the only child to his parents, his mother was a housewife and father was an ordinary construction labourer.

With his hard work, he finally got into San Jose State University where he took training in programming.

Business partner                                                                                                                            

Jan met his business partner, Brian while working at Yahoo as an engineer. They worked together in Yahoo for almost nine years and then left the company together. Then they applied to Facebook, but saw no luck. They had no plans to become rich until they thought of making an app for iPhone users.They then created the app which received tremendous success in a very less time. This was because the users found it pretty easy to use and they need not to register anywhere in order to use the application. This was the dream come true for both the partners.

Failure faced                                                                                

The initial models failing, Koum was disheartened, and was almost about to give up when Acton persuaded him to keep at it. Finally in the  November of 2009, after months of beta testing, WhatsApp launched in the app store for iPhones. The blackberry version was released just two months later. Even after initial launch, no one was aware of the app for two years and very few people downloaded it.

Earning Through the app

Jan and Brian earned millions of dollars without any advertising on the app. They made money in two ways. They started charging iPhone users on first time installation and the Android users every year. A lot of people used the app and paid both of them. Reports state that around 250 million people use WhatsApp in a month. This is a huge number for any application to reach in the smartphone space.

Tricks used

Both the partners worked at Yahoo and hence learnt the tricks of the trade. Yahoo works with advertisements. Most users do not like advertisements flashing while using an application. Understanding this, the two made an app which is simple to use devoid of barriers in the form of advertisements. That alone made WhatsApp most loved by the users worldwide.

Company Employees and Acquisition

There are only 55 employees in the WhatsApp Inc. But they serve millions of people each day. The main aim of the app is to provide a simple interface to the users enabling them to stay in contact with their loved ones. WhatsApp is now bought over and owned by Facebook and this made both the partners, Jan and Brian billionaires in a very short period of time.The deal went down for US $19 Billion, it was Facebook’s largest acquisition till then.

Now when Koum is a billionaire, he still has not forgot his past. When he signed the deal with Facebook, he chose the same social services building as the venue where he stood in a queue to collect food stamps.