Jan Koum — the ‘Non-Entrepreneur’ :
His Twitter post of May 2012 says:
“Next person to call me an entrepreneur is getting punched in the face by my bodyguard. Seriously.”
He rejects the idea of being labelled as an ‘entrepreneur’ because he believes that his entrepreneurial feats were solely motivated by the urge to create useful products.
He is the mastermind behind the largest messaging application in the world.
He is Jan Koum.
When morning did not show the day:
Born on February 24th 1976, Koum had an impoverished and rough childhood in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR. The contemporary political atmosphere was not conducive towards the growth of this bright, inquisitive boy. In his own words:
“I grew up in a society where everything you did was eavesdropped on, recorded, snitched on.”
He migrated to Mountain View, California in 1992. Sadly, even the US did not greet him well as the family started facing financial difficulties. Life took an uglier turn when his mother passed away. In the face of such a tragedy, Koum took up menial jobs for basic survival.
Following this, he got admitted to San Jose State University and was later hired at Ernst & Young as a security tester. He had a knack for programming since his high school days. He constantly upskilled himself and gain a good deal of knowledge about computer engineering.
“A lot of times people start with a lot of good ideas but then they don’t execute. They lose the purity of their vision.”
He had undying interest in computers and technology. He bought books and manuals from a neighbourhood book store and returned them after reading so that he could have his money back. In a world where information and knowledge were not readily available, this young, immigrant boy transformed himself into a self-made man with a clear vision and unique ideas.
The historic collaboration:
It was at Yahoo! where fate had something else in store for Koum. He met Brian Acton. Both were not comfortable with the inclusion of advertisements into services and thus, decided to launch something different.
They left Yahoo! and in 2007, the duo planned a trip to South America. They applied at Facebook but got rejected. An iPhone changed Koum’s life and ushered in a new era of human communication. He realized that the App Store was going to give rise to a huge industry of applications.
With dreams in their eyes and hopes in their hearts, they created WhatsApp; the mobile messaging application with the motto “No ads, no games, no gimmicks.” Their primary aim was to segregate ads from this service and provide a seamless user experience.
From what’s up to WhatsApp:
On his visit to his friend Alex Fishman, the idea of developing an app dawned upon Jan. After extensive research, he thought of launching a messaging application that focused more on usability rather than advertisements and promotions.
He proposed the name WhatsApp as it closely resembled ‘What’s up?’ Thus, history was created when WhatsApp. Inc was founded by Jan Koum, in collaboration with Brian Acton in 2009.
Jan says that his goal was not to earn profits but to manufacture a product that would ease communication so that people can remain connected with their loved ones.
“I started WhatsApp, to build a product. I do not want to create a company around it, the goal was not to earn.”
The early days of WhatsApp were full of ups and downs when the app crashed constantly and was not a huge hit among its limited users. The introduction of push notifications worked well and the app started becoming popular.
And then, Facebook arrived.
Frequent conversations with Zuckerberg resulted in the official acquisition of WhatsApp. In February 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a whopping amount of US $19 billion.
The man behind the app:
He donated approximately $556 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) and $1 million to The FreeBSD Foundation in 2014. His donations to The FreeBSD Foundation continued even in 2018 and 2019. His humble background has taught him many essential life lessons and the importance of giving back to society.
Even after 6 years of a change in ownership, WhatsApp continues to run without advertisements, placing human communication at a greater stature than earning revenue through advertisements.
His life, our lesson:
Jan Koum is a great inspiration for young, aspiring entrepreneurs. He is an example of what an individual can achieve if he continues to strive against all adversaries and has his self-belief at the right place. He asserts,
“Be simple and reliable.”
Aspiring entrepreneurs should follow his footsteps, be resilient, work towards their life goals, and turn their dreams into reality. When the right knowledge meets proper focus and uncompromised hard work, no target can remain unachieved and no goal, unattained.
