RAGS TO RICHES: WhatsApp Co-Founder Jan Koum Once Lived On Food Stamps
from http://www.businessinsider.com/whats...-stamps-2014-2
JULIE BORT
FEB. 19, 2014, 8:32 PM
37-year-old WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum was born in Ukraine. He arrived in the U.S. when he was just 16-years-old and his family struggled.
They lived on food stamps, venture capitalist Jim Goetz revealed in a blog post.
In fact, Koum's family picked up their food stamps only a couple of blocks away from WhatsApp's offices in Mountain View, Calif., reports Wired's David Rowan.
Flash forward to today, when Facebook announced it was buying WhatsApp for a stunning $19 billion in cash and stock. Even if the deal falls through, axed by regulators, Facebook has agreed to pay WhatsApp $2 billion in cash and stocks.
Forbes estimates that Koum holds about a 45% stake in the company, while his co-founder Brian Acton’s stake is estimated at over 20%.
That would make Koum worth $6.8 billion and Acton worth a at least $3 billion as of Facebook’s closing share price on Wednesday.
From food stamps to billionaire, that's an incredible journey.
thats an insane amount for 1 little app, wow!!
..yea ive been using whatsapp for years too
As great as this sounds, I personally don't like examples like these. It's like saying "look! He won the lottery. Why not you?" There is alot of luck that goes into business. For every whatsapp, there's probably a few hundred other apps like this that probably won't have as much success.
Not to mention that he didn't do it alone. He probably have alot of smart advisors to help him along the way, not to mention connections.
Articles like these encourage people to think they can do it all from their parent's basement. It's possible, but it's like winning the lottery.
I like to see success in business as building great products and processes along with the right people to help you along the way. And not trying to be the next hit, like you are auditioning for American Idol.
^^ I agree.
I always wonder about businesses, and ask myself if I could of made them as successful as they are today if I had the idea back when they started. Most of them I would struggle to say yes.
If you could go back in time and be the one starting out with Snapchat, or even Facebook. Things would still be heavily stacked against you to make those companies work. The stars have to align. But a lot of the time it's not on you, it's on factors you can't control. Especially for grand pioneering ideas like these.
My 2 pence.
Man Facebook is paying stupid money for apps. I think the amount of money being paid out is overkill, but I guess they must know something we don't. I think whatsapp should change their revenue model. If you look at competing apps like Line and for the Korean community they use Kakaotalk. They are completely free for life, but they make money by selling extra things. They call them "stickers" which are essentially emoticons. They sell a whole bunch of different types for a dollar or two. Much more revenue than a $1/year payment to use a messenger app. Also kakaotalk and line have games which allow you to compete your scores with your contact list. And the games have item purchase add ons.
Just look at the revenue for kakaotalk which has only a fraction of the userbase whatsapp has: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-1...ley-faces.html
@MrGreen - definitely agreed. There are so many things that go into making one app The One that gets picked up. Personally, if I'm starting something as a money-making enterprise, I'm more a fan of highly-targeted niche apps than the shoot-for-the-moon approach.
'Early' WhatsApp Employees Will Make $160 Million Each
NICHOLAS CARLSON
FEB. 20, 2014, 10:17 AM
Yesterday, Facebook bought messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion — $12 billion in stock, $4 billion in cash, and another $3 billion in stock grants for employees that will vest over the next four years.
How much will WhatsApp's employees make in the deal?
We don't know how that $3 billion will be divided.
We do know the $12 billion in stock and $4 billion in cash will be divided among Whatsapp owners.
Whatsapp employees own a piece of the company.
How much?
Forbes' Parmy Olson reports: "Early employees are said to have comparatively large equity shares of close to 1%."
Ready to have your mind blown?
1% of $16 billion is …
… $160 million.
For fucks sake.