Over time, some people stand out from the rest and do something exceptional that others are fond of. They usually come from a background that does not tell the great future waiting ahead. In other words, they are people like everybody else, yet have a star on top of them. They use their potentials, talents and skills and come up with something innovative that answers people’s needs.
Jan Koum is one of the most successful entrepreneurs nowadays. He is the co-founder and CEO of WhatsApp Messenger, a messaging network that allows users to send and receive messages in real time, and stay connected. Counting more than 300 million active users per month, WhatsApp has managed to stay ahead of competition and connect up most of the world (Gannes, 2013). Indicatively, in June 2013 alone, 27 billion messages were received and send in total, and WhatsApp users shared 325 million photos each day (Gannes, 2013). One can understand how far Jan Koum has got, ever since he dropped out of San Jose State University, and stopped his studies on math and computer science (allthingsd.com).
Studying an entrepreneur’s success story can become a beacon for others that also dream to make a difference with their intelligence and special skills. According to Koum, he owes his success and multi-million income annually to user experience; he got to understand how people use their phones (Baer, 2013). But, before he became a leader in instant messaging technology, he started as an engineer in Yahoo! (Carlson, 2013). In an interview at Business Insider, he mentions the challenges he and his colleague, at the time, Brian Acton, had to come up against. During their 20-year working experience at Yahoo! they did their best to keep the site working (Carlson, 2013). Part of his job was to sell ads too, as part of Yahoo!’s policies. However, both Koum and Acton watched Yahoo! get side passed by Google, which they had considered a more profitable ad seller (Carlson, 2013). The secret behind this turn and Google’s leap ahead is how Google managed things. It seems that Google was aware of what users have been searching for and would always come up with more and more efficient data in search results, and, of course, sell better ads. Although Koum was part of the Yahoo! team, he was not narrow-minded and saw the greater picture, which is what made him search in deep of ways to make technology an extension of people’s lifestyle (Baer, 2013). So, ever since he picked up an iPhone in 2009, he realized an opportunity he wanted to benefit from. The future lied in iPhones and Koum knew that.
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges he had to face was to decide whether he and his partner would embrace the ad policy and create another ad clearinghouse, making millions, probably even billions out of it, or if they should focus on other more important things (Baer, 2013). Koum preferred to provide services that people would be delighted to use, and would also make their life easier, even by a bit. Indicatively, he mentions an event that occurred in July, 2013 during the Santiago de Compostela train disaster, when a woman trapped and completely buried in rubble, managed to use her WhatsApp and text her husband the location she was buried (Gannes, 2013). It would have been unimaginable to Koum if that woman had to first watch an app and then be allowed to text her husband.
Feeling people’s vibes, Koum knew that users are so tired of ads. They kept turning their backs on ads every chance they got. Ads are not on people’s minds day in and day out, and they certainly do not make them feel any better. On the contrary, when someone has chatted with a friend, colleague, relative, or any other individual that made their day, they turn in each night feeling a sense of enthusiasm and excitement (Baer, 2013). That is the dream Koum wanted to envision. He said, “We want WhatsApp to be the product that keeps you awake and that you reach for in the morning. No one jumps up from a nap and runs to see an advertisement” (Baer, 2013).
So, Koum rejected fat paychecks with multiple zeros in the end, as a means to respect his customers and stop insulting their intelligence with aesthetically and mentally disrupting advertisements (Baer, 2013). He has explained that when a company sells ads, its engineering team strives to come up with effective data mining, update the servers holding that data, enhance the codes so they collect as much personal data possible, and a huge list of other things that by the end of the day are not that significant in the common eyes, that of the users (Baer, 2013). In other words, too much work for nothing. This is the reason why Koum has decided his engineers to work on more important things, like fixing bugs, enhancing the existing features or adding new ones, and practically anything else involved, to deliver reliable messaging all across the globe. He made a tough decision when he opted for complete client satisfaction without the use of profit-making ads, but the world seems to have appreciated it, given the multi-million users of WhatsApp as of now.
Koum is a man driven by his passion, which is the essence of many successful men’s stories. The very founder of Facebook has created the world’s biggest networking platform, out of a dream that he strongly believed in. However a leader never stands still and keeps going with the flow, which is perfectly applicable to Koum’s case. His next move is focused on voice messaging for all of WhatsApp applications on Nokia, Android, iPhone, Windows Phone and BackBerry (Gannes, 2013). What makes Koum’s voice messaging app different from other similar ones is the fact that it makes the entire voice messaging process much easier. Trying to comprehend Koum’s breakthrough, it might be wise to compare Facebook Messenger app that makes a voice recording with three taps, when Koum’s app does not require the user to type a message, but records it (Gannes, 2013). Then, the voice message is send with just one tap, which saves time and allow users to have more comfort in their everyday life, in a way. So, if a user is on the way, they can easily send a voice message without having to be distracted as much as with other apps. Additional features include endless length limit for the time spent recording, an indicator that informs when the voice message is played, and automatic volume switch with the movement of the user’s arms (Gannes, 2013).
Despite global recognition and success, Jan Koum remains a down to earth individual that does not show off his accomplishments. He always tries to provide the best of services to WhatsApp users. Maybe it is his way to feel great about making a difference in a world that is lost in fast rhythms and endless “treasure hunt”. With his apps, he may be feeling like he relieves some worries from people’s heads, leaving them with apps that truly answer their needs.
References:
All Things D (n.d), Jan Koum. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2013 from: http://allthingsd.com/tag/jan-koum/
Baer, Drake (2013), How Does WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum Keep 200 Million Users Across The Globe Happy? Fast Company. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2013 from: http://www.fastcompany.com/3010111/bottom-line/how-does-whatsapp-ceo-jan-koum-keep-200-million-users-across-the-globe-happy
Carlson, Nicholas (2013), These Two Ex-Yahoos Are Making Millions — And Turning Down Much More Because They Hate Ads. Business Insider. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2013 from: http://www.businessinsider.com/these-two-ex-yahoos-are-making-millions--but-turning-down-billions-because-they-hate-advertising-2013-6#ixzz2n12OHMaa
Gannes, Liz (2013), WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum Hates Advertising and the Tech Rumor Mill (Full Dive Video). All Things D. Retrieved Dec. 9, 2013 from: http://allthingsd.com/20130510/whatsapp-ceo-jan-koum-hates-advertising-and-the-tech-rumor-mill-full-dive-video/
