Born in 1976 in Ukraine during the Soviet Union, Jan Koum grew up in a house that did not even have running water. "I only wanted to create one product. To achieve only one thing. But to create a very beautiful product very successfully!"
Koum describes his primary school years as follows:
"We were living in such difficult conditions near Kyiv that we did not even have a toilet in our school. In winter, in cold weather reaching -20 degrees, we had to walk to the parking lot opposite our school to use the toilet. People at that time were quite introverted. It was like living the stories described in the book 1984." My love."
He immigrated to the USA with his mother at the age of 16. They moved to a small house in California. Here they made their living with food stamps. The computer-based books he borrowed from a bookstore close to his home during his high school years were effective in shaping his life for the future. He graduated from high school, albeit with difficulty, and started attending San Jose University, and also found a job as an auditor at Ernst and Young.
Jan Koum (February 24, 1976) is a Ukrainian-American billionaire businessman and computer programmer. He is the co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for US$19.3 billion. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of US$15.2 billion as of October 2023, making him one of the richest people in the world. Koum was ranked 44th on the Forbes' list of richest Americans in 2023 with a net worth of $15.1 billion.
While working at the same place in 1997, the entrepreneur crossed paths with Brian Acton, who was working at Yahoo. A few months later, Acton got Jan Koum a job at Yahoo. After working here for about 9 years and rising to a managerial position, he and Acton decided to quit their jobs and go on a trip to South America in 2007.
Turning point
After returning from a trip to South America, young entrepreneurs applied for a job on Facebook and both of their applications were rejected. This negative response they received perhaps resulted in the most positive outcome of their lives. Jan Koum, who decided to work for himself, set out to develop an application. He put this idea into practice on February 24, 2009, and established WhatsApp, becoming one of the examples that inspired those who thought about what entrepreneurship is and how to start.
His first office was a small warehouse. It couldn't be said that working conditions were very good here either. Employees had to sit with blankets to stay warm in cold weather. Jan Koum's working principle never included 'using people's information for advertising'. The young entrepreneur gave great importance to user privacy.
Since it did not want advertising on its products, it did not require the personal information of its users. Even this way, WhatsApp PR achieved rapid growth without the need for advertising and marketing. Especially countries where text messaging is less used showed more interest in WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is Growing
WhatsApp's success beyond expectations in a short time attracted attention. Facebook, also a product of young entrepreneurs, purchased WhatsApp, developed by Jan Koum, whose job application he rejected in 2009, for a price of 20 billion dollars in 2014. According to the agreement made during the sale, the entrepreneur would join Facebook's board of directors and continue to work with his team in the development of WhatsApp.
While it had an average monthly user count of 400 million at the time of its acquisition, it reached around 2 billion users with its rapid growth. The largest market share, which is effective in the growth of the application, is in India today.
Year - Event - Result
1976 Jan Koum was born in Ukraine. He grew up under difficult living conditions and was interested in computer books.
He immigrated to the USA in 1992. He made ends meet with food stamps. He dreamed about the future thanks to computer books.
He started working at Yahoo in 1997, meeting Brian Acton. He worked at Yahoo for 9 years and rose to a managerial position. Then he quit his job.
He went on a trip to South America in 2007. They then applied for a job on Facebook and were rejected.
2009 Founded WhatsApp. WhatsApp has achieved rapid growth in a short time. It was an application that valued the privacy of its users.
2014 Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Jan Koum joined Facebook's board of directors and continued the development of WhatsApp.
2015 WhatsApp reached 400 million monthly users. It has now reached over 1.5 billion users.
May 2018
WhatsApp founder and CEO Jan Koum resigns
Jan Koum, the founder of the messaging application WhatsApp and the company's CEO, announced that he decided to resign.
Jan Koum, WhatsApp's CEO, said in a message shared on Facebook: "It's been almost ten years since Brian and I started WhatsApp, and it's been an incredible journey. I'm going to take a break from working for a while to spend time on things that bring me joy outside of technology. Our team is more than ever." "They will continue to become stronger and achieve great things... I will continue to support WhatsApp, even if it is from outside," he said.
Farewell message from Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO Zuckerberg responded to Koum's message by saying, "I will miss working closely with you. I am grateful to you for helping to connect the world. The values you added will always be at the heart of WhatsApp."
Facebook pressure claim
The Washington Post newspaper published in the USA put forward a different claim regarding Koum's resignation. Allegedly, a data exchange crisis arose between Koum and Facebook management, which bought WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars in 2014. Facebook demanded that personal data exchange with WhatsApp be strengthened, but Koumi rejected these demands.