No. 029 · 2009 · Mountain View

WhatsApp

Rejected by Facebook. Then sold to Facebook for $19B.

No ads, no games, no gimmicks

Visit WhatsApp ↗Download GIF
Make my startup a legend
  1. 1 As a kid, one founder collected food stamps here.
  2. 2 Years later, they both leave Yahoo.
  3. 3 One's rejected by Facebook. He tweets about it.
  4. 4 They write one rule: no ads, no games, no gimmicks.
  5. 5 A tiny team. Billions of messages.
  6. 6 Facebook comes back. With $19B.
  7. 7 They sign outside that same welfare office.
  8. 8 Best rejection letter in tech history.
Founders
Jan Koum and Brian Acton
Founded
2009, Mountain View
What they do
Private messaging for billions of people.

The story

Two former Yahoo engineers built a simple messenger with no ads, no games and no gimmicks. Acton had been rejected by Facebook, which later paid $19B for the company. Koum signed the deal outside the welfare office where he once collected food stamps.