Jan Koum’s story is one of the most surprising, not only for being the co-creator of the messaging app WhatsApp but also because of the life he led before achieving success—a life full of hardships that eventually bore fruit after much effort. He was born in Fastiv, Kiev, Ukraine, and emigrated to the United States with his mother in 1992 when he was 16 years old. They could barely get by on social assistance in a small apartment. When he turned 18, he decided to learn computing on his own using second-hand manuals that he had to return after reading them. At that time, his mother worked as a nanny and he earned some money doing cleaning jobs.
His teenage life was somewhat turbulent as he had behavioral issues at school and was part of a hacker group. However, he was able to correct his behavior in time, and after finishing high school, he enrolled at San Jose State University. Thanks to his experience in networks and computer security, he had the opportunity to work at Yahoo!, where he met Brian Acton. The two developed a strong friendship after the death of Koum’s mother, who passed away from cancer in 2000. By then, he already had a degree in systems engineering and remained at Yahoo! for nine years, after which he resigned in 2007 because, according to his own words, he didn’t like his job.
After that, he spent a year traveling through Latin American countries and later tried to get a job at Facebook, where he was not accepted—something that also happened at other companies. In 2009, Jan Koum became interested in mobile applications after buying a smartphone and becoming fascinated with the idea of having an app that allowed users to stay in touch with each other. He explored the variety of apps available in the App Store and was particularly annoyed by the issues Skype caused when he wanted to connect with friends, especially since he always forgot his password and the app didn’t make access easy. That’s when he came up with the idea of an app that identified users by their mobile number. He shared the idea with his friend Brian Acton, and together they secured a $250,000 loan to start the project, which was ready in 2010 under the name WhatsApp.
At first, the app struggled to gain traction, and they felt there was a significant risk that everything would fail. But their former Yahoo! colleagues provided funding to help them stay afloat until 2011, when the venture capital firm Sequoia made an investment of $8 million. This allowed the app to make a massive impact among mobile users, to the point that it became one of the most important messaging applications for smartphones. Jan Koum has always been known as a humble and reserved person and has consistently maintained a stance against the communist government that affected his country, where he left behind family and friends. This experience influenced his commitment to preventing any type of surveillance or restriction in his tool, preserving freedom and ease of communication for WhatsApp users. In fact, these features were decisive factors in the February 2014 negotiation with Facebook, when he ultimately sold the app for $19 billion. Interestingly, this major moment took place in a soup kitchen where he used to go with his mother.
At that time, Jan owned 45% of WhatsApp and was estimated to have a fortune of $6.8 billion after the sale to Facebook. He is now considered one of the youngest rich men in the United States. That is how he became a true example of integrity, effort, and tenacity in the face of adversity, going from a low-income immigrant to one of the richest and most successful men in the world.