Jan Koum is a Ukrainian-American internet inventor and computer programmer. He is the CEO and co-founder of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook Inc. in February 2014 for US$19.3 billion. May his quotes inspire you to focus on your dreams and make them a reality.
1. “Be simple and reliable.” Jan Koum
2. “We won’t stop until every single person on the planet has an affordable and reliable way to communicate with their friends and loved ones.” Jan Koum
3. “A lot of times, people start out with a lot of good ideas, but then they don’t execute. They lose the purity of their vision. You end up running around in circles.” Jan Koum
4. “I didn’t have a computer until I was 19 – but I did have an abacus.” Jan Koum
5. “There were a lot of negatives, of course, but there were positives to living life unfettered by possessions. It gave us the chance to focus on education, which was very important in the Soviet Union.” Jan Koum
6. “I grew up in a country where advertising doesn’t exist.” Jan Koum
7. “Communication is at the very core of our society. That’s what makes us human.” Jan Koum
8. “I only have one idea, that is WhatsApp, and I am going to continue to focus on that. I have no plans to build any other ideas.” Jan Koum
9. “If partnering with Facebook meant that we had to change our values, we wouldn’t have done it.” Jan Koum
10. “In some countries, WhatsApp is like oxygen.” Jan Koum
11. “We obviously try to be in tune with what our users want.” Jan Koum
12. “Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo – there’s a common theme. None of these companies ever sold. By staying independent, they were able to build a great company.” Jan Koum
13. “A lot of what I experienced growing up in the U.S.S.R. and coming to the U.S. as an immigrant actually reflects itself in WhatsApp. Experiences from our youth shape what we do later in life.” Jan Koum
14. “We’ve taken SMS technology for consumers and improved it.” Jan Koum
15. “The message growth rate in Brazil – it’s not like a hockey stick: it’s like a vertical line.” Jan Koum
16. “Our focus remains on delivering the promise of WhatsApp far and wide so that people around the world have the freedom to speak their mind without fear.” Jan Koum
17. “Our team has always believed that neither cost and distance should ever prevent people from connecting with their loved ones, and won’t rest until everyone, everywhere is empowered with that opportunity.” Jan Koum
18. “I had so much fun in the early days learning about networking, security, scalability and other geeky stuff.” Jan Koum
19. “The F-word here is focus.” Jan Koum
20. “Do one thing, and do it well.” Jan Koum
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