1976
Jan Koum, co-founder of WhatsApp, was born in 1976 in a village near Kyiv in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine).
“a boy named Jan Koum is born to a Jewish family in 1976”
Topic
24 facts from 6 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2009
Jan Koum incorporated WhatsApp Inc. in California on February 24, 2009, using a template for articles of incorporation and a $100 filing fee.
“So this is on Jan's birthday in 2009, February 24th. He's like, shoot, we got to incorporate this.”
2009
Apple introduced push notifications for third-party apps in summer 2009, which made WhatsApp's evolution into a messenger practical.
“through WWDC 2009 in the summer when Apple introduces push notifications for third party apps”
2009
WhatsApp launched its messaging functionality in late August or early September 2009, and usage quickly grew.
“They launch it in like late August, early September of 2009. And it immediately takes off again.”
2009
WhatsApp raised a $250,000 angel round from former Yahoo friends and co-workers, and Brian Acton joined as a co-founder with roughly a 20 percent stake.
“So they put together $250,000 all from former friends and co-workers.”
2009
Brian Acton proposed charging 99 cents for the WhatsApp app to slow growth that was straining servers and to create a business model.
“what if we charge 99 cents for the app in the app store”
2011
Sequoia Capital led an $8 million round in WhatsApp at a post-money valuation slightly below $80 million, around early 2011.
“So they do an $8 million round at a slightly lower than an $80 million post-money valuation.”
2011
WhatsApp was processing over 1 billion messages per day by October 2011 and 10 billion per day by August 2012.
“By October 2011, WhatsApp is processing over 1 billion messages per day.”
2013
Sequoia Capital invested another $50 million in WhatsApp at a $1.5 billion valuation in early 2013, when WhatsApp had about 200 million active users.
“Sequoia, in secret at this point in time, invests another $50 million in the company at a $1.5 billion valuation.”
2014
According to limited reporting cited by the hosts, Tencent was close to buying WhatsApp for high single-digit billions of dollars before the Facebook deal.
“Apparently Tencent was ready to do a deal to buy WhatsApp for in the single digit billions, high single digit billions.”
2014
The acquisition documents reportedly included a clause giving Jan Koum and Brian Acton full vesting acceleration of their stock grants if Facebook introduced advertising on WhatsApp.
“if Facebook ever implements advertising on WhatsApp, that the two of them”
2014
Facebook announced the WhatsApp deal at $19 billion, which rose to about $22 billion by closing because Facebook's stock price increased.
“$19 billion total consideration. By the time the deal actually closed, Facebook stock had run up and it was $22 billion in total value.”
2014
Of the WhatsApp purchase price, about $4.5 billion was cash and close to $14 billion was Facebook stock.
“Four and a half billion of that is in cash. Close to 14 billion of that is stock, Facebook stock consideration for WhatsApp.”
2014
WhatsApp implemented full end-to-end encryption in fall 2014, after the Facebook acquisition.
“Also that fall in 2014, importantly, they implement full end-to-end encryption and privacy within WhatsApp.”
2014
Facebook's accounting for the WhatsApp purchase allocated about $2 billion to users, half a billion to trade names, a third of a billion to technology and $15.3 billion to goodwill.
“$2 billion was for the users that they acquired. Half a billion dollars for trade names.”
2014
Costolo says Telegram gained 13 million users within hours of a WhatsApp outage after Facebook acquired WhatsApp, because contacts can be imported easily.
“Telegram added 13 million users in that like six hours.”
2014
Facebook paid $2 billion for Oculus 34 days after agreeing to pay $19 billion for WhatsApp in early 2014.
“they had so much conviction that the future was AR and VR that 34 days later, they paid another $2 billion for Oculus.”
2015
WhatsApp reached a billion users by the end of 2015, which made it the most popular messaging application in the world, ahead of WeChat.
“Which then importantly makes them, in 2015, the most popular messaging application in the world, surpassing WeChat.”
2017
In May 2017 the European Commission fined Facebook over 100 million euros for providing misleading information during its review of the WhatsApp acquisition.
“In May of 2017, the European Commission fines Facebook over 100 million euros for misleading it during the antitrust process during the buyout of WhatsApp”
2018
Jan Koum announced in April 2018 that he was leaving WhatsApp and Facebook, forgoing about $400 million in unvested stock.
“April, the next month, Jan announces on Facebook that he is also going to leave WhatsApp and Facebook. He leaves about $400 million on the table.”
2020
At the time of recording, Ben Gilbert cited 1.5 billion monthly active users for WhatsApp, making it the largest messaging network, versus 2.4 billion for Facebook and 2 billion for YouTube.
“Facebook has 2.4 billion MAUs. YouTube has 2 billion. WhatsApp has one and a half, making it the largest messaging network.”
2022
Anu Hariharan said Y Combinator's community included around 4,000 companies and more than 8,500 alumni, coordinated heavily through WhatsApp groups.
“We have around 4,000 companies and more than 8,500 alumni.”
Undated
Kevin Scott argued that the lasting smartphone apps, such as TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and DoorDash, were non-obvious hard problems rather than the initial launch apps.
“Like, you know, we, we, we don't even think the the original applications on these platforms”
Undated
Sharma argues WhatsApp won through contact reach via phone numbers, reliability and privacy with end-to-end encryption rather than through features.
“WhatsApp didn't win because it had stickers or stories or dark mode.”
Episodes
- 28 Oct 2024Meta6h 18m
- 12 May 2022Arena Show Part I: Idea Dinner + YC Continuity1h 27m
- 28 Oct 2020Twitter (with Dick Costolo)1h 25m
- 29 Jan 2020WhatsApp1h 52m
- 24 May 2023Going Full Send on AI, and the (Positive) Impact of AI on Jobs, with Kevin Scott, CTO of Microsoft54m
- 28 Aug 2025How 80,000 companies build with AI: products as organisms, the death of org charts, and why agents will outnumber employees by 2026 | Asha Sharma (CVP of AI Platform at Microsoft)57m