A few years ago, the name Jan Kum (photo below) was unknown to anyone.
He was an ordinary employee of a computer company, one of several thousand. He tried to get out of the poverty in which he was born. And in his free time he read scientific literature and developed a completely new product in the world of Internet technologies. Thanks to the hard work of many years and determination, today he is a man with a huge fortune, the developer of the popular WhatsApp communication program.
Biography
Yan Borisovich Kum was born in a small Ukrainian provincial town in the late 70s. His family was the most ordinary and unremarkable: his father is a builder, his mother is a housewife. Childhood was not easy, because the family lived more than modestly. To earn at least a little money, her mother worked as a nanny, and Ian took on any work that was feasible for the student. Then followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the difficult years of perestroika. Jan’s father died after a long illness. The part-time job did not bring the young man a stable income, the mother, due to her age, could not get a job. Then it was decided, having sold everything that is possible and having collected all the savings, to move to America. It took two years to prepare for the move, during which the boy studied English and took private lessons to “pull up” his knowledge. The family moved to a town called Mountain View.
Jan Kum, whose biography was very difficult, got the opportunity to study and do what he loves - studying books on programming. In his student years, the young man was amused by the creation of hacker programs, independently studied the literature on writing program codes.
Career failures
At this time, family affairs were still going badly. Mal's mother was diagnosed with a malignant tumor, and for several years they lived in a modest rented apartment for sick pay. After some time, the mother died, and Ian was left alone.
A great influence on the life of a young man was made by Brian Acton, whom he met at Yahoo. Ian got a job in this corporation in the hope of starting a career and getting good money. It was there that two friends were engaged in creating advertising and network engineering for several years, but both of them did not get any pleasure from this routine work.
There were attempts to invest, as well as projects to open their own businesses. But all of them ended in failure and instead of profit brought another waste. But Jan Kum, whose fortune was still a small amount, did not lose his perseverance and moved on. It was not possible to graduate from university because study interfered with fruitful work. Ian preferred self-education and never regretted it. He read books eagerly, buying them in small shops and at street sales. And he continued to work for Yahoo.
Interesting fact
Once at the offices of Yahoo, there was a failure in the operation of all computers. They began to urgently call employees to troubleshoot. They called Jan, but at that time he was in the classroom at the university and replied that he could not come. Perhaps it was at this moment that the young man had the idea of creating a smart program for the phone that would let everyone in the contact list know if the subscriber was busy or could answer whether he was in class or in a movie, out of reach or free to talk to.
New life stage
Joining Yahoo took a long seven years to the life of a young Internet genius and his friend Brian. Finally, one fine day, they agreed that the monotonous work of creating advertising projects is not what they dream about. Having accumulated a certain amount in their accounts over the years, the young people terminated the contract with the company and embarked on a journey around the world. They visited South America, where they were able to properly relax and gain strength for new achievements.
One day, Ian Kum picked up an Apple phone. According to the programmer himself, it was this moment that became a turning point in his life. The idea that had been hovering for several years suddenly became clear and understandable, and the unique capabilities of the mobile device suggested how this idea could be realized.
Way to the top
In the same period, the future creator of Watts Up, Jan Kum, is approaching no less purposeful young man Alex Fishman. Together they spend days discussing the idea, working on its improvement and implementation. Alex helped Jan find a qualified mobile application developer (it was Igor Solomennikov).
And a long period of studying literature, writing codes, and developing programs began. Ian spent several months studying the telephone codes of all countries and cities so that millions of subscribers around the world could receive messages about the new product. As a result of painstaking work, a mobile application was obtained, which in an instant informed about the new status of the user to the entire list of his contacts, automatically recognized subscribers of any telephone systems and was very convenient for text messages. It was the ability to quickly send messages that made the new program popular in a short time, because it had no analogues.
The WhatsApp name did not appear by accident: Coom defeated the slang American expression, which means "How are you, " and is the most popular and often sent message.
Difficulties again
The application that was not yet known to anyone did not bring profit that could cover the costs. After all, it was necessary to maintain an office and staff, albeit a small one. A lot of money was spent on communication. We can say that for several years, developers only invested in the business, not receiving anything in return. Although no, something still happened - the growing popularity of mobile news.
After the function of sending not only text applications, but also images, music and videos appeared in the program, the number of users increased to several hundred thousand, and the developers realized that they had created a more functional replacement for SMS and MMS. The first investors were found, which means that the application began to generate income. A new office appeared, employees began to receive decent pay. The long-standing idea has finally received a worthy embodiment! And Jan Kum realized that now he is firmly on his feet.
19 billion deal
WhatsApp founder Jan Kum admits in an interview that he never considered himself an entrepreneur, and even seriously offended if he is called by this word. He claims that he developed the application not for the sake of money, but for the realization of his idea. If something useful is created, it will certainly become famous and appreciated - such is the opinion of a computer genius. That is why Jan Kum did not conduct large advertising campaigns of his brainchild, did not try to attract the attention of the press, and even the logo was not developed immediately.
Nevertheless, popularity came with enviable speed. The application firmly held the top positions in the ratings of mobile gadgets as the most popular and in demand. This take-off could not fail to notice such giant corporations as Yahoo, Google, Facebook and many others. There have been many lucrative offers to sell the brand. And finally, in 2014, a deal took place that instantly made world-famous not only WhatsApp, but also its creator. The app was sold to Mark Zuckerberg for a record nineteen billion dollars! Its developers, Ian Kum and Brian Acton, became owners of shares and remained working in the company. A guy from a poor Ukrainian family has become a billionaire and one of the most enviable bachelors.
Personal life
It is not surprising that with this attitude to work for personal life there is little time. WhatsApp for Jan Kum is the meaning of his life, his idol, his brainchild. He does not part with his mobile phone, afraid to miss important messages from business partners. He is ready to work day and night if there is any problem in the application.
If Jan Kum had married, alas, his wife, alas, would have occupied far from the first place in his life. This is probably why a talented programmer prefers to remain single. According to press reports, Jan is now meeting with a model of Ukrainian origin Evelina Mambetova. The girl is young, but already known to the whole world as very beautiful and promising, she has already had occasion to collaborate with such brands as L. Oreal, Mulberry and Aveda. Perhaps energetic and ambitious young people will be able to create a strong union.
