Just 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. 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 many years of hard work and dedication, today he is a man with a huge fortune, the developer of the world-famous 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 was a builder, his mother was a housewife. Childhood was not easy, because the family lived more than modestly. To earn at least some money, the mother worked part-time as a nanny, and Jan 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 passed away after a long illness. Part-time work did not bring a stable income to the young man, the mother, due to her age, could not get a job. Then it was decided, having sold everything that was possible and having collected all the savings, 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 had fun creating hacker programs, independently studied the literature on writing program codes.
Career failures
At this time, things were still going badly for the family. Jan's mother was diagnosed with a malignant tumor, and for several years they lived in a modest rented apartment on sickness benefits. After some time, the mother died, and Yang was left alone.
The young man's life was greatly influenced by Brian Acton, whom he met at Yahoo. Jan got a job in this corporation in the hope of starting a career and getting good money. It was there that two friends spent several years creating advertising and network engineering, but both did not get any pleasure from this routine work.
There were attempts to invest, as well as projects to open their own businesses. But they all ended in failure and instead of profit brought another waste. But Jan Kum, whose fortune was still a small amount, did not lose perseverance and moved on. It was not possible to graduate from the university, because studies interfered with fruitful work. Yang preferredself-education and never regretted it. He read books voraciously, buying them in small shops and street sales. And continued to work at Yahoo Corporation.
Interesting fact
One day all the computers in the Yahoo offices went down. They urgently called staff to fix the problem. They called Jan, but at that time he was in class 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 phone program that would tell everyone in the contact list whether the subscriber is busy or can answer whether he is in class or at the cinema, out of reach or free to communicate.
New life stage
Working at Yahoo took a long seven years of 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 of. Having accumulated some amount in their accounts over the years, young people terminated the contract with the company and set off on a journey around the world. They visited South America, where they could properly relax and gain strength for new achievements.
Once Jan 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 in my head for several years suddenly became clear and understandable, and the unique capabilities of the mobile device suggested how this idea could be brought to life.
The way to the top
On the sameperiod, the future creator of Whats Up, Jan Koum, becomes close to the 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 app developer (Igor Solomennikov).
And a long period of studying literature, writing codes, developing programs began. Yang 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 that instantly reported the user's new status to the entire list of his contacts, automatically recognized subscribers of any telephone systems, and turned out to be 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.
Whatsapp got its name for a reason: Kum is a play on the American slang expression that means "how are you" and is the most popular and most frequently sent message.
Difficulties again
The application, unknown to anyone, did not bring in a 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 communications. We can say that for several years the developers only invested in the business, without receiving anything in return. Although no, there was still something - growingthe popularity of the mobile novelty.
After the program introduced the function of sending not only text applications, but also images, music and videos, 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. A long-term idea finally got a worthy embodiment! And Jan Kum realized that now he is firmly on his feet.
19 billion deal
Whatsapp founder Jan Koum admits in an interview that he never considered himself an entrepreneur, and is 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 sake of embodying his idea. If something useful is created, it will certainly become known and appreciated - such is the opinion of a computer genius. That is why Jan Koum did not conduct major advertising campaigns for his offspring, did not try to attract the attention of the press, and did not even develop the logo right away.
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 rise could not fail to notice such giant corporations as Yahoo, Google, Facebook and many others. There were many lucrative offers to sell the brand. And finally, in 2014, a deal took place that instantly made not only WhatsApp world famous,but also its creator. The app was sold to Mark Zuckerberg for a record nineteen billion dollars! Its developers, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, became owners of stakes and remained with the company. A guy from a poor Ukrainian family became a billionaire and one of the most eligible bachelors.
Private life
It's no wonder that with such an attitude towards work, there is little time left for personal life. 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 got married, his wife, alas, would not take the first place in his life. This is probably why a talented programmer prefers to remain single. According to press reports, Jan is now dating 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 collaborated with such brands as "L. Oreal", "Mulberry" and "Aveda". Perhaps energetic and ambitious young people will be able to create a strong alliance.
Hobby
Jan Kum devotes almost all his time to work. He monitors the rating of his invention, studies consumer reviews, constantly works to improve and add new useful features. He has little interest in political events and does not take part in them. Doesn't like popularityvery willing to talk to the press. Everything that is connected with PR and advertising, since the days of work at Yahoo, has made Jan bored and bored.
Despite the busy work schedule, there is a place in the life of a young man for a hobby. Boxing became his favorite pastime. It is probably not by chance that this particular sport was chosen, because it is simple and understandable, obeys strict rules and requires complete dedication during training. But aren't these qualities that Jan Kum appreciates most of all?
When talking about plans for the future, Jan only thinks about his project. According to him, success can be considered achieved if the application in twenty years will be as popular as it is now.
