In 2014, I was the Chief Business Officer of WhatsApp.

And I helped negotiate the $22 billion sale to Facebook.

Today, I regret it.

Here’s where things went wrong:

WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton.

2 years in (2011), I joined the team as Chief Business Officer.

And in 2012/13, we were approached by Zuck & Facebook about an acquisition.

We declined and decided to keep growing instead.

But then…

FB approached us again early 2014 with an offer that made it look like a partnership:

• Full support for end-to-end encryption
• No ads (ever)
• Complete independence on product decisions
• Board seat for Jan Koum
• Our own office in Mountain View
• Etc.

If you used WhatsApp in early days, you remember what made the product special:

International communication.

For people (like myself) with family in multiple countries, WhatsApp was a way to stay connected—without paying long-distance SMS or calling fees

How WhatsApp made money was by charging users $1 to download the app.

And Facebook (said they) supported our mission & vision.

Brian even wrote this famous note: