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: