By now you’ll have heard that Facebook has purchased Whatsapp, an app that most consumers use for free, for $19 billion. The deal was signed at a very sentimental location for co-founder Jan Koum: the former North County Social Services office – the place where he used to stand in line to collect food stamps.

Koum’s story starts way back in Kiev, Ukraine. Fleeing from the troubling political and anti-Semitic environment at the time, 16-year-old Koum and his mother emmigrated to the US, leaving Koum’s father behind. In the US it didn’t get much easier for him and his mother. While his mother took up baby sitting as a source of income, Koum swept the floors of a grocery store to pay the bills. When his mother got diagnosed with cancer, the two had to live off her disability allowance.

By the age of 18, Koum had taught himself computer networking by buying textbooks from a used bookstore, and used his newfound knowledge to join a hacking group. In 1997 Koum was using his hacking skills as a security tester at Ernst & Young, which led to him meeting Brian Acton, the eventual co-founder of Whatsapp.  Brian Acton was working for Yahoo at the time, inspecting the company’s advertising system.

It wasn’t long before Koum was working with Acton at Yahoo, at jobs they grew to hate. So in 2007 they left, parting ways for a short time. Koum remembers being at a party when the idea for Whatsapp started. He and friends were discussing how cool it would be if your address book on your phone showed status updates of your friends.

Koum contacted Acton and told him the idea. The two started up immediately, even before the app was even built they registered the now famous company name. However the initial use as a status update app soon made way to the messenger system that it is today.

To read more about Whatsapp and Koum’s incredible story, click here.

[ Source : Forbes ]