Welcome to Edition #107 of Gorick's newsletter, where Harvard career advisor and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Gorick Ng shares what they don't teach you in school about how to succeed in your career.
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→ Read time: 4 min
STORY
How WhatsApp went from 1 idea to the #1 messaging app
You’ve probably heard of WhatsApp—the free messaging app used by over 2 billion people worldwide.
But did you know it might not exist if two former coworkers from Yahoo! hadn’t kept in touch after leaving their jobs?
It’s early 2009. Jan Koum, a Ukrainian-born software engineer, has just spent months quietly building a new iPhone app.
The idea?
A simple app alternative to texting with “no ads, no games, no gimmicks.” He names it WhatsApp as a pun on the phrase, “What’s up?”
Koum launched the first version of WhatsApp on the Apple App Store in May 2009. It was unstable and at times completely unusable—he even considered giving up.
But his longtime friend and former colleague, Brian Acton, urged him to stick with it.
The two had met nearly a decade earlier at Yahoo!, where they’d bonded over late-night debugging sessions and rants about corporate life. They both left Yahoo! in 2007 but stayed close friends, playing ultimate frisbee and even traveling together.
“You’d be an idiot to quit now,” Acton told him. “Give it a few more months.”
4 months later, in the fall of 2009, WhatsApp still “had no significant growth.” Koum needed help, so he went back to Acton and “persuaded him to join.” Within 1 month, Acton had gotten 5 ex-Yahoo! colleagues to invest a total of $250,000 in seed money. Within 2 months, Acton became an official co-founder with a stake in the business.
2 years later, in 2011, WhatsApp became one of the top 20 apps of all apps in the United States. 3 years after that, Facebook (now Meta) acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion, which remains its most expensive acquisition to date. Today, with 2 billion monthly users, it’s the most popular messaging platform in the world.
What does this mean for your career?
The next time you get a message from a former coworker or feel like you want to check in with an old friend, remember WhatsApp—and how it wouldn’t exist had two former colleagues not stayed in touch.
UNSPOKEN RULE
Stay in touch!
Koum may have never gotten WhatsApp out of beta had he not had someone he could go to for help—and Acton may have never said yes to Koum had they not had a pre-existing relationship.
As important as it is to stay in touch with people, it’s not easy—especially when you already have so much going on.
So, what can you do?
Here are 5 quick ways to stay in touch with others (in less than 5 minutes)
1. Send a 1 line update
- E.g., “I just dug up [old photo / email thread / inside joke / meme / song] and thought of you!”
- Best for: Old friends (or colleagues turned friends) you have a casual relationship with
2. Forward something relevant
- E.g., “Just stumbled upon [article / whitepaper / podcast episode / video] and thought it might interest you because of [reference a former project / interest / goal]. [Sharing in case it’s helpful / Hope you’re well!]”
- Best for: Colleagues (old and new) you have a friendly relationship with and want to build upon
3. Comment on a public post
- E.g., “Love this—it reminded me of ______. Thanks for sharing!” or “Congratulations! I know you’ve worked so hard for this.”
- Best for: Anyone you’ve met and want to find an excuse to be in touch with. If it’s a congratulatory comment, consider also shooting them a brief text to make it more personal. (“Just wanted to say how happy I am for you that ______. Hope you’re well!”).
4. Ask a question
- E.g., “I just [started working on / am trying to / am planning to] ______ and recall you mentioning [that you had done something similar]. Would you be open to sharing [what that was like / your experience] with me?”
- Best for: Colleagues (old and new) who've been friendly to you and whom you’d secretly like to become your mentor.
5. Invite them to something
- E.g., “Hey, a few of us are planning to get together and [play ultimate frisbee / grab drinks / ______] after ______. Would love to see you if you’re free!”
- Best for: Colleagues you’d like to get to know on a more casual level (and who are close by geographically).
You don’t have to have a deep conversation with 10 different people every week to maintain your relationships. Sometimes, a brief note here and there is all you need to keep the relationship alive—and to keep the door open to future collaborations (tap here to learn more from one of my very first editions on singer Ed Sheeran).
Stay in touch!
See you on Thursday for my AMA,
Gorick
What’s an “unspoken rule”? They’re the things that separate those who get ahead from those who stumble—and don’t know why. You can learn more about these rules in the workplace in my Wall Street Journal bestselling book called—you guessed it—The Unspoken Rules.
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