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Jan Koum Quotes

I want to do one thing, and do it well.

I want to do one thing, and do it well.

Jan Koum
Want, Wells, One Thing

A lot of times people start out with a lot of good ideas, but then they don't execute. They lose the purity of their vision. You end up running around in circles.

Jan Koum
Running, Circles, Ideas
"We want a billion Indians on WhatsApp, says co-founder Jan Koum". Interview with Romit Guha, economictimes.indiatimes.com. February 26, 2014.

Be simple and reliable

Jan Koum
Simple

We focus a lot on the quality of experience, speed, reliability. It’s not sexy from a lot of people’s perspective, it’s not glitzy in the feature set, but it’s what people come to rely on.

Jan Koum
Sexy, People, Perspective

No one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they’ll see tomorrow.

Jan Koum
Sleep, Thinking, Wake Up
"WhatsApp, Bought by Facebook for $19 Billion, Promotes a Radical Anti-Corporate Message" by David Corn, www.motherjones.com. February 20, 2014.

I didnt have a computer until I was 19 - but I did have an abacus.

Jan Koum
Computer, Abacus

Marketing and press kicks up dust. It gets in your eye, and then you’re not focusing on the product.

Jan Koum
Eye, Dust, Marketing
"Whatsapp's co-founder on how the app became a phenomenon" by Cade Metz, www.wired.com. October 26, 2015.

I grew up in a society where everything you did was eavesdropped on, recorded, snitched on. I had friends when we were kids getting into trouble for telling anecdotes about Communist leaders.

Jan Koum
Kids, Communist Leaders, Anecdotes
"WhatsApp: The inside story". Interview with David Rowan, www.wired.co.uk. February 19, 2014.

You don't have to give us your name and we don't ask for your email address. We don't know your birthday. We don't know your home address. We don't know where you work. We don't know your likes, what you search for on the internet or collect your GPS location. None of that data has ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and we really have no plans to change that.

Jan Koum
Home, Gps, Data
"Setting the record straight". blog.whatsapp.com. March 17, 2014.

Advertising isnt just the disruption of aesthetics, the insults to your intelligence and the interruption of your train of thought. At every company that sells ads, a significant portion of their engineering team spends their day tuning data mining, writing better code to collect all your personal data.

Jan Koum
Team, Writing, Engineering

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