CEO Kevin Systrom reveals the $37 billion 'a-ha moment' that spawned Instagram
It's a haven of celebrities. Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, and Nicki Minaj have more than 20 million followers each.
But every startup has a start.
Founder Kevin Systrom stumbled into Instagram thanks to his girlfriend, a stray dog, and a beach.
It was 2010. Systrom, a Stanford grad and a former Google employee, had founded Burbn, a location-based app that operated kind of like Foursquare - people could check in, make plans, and send pictures.
But it was too complicated. Users thought the features were too confusing.
It was time for a pivot.
As Systrom tells the Telegraph, the "aha moment" came care of his now-fiance Nicole Schuetz:
We were walking along the beach and I said that we needed something to help us [the company] stand out. Nicole then said, "Well, I don't want to take photos, because my photos don't look good. They're not as good as your other friend Greg's."
He was also using the early product [Burbn]. I told her that was because Greg used filter apps. So she just said, "Well, you should probably have filters then."
So they went back to their bed and breakfast.
Systrom sat at a computer, tried to figure out how to make a filter.
It has a name you might be familiar with.
"That filter was X-Pro II, which still exists today, in its original form, in the app," Systrom says. "The funny thing is if you look at the first photo ever on Instagram, it's of Nicole - well, her foot - a stray dog and a taco stand in Mexico. Had I known it was going to be the first photo on Instagram I would have tried a bit harder."
Here it is:
On October 6, 2010, Burbn would officially become Instagram.
Over 25,000 people downloaded it in less than 24 hours, the Telegraph reports, and by December it hit a million users.
With a stunning amount of speed, Instagram became a thing - and quickly found an exit. In April 2012, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook would acquire it for $1 billion. Now that decision is looking smarter and smarter for Zuck.