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Kevin Systrom is leaving Instagram - here's how he sold the app to Facebook for $1 billion and built it into a global phenomenon
Kevin Systrom is leaving Instagram - here's how he sold the app to Facebook for $1 billion and built it into a global phenomenon
Avery HartmansSep 26, 2018, 02:11 IST
Reuters Pictures/Lucas Jackson
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After eight years, the founders of Instagram are leaving the company.
CEO Kevin Systrom and CTO Mike Krieger announced Monday that they are departing the mega-popular photo sharing social network , which was bought by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012. The news came following months of turmoil and scandals for Facebook, and reportedly comes amid tension between the founders and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Still, it's something of a surprise that Systrom and Krieger would leave the app they built from scratch. Instagram grew out of Systrom's love of photography, and has since become one of the most popular social media apps in the world - in fact, Instagram hit 1 billion active users earlier this year.
Here's how Systrom got his start and built Instagram into what it is today.
Systrom was born in Holliston, Massachusetts, a wealthy suburb of Boston. His father worked as a human resources executive, while his mother worked in tech — first at Monster and Swapit, and later at Zipcar.
As a teenager, Systrom was obsessed with record collecting and deejaying. While still in high school, he used to have his friends sneak him into clubs in the Boston area to open for established DJs.
Systrom applied early decision to Stanford University. He had planned to study computer science, but once he arrived, decided to switch majors to management science and engineering.
Systrom soon became interested in photography, and built a photo sharing site for his fraternity brothers in his spare time. During his junior year, he spent a semester in Florence to study photography.
It was in Florence that Systrom stumbled upon the aesthetic that would define Instagram in the early days: one of his professors showed him a cheap film camera called a Holga, which takes hip, vintage-looking photos.
Right before his senior year at Stanford, Systrom interned at a podcasting company called Odeo. Odeo was founded by Evan Williams, who went on to create Twitter. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was also working at Odeo at the time, and he and Systrom became good friends.
After graduation, Systrom was offered a job at Google. For the first two years out of school, Systrom handled marketing for Gmail and Google Calendar. He later switched to Google's M&A division.
After three years at Google, Systrom left to work at a social travel recommendation startup called Nextstop. The company was acquired by Facebook in July 2010.
Around the same time, Systrom began working on his own app, which he initially named Burbn after his favorite spirit. The app combined location-based social networking and photo sharing.
Venture capitalist Steve Anderson of Baseline Ventures decided to invest $250,000 in Burbn, even though it was still in its early stages. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz contributed another $250,000 in the same round.
Soon after, Systrom brought on Mike Krieger as a cofounder. Krieger also graduated from Stanford, just two years behind Systrom. Before joining Systrom, Krieger was working on his own app called Meebo.
Soon after Krieger joined, the pair decided to pivot Burbn, eliminating most of the features to focus solely on photo sharing. But the real "a-ha moment" came while Systrom was on the beach with his now-wife, Nicole.
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."
Systrom then sat down to make a filter. The first one, called X-Pro II, it still used in the app today.
Systrom and Krieger officially changed the name to Instagram in October 2010. The name is a combination of "instant" and "telegram." When the app went live, more than 25,000 people downloaded it in the first 24 hours, crashing Instagram's servers.
These days, Systrom is worth an estimated $1.4 billion. He spends his time cycling, playing golf, and traveling, and he's interested in fashion. He's met and worked with several well-known designers, and he's attended the Met Gala multiple times.
On the Halloween of 2015, Systrom married Nicole Schuetz, a fellow Stanford grad and the founder of clean energy investment firm Sutro Energy Group. The couple now has a daughter together, Freya.
Despite Instagram's success, however, there have reportedly been growing tensions with Zuckerberg "over the direction of the product." In September, Systrom and Krieger abruptly announced that they were stepping down as CEO and CTO, respectively.
Systrom said in a statement that they both plan "on taking some time off to explore our curiosity and creativity again."
