Meet 15 Of The First WhatsApp Employees - Many Of Them Are Probably Set For Life
Jan Koum is the co-founder of WhatsApp. He's now a billionaire.
Igor Solomennikov was one of the first employees. He joined the same month WhatsApp launched.
Joined WhatsApp: February 2009 – Present
Role: Software Engineer
Previous Job: iPhone developer at Injoit
Julia Reznikov was only at WhatsApp for a handful of months so she might not have gotten WhatsApp stock. She joined Federated Media then Google
Joined WhatsApp: March 2009 – August 2009
Role: Marketing/PR Coordinator
Current Job: Platform Account Manager at Google
Charles Kung wasn't ever employed by WhatsApp, but he was an advisor who may have participated in WhatsApp's $250,000 seed round.
Kung was a former Yahoo engineer-turned angel investor who started advising WhatsApp in March 2009. His LinkedIn profile says he's "semi-retired." Maybe now he'll be fully retired.
Chris Peiffer was an old friend of Koum's who was hired to build WhatsApp's Blackberry version. “I was skeptical,” he told Forbes thinking, “People have SMS, right?”
Joined WhatsApp: October 2009 – April 2013
Role: Engineer
Current Job: Engineer at Touchpoint Restaurant Innovations
Brian Acton joined WhatsApp a few months after Jan Koum launched it but he's still considered a WhatsApp co-founder.
Co-founded WhatsApp in November 2009
Role: Co-founder
Previous Job: VP of Engineering at Yahoo
Michael Donohue is another early WhatsApp employee who worked on the BlackBerry product.
Joined WhatsApp: June 2010 — Present
Role: Mobile app developer
Previous Job: Senior Software Engineer, QVT
Alexander Lin can't escape WhatsApp. He left WhatsApp in 2011 and joined Facebook. Now they'll be reunited.
Joined WhatsApp: June 2010 – July 2011
Role: Android Developer
Current job: Software engineer, Facebook
Bryan O'Connor, like WhatsApp's co-founders, used to work for Yahoo.
Joined WhatsApp: November 2010 – Present
Role: Software Engineer
Previous Job: Yahoo
Kevin Christensen worked for language translation app MyGengo before joining WhatsApp in early 2011.
Joined WhatsApp: March 2011 – Present
Role: Customer Support
Previous Job: Translator, MyGengo
Rick Reed was another former Yahooer who joined WhatsApp early on.
Joined WhatsApp: June 2011 – Present
Role: "Deputy Prime Minister for Throughput"
Previous Job: Engineer, Yahoo
Derek Konigsberg is one of 32 engineers who works for WhatsApp.
Joined WhatsApp: October 2011 – Present
Role: Software Engineer
Previous Job: Engineer, Cobham Analytic Solutions
Neeraj Arora was called WhatsApp's "secret weapon" by the company's investor, Jim Goetz.
Joined WhatsApp: November 2011 – Present
Role: "Business Guy"
Previous Job: Google
Andrew Sveikauskas worked at Microsoft before joining WhatsApp.
Joined WhatsApp: November 2011 – Present
Role: Software engineer
Previous Job: Software engineer, Microsoft
Nicolas Adiba also worked for Yahoo before WhatsApp.
Joined WhatsApp: December 2011 – Present
Role: Server Software Engineer
Previous Job: Principal Software Engineer, Yahoo
Bonus: Jim Goetz led multiple rounds of financing in WhatsApp and made giant returns for Sequoia Capital.
Goetz first invested in WhatsApp in 2011. He also led a $50 million Series C round in WhatsApp and is on the company's board. He was with the founders when they signed the $19 billion Facebook deal.
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