Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger are the co-founders of one of the most widely used social media platforms today. Although many people probably don’t know who they are, they are the men behind Instagram. Prior to beginning their work on Instagram, both of these men lived highly respectable lives. Kevin Systrom was a part of the team who created Twitter and spent a few years working with Google. To say that he has experience with technology would be an understatement. Mike on the other hand did more of the engineer work prior to beginning Instagram and his knowledge for engineering would come in very handy in the long run, as he would be in charge of all of the engineering behind the app. The two men met while they were attending school at Stanford University. Kevin says that the idea behind the app was to create a new and improved way of communicating with one another. If you have used Instagram since it was officially launched in 2010, you would know that significant changes have been made since then. In recent years the addition of the Instagram story, Close Friends story and smaller changes such as design have been implemented to make sure that the app stays ahead of the trend.
Last year the two men officially stepped down from their positions as co-owners of the company, after selling the company to Facebook in 2010. The reason behind this was because of supposed disagreements with Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook. Disagreements on the layout and design of the app was what let the co-founders to step down. Despite their departure, Instagram is still one of the greatest social media apps to exist, and Facebook can not catch up. The younger generations are being drawn to Instagram and have no desire to have a Facebook account. Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger have an incredible success story. The fact that their idea for Instagram is still spreading and growing in popularity even though they are no longer in charge is awesome. They completely changed the idea of communication and created something that at its prime was unlike anything else that had been previously made. Sometimes being a good entrepreneur means taking risks and thinking outside of the box, and these to men are the perfect example of that.
Instagram is still a growing product and changing all the time. The founders are true entrepreneurs for being able to continuously adapt to change!
I have been using Instagram since I was 10 years old. The app has been innovated and changed so many times since then. The fact that they are no longer in charge, but the app is still successful is truly inspiring.
Instagram in and of itself is used as an entrepreneurial platform and it’s so cool to see how it’s constantly adapting and changing with the times. These guys certainly started something huge and it’s also interesting that they are not better known for originally starting the app.
I didn’t know the story behind Instagram! I thought it was really interesting how both guys had some experience in tech before they started instagram. I think it’s an example of how sometimes the “great” idea won’t be the first idea, and good ideas always grow. Like you said, instagram was super different when it started than it is now.
This a great story. It perfectly exemplifies how there isn’t just one sudden eureka moment, you need to try other things that might fail. These failures will only lead you closer to your goal of success if you persevere.