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WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

forbes.com

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Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#101

Post by ummonk »

abalone wrote: post #45
fredoliveira wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article (first paragraph, too): > Brian Acton, who left Facebook a year ago — before going on to publicly bite the hand that fed him, by voicing support for the #DeleteFacebook movement (and donating $50M to alternative encrypted messaging app, Signal) And: > And for leaving a cool ~$850M in unvested stock on the table by not sticking it out a few more months inside Zuckerberg’s mothership, as co-founder Jan…

You left out the part where he expected and tried to get the $850M but FB’s lawyers pushed back and he settled after burning bridges. $50M is 0.7% of his net worth last I checked (maybe it’s changed). Look, I’m glad they’re not still at Facebook but this is hypocritical posturing. They’re not giving the money back. They’re crying all the way to the bank.

It specifically says he didn't settle, because he didn't want to sign an NDA.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#102

Post by icebraining »

394549 wrote: post #94
scarface74 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and the only way you can “require” anything when doing business is through a written contract with clauses that specify what happens when the contract is breached and the jurisdiction where the breaches will be adjudicated.

> Yes and the only way you can “require” anything when doing business is through a written contract with clauses that specify what happens when the contract is breached and the jurisdiction where the breaches will be adjudicated. I expect/require that people not steal from me even though I don't have a contract or prior agreement with them, and I also predict that some people won't respect my property.

I don't have a contract or prior agreement

You mean, except for criminal law? I don't see how this is in any way equivalent to adding ads to Whatsapp.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#103

Post by randomsearch »

jamesmcnalley wrote: post #63

I get the frustration of seeing your pride and joy used in ways that you hoped to avoid. But he likely would have retained more control of WhatsApp if he stuck around and played ball. Now he has some money, zero control, and he has absolutely scorched the earth for his co-founder or anyone else who wants to minimize ads or find alternate monetization options.

Which cofounder? They’ve both left.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#104

Post by jamesmcnalley »

buboard wrote: post #58

> At the end of the day, I sold my company. I am a sellout. I acknowledge that I think he's acknowledging that his company was un-monetizable and selling was obviously the best thing they could do. And 10 years later, it remains unmonetizable, that's sad.

Monetization is really hard. The ‘90s was filled with the wreckage of companies that couldn’t get it right, with debris spreading out into the early ‘00s. The ad monetization model is one way to do it, and it can be rolled out to a wide variety of products, but it is unlikely to be the only model.

Business is hard, and it can take a long time and many failures to be truly innovative. I’m an engineer, but I’m a little sad that so few people with strong business backgrounds are trying new things. Maybe in another decade or two.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#105

Post by immad »

randomsearch wrote: post #87
ilovecaching wrote: post #80

You must be either the most naieve person on the planet or a complete moron to sell your company to an advertising company and not expect them to put advertising in your product. Of course he wasn’t noble enough to turn down the money in the first place and turn his product into a big buisness by himself. WhatsApp was literally just a user grab based on a ToDo list app idea released at the right time. Guy should spen…

Consider that turning down the very very large offer would also have meant turning down the money for his hard working employees. Not such a simple choice. But, as he openly acknowledges, he did sell out to a terrible company.

It’s not like if he turned down the acquisition offer he would shut down the company.

They could still have done a secondary and stayed independent.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#107

Post by soperj »

ilovecaching wrote: post #80

You must be either the most naieve person on the planet or a complete moron to sell your company to an advertising company and not expect them to put advertising in your product. Of course he wasn’t noble enough to turn down the money in the first place and turn his product into a big buisness by himself. WhatsApp was literally just a user grab based on a ToDo list app idea released at the right time. Guy should spen…

> ToDo list app idea

Have you actually ever used it?

I do remember them turning facebook down multiple times... everyone has their price though, hard to turn down winning the lottery.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#108

Post by hackandtrip »

s_dev wrote: post #100
buboard wrote: post #58

> At the end of the day, I sold my company. I am a sellout. I acknowledge that I think he's acknowledging that his company was un-monetizable and selling was obviously the best thing they could do. And 10 years later, it remains unmonetizable, that's sad.

Didn't WhatsApp used to charge a dollar a year?

That would have stopped working in a few years: nowadays lot of different people stopped using WhatsApp almost entirely using Facebook Messanger / Telegram / etc. 1$/year is just too low-proft and too risky

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#109

Post by jamesmcnalley »

randomsearch wrote: post #103
jamesmcnalley wrote: post #63

I get the frustration of seeing your pride and joy used in ways that you hoped to avoid. But he likely would have retained more control of WhatsApp if he stuck around and played ball. Now he has some money, zero control, and he has absolutely scorched the earth for his co-founder or anyone else who wants to minimize ads or find alternate monetization options.

Which cofounder? They’ve both left.

The other co-founder left later, and it’s unlikely that the acrimonious departure helped.

Re: WhatsApp Cofounder Brian Acton on Why He Left $850M Behind

#110

Post by 394549 »

icebraining wrote: post #102
394549 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes and the only way you can “require” anything when doing business is through a written contract with clauses that specify what happens when the contract is breached and the jurisdiction where the breaches will be adjudicated. I expect/require that people not steal from me even though I don't have a contract or prior agreement with them, and I also predict that some people won't respect my property.

I don't have a contract or prior agreement You mean, except for criminal law? I don't see how this is in any way equivalent to adding ads to Whatsapp.

> You mean, except for criminal law? I don't see how this is in any way equivalent to adding ads to Whatsapp.

It's not against the law to lie to me in most cases, but I still have the same expectation/requirement that people will be honest with me that I do that they won't steal.

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