Quotes by Brian Acton

About Brian Acton:

Brian Acton is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is the co-founder (with Jan Koum) of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging application which was acquired by Facebook Inc. in February 2014 for US$19 billion. He was formerly employed at Yahoo Inc.
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My mom started an air-freight company; my grandmother built a golf course. I have a certain degree of entrepreneurial risk-taking in my family history. Maybe that eventually rubbed off on me a little bit.

Brian Acton

Your insurance broker has your telephone number, but your insurance broker doesn't have your Facebook ID. I think they are very different modes of communication. Commingling them can come with risk and peril.

Brian Acton

Yes, I was a big math and computer geek, that's true. I was driven by the scholastic side of things. For me, it was all about what I could do with math and computers.

Brian Acton

For me specifically, it was important to graduate. In my family, I was one of the first graduates. My mom did not have a college degree. My dad did not have a college degree.

Brian Acton

There's a certain degree of speculation that goes into valuations. In so far as the market supports a valuation, everyone who gets a great one deserves it, but they should also be cautious because that speculation is temporary. I saw Yahoo go from $1...

Brian Acton

Dealing with ads is depressing. You don't make anyone's life better by making advertisements work better.

Brian Acton

People want chat histories. They're a permanent testimony of a relationship.

Brian Acton

Going public is 18-month process, while an acquisition is a 6-month process. Going public means going under so much scrutiny, regulatory approval, auditing, magnified 10 times. Having the stomach to do that isn't necessarily in my DNA. My DNA is buil...

Brian Acton

WhatsApp provides phone-number-based messaging, and people asked, 'Isn't that what SMS is?' Yes, but SMS is expensive, antiquated, and what WhatsApp did was modernize and level that playing field. For example, in Europe, if France wants to talk to Be...

Brian Acton

It's not 100 per cent clear to me what's working about Snapchat.

Brian Acton

You have a certain identity that you present to the world on Facebook, and you have a certain identity that you present with the telephone, and they are different.

Brian Acton

WhatsApp will bring Facebook another billion users. We will be a billion-user product. Whether there is a direct valuation or an indirect valuation, there is value, and Facebook understands that well.

Brian Acton

Author Bio

  • NameBrian Acton
  • DescriptionAmerican computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of WhatsApp
  • Born1972
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionEngineer; Entrepreneur