This is a fascinating chat. I've always had immense respect for pre-acquisition WhatsApp. They ran tech like the high margin business it is, not like most of the Silicon Valley bozos who would sacrifice their souls to the altar of growth.

It's nuts that they raised $8M from Sequoia but never even touched it. That $1 annual subscription in the early days was enough to keep the lights on.

That the kind of margin a well-run tech business can have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kn32cIWPSY

Building WhatsApp with Jean Lee

YouTube

It doesn't surprise me at all to learn they didn't use bollocks like Scrum or Sprints at WhatsApp.

My constant conflict with management about my refusal to sit in so many pointless meetings doing a corporate rain-dance is a huge part of why I'm freelance now.

It's a crying shame that Jan Koum and Brian Acton sold out to Zuckerberg, but I guess if someone waves 5 lifetimes worth of money at you, it's hard to say no.