It turns out that one of the co-founders, Brian Acton, of What’s App was rejected by both Facebook and Twitter!
Sometimes getting rejected for a job can pay off. In the same year (2009) he and a friend and colleague from Yahoo founded WhatsApp the instant messaging service with now over 450 million users just sold to Facebook for $19 billion! That is over $350 million per employee!
What I liked to was that they have said on their blog there will be no change to the way the company operates or its vision. I hope for their sake it remains that way, I know from my own son’s comments that the teenage feeling with Instagram (bought by Facebook last year) is that it is losing it’s appeal because of Facebook interfering too much with the way it operates.
What has been the best payoff you ever received from being rejected for a job?
well… I was once rejected by a credit card reviewer company, and it was a good thing. I look at my friends working there, they are always tired and weak because hey almost don’t sleep… And me, in my job I can do what I like and sometimes relax and do other things. And they don’t interfere with the things I do or make me work on weekends.
Now I have time to start my own project and I hope it goes well. Good job WhatsApp guys.