How instagram Started?
Instagram is the lovechild of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, when they started it in a coworking space. As a marketing major, Systrom was learning to code in order to develop an app called Burbn. Burbn allowed users to check-in where they were from their phones and allowed them to upload pictures of their surroundings.
Soon after, at a party with some of his friends that were working for Venture Capital firms, he pitched the idea and realized that people were really interested in it. And After raising half a million dollars, he on-boarded Mike Krieger. But Burbn was starting to get too similar to Squarespace, So they decided to focus on the image sharing side of the platform.
The minimalist app that resulted only allowed for uploading photos, commenting and liking. And the app itself only took about 8 weeks to make. This was the birth of Instagram. Officially launched as an iOS-only app in 2010, Instagram's growth was immediate. It rose through the ranks and within a week it had 100,000 users, and it had a million within two months.
In January 2011 hashtags were started and by June of the same year they hit 5 million users, then updoubling that comes September. Instagram was such a success that it was bought by Facebook within 2 years. The deal left Systrom and Krieger with about a billion dollars each in cash and stock.
And since its Facebook acquisition, Instagram has had massive growth and change. As of June 2018, Instagram boasts one billion monthly active users, and about 500 active users everyday. But also in 2018 the founders of Instagram left, because there was a lot of meddling between Marck Zuckerburg and the founders.
Instagram has become a cultural phenomenon as the average user spends over an hour a day. Because of it , more than 70% of US businesses use Instagram and 88% of users say they discover new products on the platform.
As of 2019, Instagram boasts an approximate valuation of around $100 billion, while its parent company Facebook boasts $560 billion valuation.
And that's how Instagram started!