No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” – A simple principle which helped a small messaging application win over giants like iMessage, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, LINE, Kik Messenger, Kakao-Talk, and many others – while operating with a staff of just 50 employees.Even after ten years of existence, the company still boasts its no ads, no games, and no gimmicks principle while making millions in revenue. Ukrainian-born Jan koum co-founded the mobile messaging application WhatsApp with Brian Acton. The extremely popular mobile application was acquired by Facebook Inc. in 2014 for a whooping US$19 billion. A billionaire today, he is counted amongst the richest Americans but just a few years ago he was so poor that he had to live off food stamps. Born into a humble family in Ukraine, he migrated to the United States as a teenager with his mother and grandmother. The startup story began when they left their job to travel around the ...