At WhatsApp, we focused on core utility features like messaging and calling, rather than gimmicks, to ensure quality and reliability.

I encourage founders to dream big and pursue meaningful projects rather than just creating another app; authenticity in your vision is key.

Facebook's success was due to secure connections and ensuring that new users had at least 20 friends on the platform, which made it more engaging.

I believe that to be a successful platform company, you need to have strong first-party applications that enhance the platform's value.

We initially planned to build a chat app for gaming, but we thought we could bootstrap it through a game. When the game failed, we realized we could launch the chat app directly instead.

The success of WhatsApp was key to holding on to our values during our transition from 20 million to 1.2 billion users, supported by a unique engineering culture that focuses on simplicity and prioritizes core features over many tasks.

If we were to build a phone today, we might not create an app store as we know it; instead, we would focus on allowing users to express their needs and let the system respond accordingly.

Simplicity through prioritization was key to WhatsApp's success, especially during its acquisition by Facebook for $19 billion.

When I started my company, I wanted to begin with open source foundations, focusing on real-time web applications and making things fast.