Instagram

The project started as many do. Small. Between 2009 and 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger were working on an small but featured HTML project. Their lives were destined to change once they decided to focus that HTML project on mobile photography. The two of them decided that they wanted to do something big, and wanted to start a seed funding campaign to raise some money. Anyone with startup experience knows that, unfortunately, money is often a dictating aspect of a startup. Without money, it may be difficult for your product to be recognized, or even seen by any audience at all. In early 2010, Systrom finished a seed funding project and finished with $500,000. With this money, they accelerated development, and were able to hire three new employees over the course of the next year. The Instagram team then added various features over several updates, including filters, hashtags, borders, etc. The app gained popularity quickly, and soon reached 1 million users, and several milestones beyond. Today, the app has over 300 million registered users. In 2012, Facebook offered to buy the app and the work of its employees for $1 billion cash, as well as stock options for its nine employees. This was a part of Facebook's new diversification strategy, and at the time seemed to be an overestimate of the company's worth. Three years later, however, the app is more popular than it ever has, feeding Facebook copious amounts of revenue. In this case, the small company that two college students founded turned them into multimillionaires in just a few years. This shows that when Silicon Valley inspired projects reach heights, they reach astronomically high heights.