Success Story Of Jawed Karim Who Is The Co-Founder Of Youtube

In the previous two decades, the social media circuit has profoundly impacted the lives of people all over the world. People have been drawn closer by social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. In terms of geography, the chasm is now almost non-existent. YouTube has built a niche for itself as one of the oldest and most popular video streaming services among a sea of social media platforms and video streaming apps. In fact, next to Youtube parent company Google, Youtube is often regarded as the second most visited website on the planet, and Jawed Karim's contribution to the expansion of Youtube is simply necessary when it comes to this must-have tool. Youtube's net worth is expected to exceed $160 billion by 2021.

Jawed Karim, an American-German software programmer and entrepreneur, was one of the three brains behind YouTube, along with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. As of 2021, Jawed Karim's net worth is over $160 million.

We'll talk about Jawed Karim's success storey, including who he is, his personal life and education, how he co-founded Youtube, his investments and collaborations, and more.

Jawed Karim - Biography

Jawed Karim - Personal Life & Education

Jawed Karim was born to Christine and Naimul Karim on October 28, 1979, in Merseburg, East Germany (now Germany). His father is a Bangladeshi researcher who works for 3M, and his mother is a German scientist who works as a research professor of Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota. Ilias is his sister.

Jawed enrolled at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois. Jawed dropped out of university before completing his degree and went to work for PayPal, where he was one of the company's first workers. In 2004, he completed his education and earned a bachelor's degree in computer science. Jawed went on to Stanford University and received a Master's degree in Computer Science, however this was after Youtube had been formed.

How Jawed Karim Co-founded YouTube

He met Steve Chen and Chad Hurley at PayPal. The lack of Super Bowl XXXVIII video footage, as well as the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, inspired Jawed to create a video-sharing network. The contentious Super Bowl half-time segment with Janet Jackson was all the buzz at the time, and everyone wanted a look of it. Hurley and Chen, on the other hand, have cited the website "Hot or Not" as the inspiration for launching YouTube. Whatever the source of inspiration, we are grateful for YouTube today!

The 'YouTube' domain name was activated on February 14, 2005, after all of the essential safeguards and actions had been taken. Then came a succession of events. Later, the business became a venture capital-backed technology start-up. Sequoia Capital invested 11.5 million dollars in the startup, and Artis Capital management contributed $8 million. YouTube benefited from the sponsorship in a variety of ways, not only monetarily. Initially, the company's headquarters were located above a Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California.

Beginning of YouTube's Partnerships - The NBC Deal

After a broadcast of "Lazy Sunday," viewers began uploading footage of the show to YouTube. The videos have been seen over 7 million times. NBC (The Media Company) demanded, however, that the videos be removed from YouTube. Under YouTube's rules, this incident cleared the door for the Content Verification Program. It made it simple for copyright holders to spot infringements. After a few squabbles, YouTube reached an agreement with NBC. This agreement aided NBC's entry into the digital broadcasting arena. And this was just the start of YouTube's many collaborations with industry heavyweights.

Jawed didn't get a big cut of YouTube's profits as an informal advisor. Karim remained relatively unknown due to his smaller part of the firm and his smaller influence in the growth of the social media platform after it was founded in comparison to the other co-founders of Youtube.

Until the emergence of Google, he went mostly unnoticed by the general public. Karim's 137,443 shares of the stock were finally brought back to the news after Google bought YouTube for a whopping 1.56 billion dollars in 2006. As of 2021, Jawed Karim's net worth is $160 million.

Opposition to Google+ and YouTube Collaboration

Google's policy was significantly altered in 2013. To leave a comment on any YouTube video, a user needed a Google+ account. The decision drew criticism and was harshly panned by the YouTube community. A lot of people joined an online petition to express their displeasure with the new policy.

Around 240,000 people signed the petition. Karim, too, was against the policy change; in response, he altered the video description on his debut video to read, "I can't comment here anymore, as I don't want a Google+ account." Following the outcry from the YouTube community, Google apologised for requiring Google+ members to use their real names, and the policy of integrating Google+ with YouTube was stopped. After failing to gain consumer and developer engagement, Google permanently terminated Google+ services in 2018.

Jawed Karim - Investments and Partnerships

Karim co-founded Youniversity Ventures with Kevin Hartz and Keith Rabois in March 2008. He invested in Airbnb Inc.'s initial Seed round in April 2009. Karim became one of the company's first investors.

Jawed Karim's tale is an example of finding a niche and then working on it, and it is unquestionably encouraging for today's entrepreneurs. A video-sharing platform may be mainstream today, but it wasn't in the early 2000s when Youtube was founded, and Karim would always be a prominent face of Youtube as one of its creators. Furthermore, anytime someone searches for "the first Youtube video" on Google or Youtube, just "Me at the Zoo" by Jawed Karim comes up. Karim also had a large impact in a number of key YouTube choices, including the decision to partner with firms like Google and NBC, which is likely one of the most significant reasons for YouTube's current success. No one could have predicted that a simple video of a man presenting an elephant at the zoo would forever alter video sharing and streaming!