I grew up in a society where everything you did was eavesdropped on, recorded, snitched on. I had friends when we were kids getting into trouble for telling anecdotes about Communist leaders. Jan Koum More Quotes by Jan Koum More Quotes From Jan Koum Our focus remains on delivering the promise of WhatsApp far and wide so that people around the world have the freedom to speak their mind without fear. Jan Koum freedom focus fear people I hate spam, and that's what happens when you let businesses onto the network. Jan Koum you spam hate happens In some countries, WhatsApp is like oxygen. Jan Koum whatsapp some like oxygen I only have one idea, that is WhatsApp, and I am going to continue to focus on that. I have no plans to build any other ideas. Jan Koum build i-am focus ideas Ironically, I grew up watching Indian movies as a kid in Russia. I am quite familiar with Bollywood. I grew up watching 'Disco Dancer;' I watched it some 20 times as a kid. Jan Koum i-am movies watching some Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo - there's a common theme. None of these companies ever sold. By staying independent, they were able to build a great company. Jan Koum apple facebook great company I grew up in a country where advertising doesn't exist. Jan Koum where up advertising country There were a lot of negatives, of course, but there were positives to living a life unfettered by possessions. It gave us the chance to focus on education, which was very important in the Soviet Union. Jan Koum focus chance education life