An American-German software technologist and entrepreneur, Jawed Karim was one of the three minds behind YouTube, the other two persons being Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. Jawed Karim’s net worth is over $300 million as of 2022.
The current Youtube CEO is Susan Wojcicki, who became the CEO of the American online video sharing and social media platform in February 2014.
Do you know that the first ever video posted on Youtube was “Me at the zoo”, which was uploaded by none other than Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005? Jawed Karim’s first video has been watched over 218 million times, as per the reports dated January 8, 2022.
However, here we will discuss the success story of Jawed Karim, learn about who he is, his personal life, and education, how he co-founded Youtube, his investments and partnerships, and more.
Personal Life & Education:—
Jawed was born on October 28, 1979, in Merseburg, East Germany (Present day Germany) to Christine Karim and Naimul Karim. His father is a researcher from Bangladesh, who works at 3M, while his mother is a German scientist associated with the University of Minnesota as a research professor of Biochemistry. He has a sister, Ilias.
Jawed enrolled at the University of Illinois in the department of Computer Ccience. Jawed left the university before completing his graduation and joined PayPal; he was one of PayPal’s earliest employees. He later completed his graduation and obtained his degree in Computer Science in 2004. Jawed eventually joined Stanford University and earned his Master’s degree in Computer Science but that was after Youtube was founded.
Jawed Karim had to cross the border of inner Germany along with his family in the early 1980s due to increasing xenophobia there. Therefore, he grew up in Neuss, West Germany. However, there were several xenophobic episodes that he had to face there as well, which is why he again had to move with his family to Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1992. It was from Saint Paul Central High School that Karim graduated in 1997.
How Jawed Karim Co-founded YouTube:—
At PayPal, he met Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. The absence of video clips of Super Bowl XXXVIII and the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami gave Jawed the idea of a video-sharing platform.
The controversial half-time segment of the Super Bowl with Janet Jackson was a rage at that time that everyone wanted to have a glimpse of. However, Hurley and Chen have mentioned the website “Hot or Not” as the motivation behind creating YouTube. Whatever may have been the inspiration, we are glad to have YouTube today!
After the necessary measures and steps were in place, the ‘YouTube’ domain name was activated on 14th February 2005. A series of developments followed. Later, the company commenced as a venture capital-funded technology startup. The company received a funding of 11.5 million USD from Sequoia Capital and an 8 million USD funding from Artis Capital management.
The funding helped YouTube in various ways and not just financially. Initially, the company was headquartered in San Mateo, California, right above a Japanese restaurant.
The First YouTube Video by Jawed Karim:—-
The first YouTube channel become “Jawed” via way of means of Karim, and the first-ever video on YouTube become a video uploaded via way of means of him and titled “Me on the zoo”. This video become recorded via way of means of his excessive faculty buddy Yakov Lapitsky. The Youtube owner’s video featured Karim on the San Diego Zoo. The video has extra than 218 million perspectives to date.
After launching YouTube, YouTube founder Jawed Karim have become an adviser to the organization as he desired to finish his studies, ultimately becoming a member of Stanford University. After YouTube become introduced, Karim have become an casual adviser of the web website online in preference to an worker and became his recognition on in addition schooling at the same time as taking a relatively decrease percentage withinside the organization than different co-founders.
However, this small percentage nonetheless proved massive sufficient to allow him acquire near 137,443 stocks, really well worth around $sixty four million, as consistent with the remaining inventory rate on the remaining of the well-known Google acquisition of Youtube.
In 2005 itself, YouTube were given its first 1,000,000 perspectives video, a Nike commercial presenting the mythical Brazilian football participant Ronaldinho. The video confirmed Ronaldinho receiving his pair of “Golden Boots”. In the identical yr, YouTube released its beta web website online after receiving finances from Sequoia Capital.
Beginning of YouTube’s Partnerships – The NBC Deal:—
Following a printed of “Lazy Sunday”, lovers began out posting the clips of the display on YouTube. The clips acquired extra than 7 million perspectives. However, NBC (The Media Company) demanded the motion pictures be pulled off from YouTube. This incident paved the manner for the Content Verification Program below YouTube’s policy.
It allowed copyright holders to effortlessly pick out the infringements. After some unsightly spats, YouTube made a address NBC. This deal helped NBC input the arena of virtual broadcasting. And, this become simply the start of YouTube’s numerous partnerships with enterprise bigshots.
As an casual advisor, Jawed didn’t acquire a main percentage of YouTube’s earnings. Due to his decrease percentage of the organization and his smaller function in comparison to the alternative co-founders of Youtube withinside the increase of the social media platform after it become established, Karim remained pretty obscure.
Much of the time, he remained unrecognized via way of means of the overall public till Google’s arrival. It become handiest while Google sold YouTube withinside the yr 2006 for a whopping 1.fifty six billion USD that Karim once more got here lower back to the information for his 137,443 stocks of the inventory. Jawed Karim internet really well worth is $one hundred sixty million as of 2021.
Jawed Karim considerably added a lecture withinside the yr 2006 on the annual ACM Conference of the University of Illinois on YouTube’s records, which become titled “YouTube From Concept to Hyper increase”. Furthermore, Karim got here lower back to the University of Illinois in May 2008, in which he become once more decided on because the speaker, thereby turning into the 136th and the youngest Commencement Speaker withinside the records of the faculty.
Opposition to Google+ and YouTube Collaboration:—
In 2013, Google made major changes to its policy. A user needed a Google+ to account for posting a comment on any YouTube video. The move faced backlash and was widely opposed by the YouTube community. To voice discontent against the new policy, an online petition was signed by a number of users.
The petition gained around 240,000 signatures. Karim too was not in favor of the policy change; to oppose the Google+ intervention, he updated the video description on his first video to “I can’t comment here anymore, as I don’t want a Google+ account”.
After the protests from the YouTube community, Google apologized for forcing Google+ users to use their real names, and subsequently, Google dropped the policy of integration of Google+ with YouTube. In 2018, Google permanently disabled Google+ services after it failed in both consumer and developer adoption.
Jawed Karim – Investments and Partnerships:—-
Karim launched Youniversity Ventures in March 2008 in partnership with Kevin Hartz and Keith Rabois. In April 2009, he invested in the initial Seed round of Airbnb Inc. Karim became one of the initial investors of the company.
Jawed Karim’s story is an example of it coming down to identifying a niche and then working on it and is undoubtedly inspiring for the entrepreneurs of today. A video-sharing platform may be mainstream today but that wasn’t the case in the early 2000s, when Youtube came into being and being one of the founders of Youtube, Karim would always be a prominent face of Youtube.
Besides, whenever one would Google or Youtube “the first Youtube video”, it would only feature “Me at the Zoo” by Jawed Karim as the first Youtube video ever. Besides, Karim had a major say in many crucial YouTube decisions, including the one to collaborate with companies like Google and NBC, which can undoubtedly be marked as some of the most significant reasons behind the popularity that YouTube enjoys today.
No one could fathom that a small video showing a guy introducing an elephant at the zoo would change video sharing and streaming forever!