In a surprise announcement, Instagram founders have quit the company. Kevin Systrom (CEO), who launched Instagram with Mike Krieger (CTO), said, “Mike and I are grateful for the last eight years at Instagram and six years with the Facebook team.”
Launched in October 2010, Instagram grew from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion.
“We’re now ready for our next chapter,” Kevin said. “We’re planning on leaving Instagram to explore our curiosity and creativity again.”
“Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do,” he said in a statement.
Kevin said they remain excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook. “We look forward to watching what these innovative and extraordinary companies do next.”
In June 2018, Instagram crossed 1 billion monthly actives as it began IGTV – its latest product which is a video, re-imagined for mobile.
Instagram has acquired a cult status as an image-and-video sharing app
Today, this social networking platform is home for visual storytelling for everyone from celebrities, newsrooms and brands, to teens, musicians and anyone with a creative passion.
Prior to founding Instagram, Kevin, 34, was part of the startup Odeo, which later became Twitter, and spent two years at Google working on products like Gmail and Google Reader.
Mike, 32, earlier worked at Meebo as a user experience designer and front-end engineer.
