Perhaps Yuan himself did not expect Zoom’s market capitalization to reach $ 31 billion . In the past three months, amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Yuan’s fortune has increased by more than $ 4 billion , reaching approximately $ 7.6 billion according to Bloomberg estimates. Most of that money comes from the 19% of the Zoom shares he holds.
Suddenly becoming a remarkable name, few people know Eric Yuan’s journey to become a billion-dollar entrepreneur through many difficulties.
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| Founded Zoom at 41, Eric Yuan’s successful career came quite late compared to Silicon Valley celebrities. Photo: Zoom . |
8 times the US denied the visa
Eric Yuan was born in 1970 in Fu’an City, Shandong Province (China). According to Forbes , Yuan’s parents work as a mining engineer. At 22, Yuan married a long-time acquaintance while studying for a master’s degree.
He graduated from university with a major in applied mathematics, got a master’s degree in engineering, spent 4 years to work in Japan.
Yuan decided to go to America to live at 27 years old. He was denied a visa (visa) 8 times, until the 9th success.
According to CNBC , Yuan was not too good at English when he first arrived in the US. In an interview, he said that he learned English from friends, while himself buried his coding.
In 1997, Yuan worked as a software engineer at WebEx, a video conferencing solution provider. In 2007, WebEx was acquired by Cisco for $ 3.2 billion . Yuan then became Cisco Vice President before leaving the company in 2011 to pursue his passion.
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| Eric Yuan officially became a billionaire in April 2019 after Zoom first issued shares to the public (IPO). Photo: Getty Images . |
Create Zoom to talk to girlfriend far away
Share with Forbes in 2017, the idea of creating Zoom was thought of when Yuan was in college in China. At the time, he and his girlfriend were in love, only meeting twice a year on 10-hour trains. That’s when Yuan wanted to create a service that could help him and his girlfriend talk and meet from afar.
“One day, if I have a smart device, with just a click, I can talk to my girlfriend and see her. That was my dreamy thought? ”Yuan shared in an interview with GGV Capital’s venture capital firm in July 2018. “And I think about it every day.”
Unlike most tech CEOs in the US, Yuan founded Zoom at age 41 (2011). Although it is not too late, few people want to set up a technology startup at this age.
In the early days, Yuan spent money very economically, buying only the necessities, less luxurious items.
“If I spend money on luxury items, I won’t have a chance to grow the company,” he told Entrepreneur magazine.
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| Zoom has become a popular service among the trend of studying and working online during the season thanks to the advantages such as stability, ease of use and completely free. Photo: 10 Downing Street . |
Eric Yuan officially became a billionaire in April 2019 after Zoom first issued shares to the public (IPO). The company currently has a market capitalization of up to 31 billion USD and has more than 30,000 business customers, among which are Samsung, Uber , Walmart, Capital One, etc.
Every meeting of Yuan is done through Zoom. He only goes on business trips twice a year, leaving the rest for family. The billionaire, with his wife and three children, lives in the town of Saratoga, one of the richest areas in Silicon Valley.
In the early days of Zoom, the billionaire was involved in all the company’s operations, including the customer service department. He was well supported and appreciated by the staff.
For young entrepreneurs, Yuan advised them to create a culture within the company from day one.
“Working culture is my number one priority. It is more important than human resources, products, business models or investors. These things can overcome and improve over time, but culture needs to be created from scratch. If you have a cultural problem, it will be very difficult to overcome, ”shared CEO Zoom.