Niklas Zennstrom
Niklas Zennstrom
Niklas Zennströmis a Swedish entrepreneur best known for founding several high-profile online ventures with Janus Friis including Skype and Kazaa. More recently he founded the technology investment firm Atomico and has become a significant figurehead for entrepreneurs in the tech sector. Zennström is also the co-founder of the charity organization Zennström Philanthropies...
NationalitySwedish
ProfessionScientist
CountrySweden
valleys way best-place
Silicon Valley is the best place to start a tech company in so many ways.
google next valleys
The next Google or Facebook will come from somewhere other than Silicon Valley.
successful years months
When a business becomes successful seemingly overnight, no one knows about all the months and years you've invested, all the projects you've tried before that didn't work.
google trying looks
When we started Skype, if you look at analyst reports, no one forecasted it as a big business. Also when Google started, it was not fashionable to be in search. It's not trying to do the obvious - that's the hard part.
entrepreneur today
Today as an entrepreneur you have more options.
successful sweden bigger
International markets are much bigger than the U.S. In Sweden we have 9 million inhabitants, and if you're successful in Sweden, you're not successful - it's such a small market.
skype connections internet
Skype is for any individual who has a broadband Internet connection.
vcr watches watch-movie
And the VCR did the same thing: the movie industry thought nobody would ever watch movies any more.
skype use ifs
If you can use a Web browser, you can use Skype.
love-is half one-love
It's extremely hard to build a company with a product that everyone loves, is free and has no business model, and then to innovate a business model. I did that with Kazaa, had half a billion downloads but that wasn't a sustainable business.
founded half london
We were founded on Aug. 29, 2003, and now have 70 employees, about half in London and half in Tallinn, Estonia, and some in Luxembourg.
call cell dates launch phones skype wonderful
We don't have any launch dates yet for any of those platforms. It's going to be wonderful to be able to make a Skype call from cell phones or PDAs.
announce comment rumors
There are different rumors every day. We don't comment on rumors. When we make deals, we announce them.
easier people release talk video
With the release of our new software, it's never been easier for people to talk to one another for free, and now they can see each other with video as well.