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
people family-and-friends needs
Skype is easy enough to use so that people don't need to be tech savvy - a lot of users just want to communicate with their friends and family, and they find this is the easiest, cheapest way.
people needs matter
People need to access Skype wirelessly, no matter where they are, and what happens is that we'll be taking advantage of the rollout of Internet everywhere - WiFi and WiMax in particular.
entrepreneur needs faster
As an entrepreneur, if you're the originator, you need to be faster than ever.
real needs bigs
As an investor, what we're not looking for is 'oh this is a cool app,' it's 'is this something that can become a big business?' You need to find those that can become real businesses.
business denmark downside financing global goes instead launching people product protection require sweden willing
People do business in Sweden and it goes well; they may try launching the product in Denmark instead of considering a global business plan. On the financing side, VCs require too much downside protection and are not willing enough to take risks.
both call land line low mobile software technology using
At no charge, if they both have the software installed. Or by using SkypeOut if they need to call a land line or mobile at low rates.
access calls drives good mobile paying yes
Yes the calls are free. But you're paying for the mobile access and that drives usage and something that drives usage is good for the operators.
brazil countries higher hit miss phone rates service
We have a much higher penetration in countries like Brazil and Poland, where phone rates are high and service is hit or miss in some places.
industry largest revenue single source technology
But that technology enabled the movie industry to make much more revenue. The single largest revenue source for the movie industry is videos.
ease people
revolutionize the ease with which people can communicate through the Internet.
computer internet matter people simple talking
We want to make talking over the Internet the most natural, simple thing for people all over the world to do - no matter which computer they use.
absolutely china growth market top
China is one of our absolutely top markets; it is a big growth market for broadband,
given half million people users via worldwide
We have 2 million users in the U.S. and about 13 million worldwide in more than 200 countries. We're getting 80,000 new users each day. And more than half a million people are connected via Skype at any given moment.
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.