“Before I left Cisco, I spent a lot of time talking with WebEx customers. But his time in WebEx taught him valuable lessons. And, after dealing with a lot of resistance, he left. In fact, he suggested changes, but upper ranks didn’t go along with them. But things wouldn’t remain the same for long. WebEx survived because there was very little competition in the market. So, it was a hit at the time.īut it wasn’t perfect: connectivity was unstable, audio and video would lag, and the installation process was frustrating for IT departments. WebEx was not only one of the first, but also one of the most complete, videoconference tools. Under his guidance, WebEx grew to more than 750 engineers and had annual revenue of more than $800 million. Yuan doubled down his efforts to improve the software, at the same time climbing up the ranks, reaching the rank of VP of Engineering.

So much so, that Cisco bought it for $3.2 BN in 2007. WebEx became one of the first options for video calls in the market and, at first, it seemed geared for success.

From the start, Yuan became a key player in developing their video conference software. And this became his obsession.Īs an engineer, he landed a job in a company called WebEx Communications. He had the vision that one day, technology would allow portable, easy-to-use videocalls. In the late 80s, he emigrated from China to the U.S. The reason for this praise is mostly due to this man. If you google Zoom and successful, you might be surprised to see articles praising the software that date back as far as, well, its launch in 2013. So, yes, let’s talk about one of the most popular apps right now, Zoom, and how it became successful.

And, yes, spoiler alert, this is Forensics, so not all is glitter and glamour. To find the answer, we must go back a few years. But, in the presence of giants like Microsoft with Skype and Teams, and Google with Hangouts, why is everybody using Zoom? The videoconference software has taken the world by storm. These are strange times and, if you are in your house (which you should be!) chances are you’ve used some sort of videocall to talk with family, friends or even go to school.

Skype ceo on zoom