Eric Yuan's journey is an inspiring tale of resilience and vision. As the founder of Zoom, he made communication easier and built it into a $16 billion company by 2020. Most of us got familiar with Zoom or started using it regularly during the COVID-19 pandemic—that was when Zoom skyrocketed. 

Today, people rely on Zoom for both work and personal connections. This article dives into how Yuan went from multiple visa rejections to creating Zoom, a platform that changed how the world stays connected.

Early Days: A Vision Sparked by Distance

Eric Yuan was born in 1970 in Shandong province in China. His entrepreneurial drive and love for technology came from his own life experiences. 

As a college student, Yuan faced the challenge of a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend (now his wife). He often had to take a 10-hour train ride just to see her.

"I was young then — 18 or 19 years old — and I thought it would be fantastic if in the future there was a device where I could just click a button and see her and talk to her." - Eric Yuan

That struggle sparked his dream: what if people could meet face-to-face without traveling? While this idea eventually led to Zoom, at the time, Yuan focused on building his career.

He earned degrees in applied mathematics and computer science, knowing that technology would be crucial to his future. But his personal story, driven by love and a desire to solve a problem, set him on the entrepreneurial path.

Moving to Silicon Valley: Facing Rejection

Yuan’s dream of being part of the technology boom in the U.S. led him to pursue a career in Silicon Valley, but getting there was no easy task. His U.S. visa application was rejected eight times before he finally arrived in California in 1997. 

Once there, he joined WebEx, a video conferencing startup. Yuan quickly moved up the ranks and became Vice President of Engineering, playing a pivotal role in WebEx’s success before it was acquired by Cisco in 2007 for $3.2B.

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Despite his achievements, Yuan couldn’t shake the feeling that video conferencing tools weren’t meeting their potential. Customers often complained about the technology's complexity and reliability, and Yuan saw an opportunity to create something better.

The Spark for Zoom: Leaving Cisco

In 2011, after years of frustration with existing video tools and a rejected proposal to overhaul Cisco’s product, Yuan took a leap of faith. He left Cisco and started building what would become Zoom. His goal was simple: create a video communication platform that was reliable, easy to use, and accessible to everyone.

Starting with a small team, Yuan spent two years developing Zoom. He focused on solving the fundamental problems he had observed at WebEx: complicated interfaces, poor video quality, and unreliable connections. His mission was to make video conferencing so simple that anyone could use it.

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Early Success: Launching Zoom

Zoom launched in 2013 and quickly set itself apart from competitors like Skype and WebEx. What made Zoom different? It's simplicity and smooth performance. Users didn’t have to deal with complicated setups, and the platform worked well even with lower internet speeds. This focus on ease of use was a game-changer, especially for businesses that needed reliable tools for remote communication.

Instead of spending much on marketing, Yuan let word-of-mouth do the heavy lifting. The quality of Zoom spoke for itself, and by 2017, the company had grown into a billion-dollar business.

Its success came from happy users recommending it to others, making Zoom a go-to for businesses and educators.

Scaling Zoom: Focus on Growth

As Zoom’s popularity exploded, Yuan knew they had to scale up while staying true to their core values. He expanded Zoom’s services to fit different industries, from education to healthcare and ensured the platform could handle global demand.

Zoom became known for constantly improving. Yuan listened closely to user feedback, prioritizing updates that improved the platform. By 2019, Zoom went public with one of the most successful IPOs of the year, raising $751M and reaching a market valuation of over $16B.

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Zoom’s Moment in the Spotlight

Zoom’s true breakthrough came in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into lockdowns. Businesses, schools, and families all needed a way to stay connected, and Zoom became the platform for virtual communication. Its user base skyrocketed from 10 million daily participants in December 2019 to over 300 million by April 2020.

Zoom became a lifeline for millions, allowing people to learn, work, and keep in touch with loved ones during intense isolation. While other platforms struggled with the sudden surge in users, Zoom’s infrastructure handled the pressure, cementing its place as an essential tool in the new era of remote work and communication.

Challenges and Response: Security and Trust

But success brought challenges. As more people used Zoom, issues like “Zoombombing” (when uninvited guests disrupted meetings) became problematic. There were also concerns about privacy and security. Yuan quickly acknowledged the issues and rolled out new security features, including end-to-end encryption, to protect users.

Yuan’s swift action and focus on improving the platform helped Zoom maintain trust during a critical time. While the challenges were tough, his leadership showed he was a CEO who genuinely cared about his customers’ needs.

2024: Zoom and AI

Zoom Video Communications continues to push the boundaries of digital collaboration with its latest AI-driven innovations, unveiled at Zoomtopia 2024.

The AI Companion 2.0 integrates seamlessly across Zoom, offering advanced features like real-time contextual understanding, task management, and integration with tools like Outlook, Gmail, Jira, and more.

It can summarize emails, pull relevant data, and even connect to the web in real-time for enhanced information retrieval. In 2025, Zoom will also offer a custom AI Companion add-on for $12 per user per month, allowing users to personalize their experience with custom dictionaries, expanded data access, and personalized avatars for video content.

Zoom is also launching Zoom Tasks, a tool within Zoom Workspace designed to streamline task management, helping teams stay organized and efficient. These features, available to paid users at no extra cost, aim to improve collaboration, save time, and let users focus on more complex work, automating routine tasks. 

Zoom’s AI-driven innovations are set to transform the way businesses and individuals communicate and manage workflows.

Final Thoughts: Eric Yuan’s Legacy

Zoom's market value stands at $21.75B as of October 2024. This puts it in the 917th spot globally in terms of market capitalization. The market cap simply reflects the total worth of all its publicly held shares, a common way to gauge a company's size.

Eric Yuan’s journey from facing visa rejections to building a $22B company is a testament to the power of perseverance and innovation. His story isn’t just about creating a successful product—it’s about solving real-world problems with a human touch. Yuan saw the potential for technology to bring people closer together and never gave up on that vision, even when faced with obstacles.

Zoom became a household name during the pandemic. Still, its success was years in the making, driven by Yuan’s inspiration from his long-distance relationship and focus on simplicity, user experience, and relentless improvement.