Mike Krieger is one of the most prominent entrepreneurs of our day and one of the original co-founders of the world’s most popular image sharing platform, Instagram. Fueled by his passion for technology, Krieger has broken through traditional boundaries to develop innovative products and services that help shape the way people experience technology and culture.
Krieger was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1986. Growing up, he was always fascinated with technology and computer programming, utilizing these interests to create numerous websites as a young teenager. After attending the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Krieger moved down to California in 2008 to attend the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where he enrolled in the Symbolic Systems Program.
It was during this time that Krieger's entrepreneurial spirit started to take off--along with his now famous business partner and friend, Kevin Systrom. The two developed the photo-editing software Burbn, a mobile HTML5 app that allowed users to share photos, post comments, and plan events. Krieger served as the company’s lead engineer and developed the majority of the back-end code.
Krieger and Systrom quickly realized the potential of Burbn, and eventually distilled the application to a more focused concept--Instagram. Launched in October 2010, the app quickly rose among mobile app stores and attracted the attention of social media giant, Facebook, who bought the company in 2012 for an estimated $1 billion.
Under Facebook, Instagram has grown exponentially in users and revenue, buoyed by the vision of Krieger and Systrom. Krieger currently serves as the chief technical officer of Instagram, overseeing its engineering operations and product design.
In addition to guiding the engineering of Instagram, Krieger has also been an active investor in the tech community. Krieger was an early investor in a variety of startups, including Fab, BranchOut, and Dispatch.io, which have since become great successes in the industry. He is also the co-founder of his own venture-capital firm called RedPoint Ventures, which specializes in investing in start-ups in the travel, entertainment, media, and technology sectors.
In 2013, Krieger was ranked by Forbes as one of the top thirty entrepreneurs under the age of thirty. He was also named by the Wall Street Journal as one of their Innovation All-Stars of 2009 and was recently awarded the Harvard Business School Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
Apart from his successes in the business world, Krieger is also actively involved in a variety of charitable organizations, primarily in Brazil. He served as a board member of the Brazilian Association of Information Technology Professionals, helping to establish computer literacies and access to technology in various parts of the country.
Krieger's entrepreneurship has been centered around the goal of helping people experience the possibilities of technology, whether by making creating art easier, connecting people, or helping them access knowledge they otherwise wouldn't have. Based on his inspiring endeavors, he is certainly an example to many entrepreneurs of our day.
Krieger's example and journey has been an inspiration to many entrepreneurs looking to break through traditional boundaries and ignite advancements in technology. He has been successful in all aspects of his career, particularly in his ability to adapt and provide solutions to improve not only technology but culture as well. His success story is an excellent example of the importance of staying focused, driven, and resilient in order to obtain success. As Krieger put it himself, “Do what you love with people you admire and don’t give up”.
