Opinion
Zennström: Microsoft Missed a Huge Opportunity to Make Skype 'Really Big'
“They could have done, if you ask me, they could have done so much more with it. You know, they kind of, I think they missed an opportunity to make it really, really big.”
Disclosure
Zennström: Kazaa Survived Early On Through Controversial User-Tracking Ads
“Well, our business model was advertisement so we put in ads, we had banners, you know in, in Casa, in the software, and it was something, and that was something that was, like, controversial at the time, you know, because a lot, some of those things were also …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zennström: Early 2000s European VCs Primarily Funded US Internet Copycats
“The model for European VCs at the time was to invest in a copycat of a U.S. Internet company, and use the language barrier as a moat. So you kind of was really smart to invest in say a German copycat of eBay because eBay would probably buy them or a Nordic ver…”
Assertion Supported
Zennström: Skype Was the Largest Post-Dot-Com Internet Acquisition Globally
“The largest Internet M&A before us was PayPal to eBay, right? One point by a billion. And So this was like two X. And then you had. This is amazing. YouTube. YouTube was also 1.6 billion or something like that. Yeah. Also the same year with Google. So this was…”
Opinion
Zennström: Subsidized 90s PCs Explain Sweden's Outsized Tech Unicorn Count
“I think it was, I really think that was part of the reason why you look at why Sweden is punching above its weights in terms of kind of unicorn companies is part of that is because a lot of those founders, if you look at”
Opinion
Zennström: The Internet Fundamentally Should Operate on Peer-to-Peer Networks
“And this is what the internet should be. It should be peer-to-peer. And we thought it's a huge opportunity to take this to the next level, to build basically a peer-to-peer network for anyone to search for any type of rich media content, whether that is digita…”
Assertion Supported
Zennström: Copyright Lawsuits Kept Me Out of the US for Five Years
“We were happy to get out of U.S., and that was, like, the last time I was in the U.S. Until 2000 and six, I think.”
Assertion Supported
Zennström: Mobile Roaming Costs Telecoms No More Than Domestic Phone Calls
“Essentially To cost to produce a phone call when, whether you're roaming or not is kind of the same. But it was an opportunity for the phone companies to charge, like, extra money”
Disclosure
Zennström: Prepaid SkypeOut Cash Flow Preserved Skype's $20M Series B
“A lot of people picked up on this, I think kind of five, six percent or something of users. It was actually very, very popular. So we started collecting a lot of cash. So we didn't really have to touch that money that the twenty million that we raised in a ser…”
Assertion Partly supported
Zennström: eBay Acquired Skype for $2.6B Upfront Plus a $500M Earn-Out
“EBay coming up with, like, a really attractive offer. 2.6 billion and a 500 million earn out.”
Disclosure
Zennström: Atomico's Mission Was Disrupting Silicon Valley's Global Tech Monopoly
“Atomico was built with a mission to disrupt the monopoly of Silicon Valley.”
Assertion Supported
Zennström: Over 900 Tech Companies Were Founded by the Skype Alumni Network
“We looked at how many companies have been started from Skype alumni, and it turned out there's been 900 companies started by Skype alumni, but also the second generation”
Disclosure
Zennström: Kazaa Sold for Under $1M While Retaining Its Core Tech
“No, no, no, nothing really. I mean, you know, less than a million. But we did retain the technology.”
Assertion Supported
Zennström: Microsoft Acquired Skype for $8.5 Billion in 2011
“Microsoft came along and makes an offer that, you know, the investors took on for eight and a half billion.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Zennström: My Founder Record is One Home Run, One Hit, Two Failures
“And, you know, the companies I've been part of starting, one became really successful, but no money. One became a big home run, and two others, you know, we burnt a lot of money”
Niklas Zennström