Tumblr, the company that Karp founded in 2007 when he was 20, was bought by Yahoo on Monday. It's not clear how much Karp, now 26, stands to make from the deal. But selling the company for $1.1 billion isn't bad for a high school dropout.
Tumblr allows users to share their thoughts for free with a community of bloggers. A friend of Karp's describes Tumblr as "a place for the lonely to be less lonely."
Search for just about anything and you can find a community built around that topic. That friend said that if Karp had not been a bit of a loner himself, when he was a teen, he may not have even been able to envision a platform like Tumblr.
After initially receiving funding from large East Coast-based investors, Tumblr later attracted attention from top Silicon Valley investor Sequoia Capital. As social networks like Facebook and Twitter have flourished over the past few years, so has Karp's profile in the tech community.
"He's definitely helped shape the startup entrepreneurship community in New York City," said Matt Van Horn, vice president of business development at Path. "I think he's done an incredible job."
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer must think so too. She has vowed to not screw up tumblr and stressed that the site will remain independent under Karp's leadership.
My point here is this, computer appreciation should be immersed in Nigerian educational curriculum, we in Nigeria also should have our share of online entrepreneurs who are worth millions before age 30, gone are the days where one has to grow grey hair before he proves his worth. Guys like Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, David Karp are all living examples.
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