Eric Yuan has not yet become a household name, but his fledgling company Zoom has skyrocketed in popularity, now known to millions as a reliable way to reach their loved ones, students, and employees through virtual meetings. To many, Zoom came out of nowhere, but Yuan has spent nine long years growing his company and perfecting his product in order to create the multi-billion dollar product we all know and love today.

In 1987, university student Eric Yuan had a problem to solve. His girlfriend was a ten-hour train ride away, and he was looking for an easier way to meet her. He decided to pursue a career in videotelephony software, a way for users to communicate real-time with seamlessly synced audio and video. After struggling for a couple of years with visa issues, Yuan immigrated to the U.S. to work at WebEx, a new video conferencing software company in Silicon Valley. His innovative nature and his skill as an engineer allowed WebEx to grow and develop into a successful product. Later, Cisco acquired WebEx, giving Yuan new opportunities and a new title: Vice President of Engineering. Yuan enjoyed his work at Cisco, but after a couple of years, development slowed, and the product that he helped to create became outdated and hard to use, creating many dissatisfied customers. Yuan knew that he could create a better communication system, so he asked his bosses to let him revamp WebEx, but they turned him down. However, Yuan would not quit on his idea. In 2011, he left Cisco to start his own company and revolutionize the communication industry.

Initially, Yuan had trouble finding investors. Many believed that the videotelephony market was already saturated, which would make it hard for him to grow his company and compete against tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and Cisco, whose web conferencing services had been widely used for many years. However, two of Yuan’s colleagues and friends, WebEx CEO Subrah Iyar and Cisco’s head of corporate development Dan Scheinman, joined several others in investing in his company, putting their faith in Yuan’s abilities as an engineer and his vision of the future. With their support, Zoom was able to launch its first version by 2013. It featured impressive video quality, the capacity to support forty concurrent viewers, and seamless connections on mobile devices, giving it a clear advantage over WebEx, Skype, and other competing services at the time. Since Zoom didn’t have a dedicated marketing team at the time, Yuan took on that  responsibility  himself, often emailing unhappy customers to try and reach a solution. Yuan’s commitment to his customers and his dedication to creating the best product possible allowed Zoom to gain a foothold in the saturated market of web conferencing software.

Over the next few years, Zoom expanded its line of products to meet consumer demands in other areas of communication. Zoom Rooms increased conference room security and ease of access while also allowing older systems to connect to newer software, saving companies money on updates. Zoom Webinars provided higher audio and video quality compared to other similar software systems at the time and allowed hosts to customize their subscription to fit their audience size. To further enhance the user experience, Zoom also improved its original product, updating software and introducing virtual backgrounds and breakout rooms. Furthermore, an App Marketplace was also introduced. Zoom users could now install different applications to add additional custom features and allow integration with products like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Calendar. Understanding that without fresh updates and innovations Zoom would face the same fate as WebEx, Yuan continued to find new ways to improve the web conferencing experience. 

After eight years of continuous development, Yuan had managed to create one of the best web conferencing services on the market. After social distancing orders were enacted worldwide, he had an unanticipated chance to show the world his innovative product. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted economies worldwide, but the versatility, reliability, and quality of Zoom’s products ensured that they would be the obvious choice for consumers who were struggling to find ways to stay connected. Larger technology corporations lacked the focus and mobility to create a competitive product, allowing Zoom to dominate the market and attract millions of users worldwide. This new consumer base has already generated a 169% increase in earnings compared to the previous year, allowing Zoom to emerge from this pandemic as a leader in its market. 

Throughout this nine-year journey, Eric Yuan has always focused on developing his dream product: A way for people to meet with the people they care about. Currently, his focus during these unprecedented times is to make sure that the physical barriers of social distancing don’t prevent people from staying connected with their friends, families, students, and coworkers. He stated, “In ten to twenty years, when people write the history of COVID-19, I want them to write that Zoom did the right thing for the world.” For now, Yuan will continue to perfect his product so that people all around the world can have an easy way to meet face-to-face with a click of a button.