Instagram co-founders and CEOs leaving company

Who knows what the future holds for Instagram.

The popular photo app’s co-founders and CEOs, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, are leaving the company.

The @instagram journey is one I won't forget. It started by building simple products that solved universal problems. Now eight years we look back and are proud and grateful to have been part of that journey. Thank you to the entire community as we move on for now.

— Kevin S. (@kevin) September 25, 2018

Systrom and Krieger launched Instagram in October 2010, exclusively on iOS, and it rapidly gained popularity.

It only took two months to reach one million registered users, four months before a version for Android devices was even made available.

Now, there are closer to a billion users using Instagram and, as Systrom explains in his exit blog, the company has grown from 13 employees to more than a thousand around the world.

However, that exponential growth has seemingly pulled the pair away from why they originally created the app and they are departing to seemingly rediscover themselves.

“We’re planning on leaving Instagram to explore our curiosity and creativity again,” Systrom explained. “Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.”

It’s certainly been quite the journey for the two since Systrom posted the first ever Instagram post in 2010.

View this post on Instagram

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A post shared by Kevin Systrom (@kevin) on Jul 16, 2010 at 2:24pm PDT

It was a picture of a dog in Mexico, with his girlfriend’s foot creeping into the frame.

Certainly nothing special, but it was the start of a company now worth more than $100 billion, and that’s pretty impressive.