With Seth Sternberg and Sandy Jen, Wherry and company launched the start-up in September 2005. “Sandy kept having this problem where she couldn’t easily IM her friends from Seth’s and Elaine’s houses. Hence, Meebo!” While Meebo was not the first site to offer web-based instant messaging, it is considered the fastest and most efficient of the sites out there. The success of Meebo is because it works virtually anywhere; whether you are across the globe in Africa or at a friend’s place in San Francisco, as long as you have Internet access, you have your instant messenger at your fingertips. Even if your college campus or workplace restricts messenger use through their servers, Meebo provides the platform for you to continue chatting.
Wherry’s path to computer genius was not easy. She majored in Symbolic Systems, a field of study dedicated to exploring the relationship between human and computer, at Stanford. Wherry had a humble upbringing on a goat farm. She says that living the simple life grounded her, teaching her the true value of hard work. The farm life was full of ups and downs, productive years and weak years, just like the business world. “You learn how to weather the storms. It helps you see through the tough spots.” While in college, she worked for the web development company Synactics Inc. where she quantified performance for devices like a touch stick. And finally, merely 3 years after the Meebo’s launch, there are already over 29 million users who send over 150 million messages daily.
Let’s be honest, the big question is not how successful the site has become but what the actual name Meebo means. While the co-founders waited for their lunch at California Pizza Kitchen back in 2004, they began scribbling name possibilities on a napkin. Wherry leaned towards names that began with the letter “M” and the others agreed the name needed to be two syllables. Returning home with more than fifty options, the three friends plugged the names into browsers one by one to see the results. ‘Meebo’ was both catchy and made people laugh!
Elaine Wherry, Co-Founder of Meebo
So what does the Meebo guru nicknamed AJAX, the name of the messenger engineering software, suggest when to inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in others? “The most important thing is to not try and re-invent the wheel.” In other words, Wherry and Meebo like to build on whatever else is out there, instead of grappling to create the extraordinary from square one. She advises young, ambitious entrepreneurs to take advantage of the inexpensive technology. “Chances are, if you have a problem or idea, other people have it too. Now it’s easy because it costs a fraction of what it used to during the dot-com boom.” This is the priceless advice of woman who turned her apartment start-up site to a flourishing company translated into 27 languages! Wherry’s most simple personal rule may be the most significant rule to success. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but whenever I say thank you, I always try to look people in the eye. You just always need to be appreciative of the people who helped you get there.” And Meebo sure has a lot to appreciate!
By Maya Parmer
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