He recollects how on August 27, 2024, he discovered himself in an sudden scenario – detained in a Paris police station for 3 days with out entry to gadgets or the web.
Whereas present process a prolonged interrogation session, Durov requested his lawyer whether or not his girlfriend, Julia, would even be questioned. The lawyer hesitated earlier than revealing an sudden piece of stories: Julia was pregnant.
This revelation caught Durov off guard, however he remained composed. Regardless of the overwhelming circumstances – being held out of the country with no clear thought of when he could be launched – Durov tried to course of the information as finest as he may. He later found that the police had been not sure of tips on how to break the information of Julia’s being pregnant to him, given the tense ambiance.
The next day, Durov was launched late within the night and reunited with Julia on the rooftop terrace of her residence. As he arrived, fireworks lit up the sky for the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, however the temper was removed from celebratory.
Throughout his detention, Julia had confronted immense stress. Some bloggers had unfold baseless rumors, claiming that she was a “Mossad agent” and accusing her of showing Durov’s flight particulars, which allegedly led to his arrest on the Paris airport.
Together with her gadgets confiscated, she couldn’t entry her accounts on Telegram and Instagram for weeks. Her going radio silent on social media provoked much more hypothesis. Cyber-bullying geared toward her stored reaching new highs. Julia stood sturdy. However, in contrast to me, she wasn’t used to hostility. She will not be made for warfare. Two days in the past, she was visiting the physician who monitored her being pregnant. I used to be in the course of my 12-hour work day when Julia despatched me (crying emojis) from the physician’s workplace. I immediately knew what was mistaken.
– Pavel Durov on his Telegram channel, October 2024
In different phrases, a miscarriage occurred.This era of private turmoil for Durov delivered to thoughts his earlier challenges, together with considered one of his most pivotal moments in 2006 when he launched into a journey that might outline his profession. After graduating from Saint Petersburg College that summer season, Durov set an bold objective: to create a social community for college kids and graduates inside 4 weeks. This could change into VKontakte (VK), a platform that might go on to revolutionize social media in Russia.
At simply 22 years previous, Durov was already a talented coder, having constructed web-based video games as early as age 12 and taught programming to older college students at summer season camps by age 13. Nevertheless, even with this expertise, he admitted that his objective of constructing a totally functioning social community in such a short while body was overconfident. Moderately than counting on pre-built modules, Durov determined to create all the pieces from scratch – profiles, personal messaging, photograph albums, and search features.
In September 2006, Durov devoted himself to coding for 20 hours a day, stopping just for a single meal of pasta and cheese after which sleeping for 10 hours earlier than beginning once more. His life revolved round this challenge.
Though he initially aimed to finish the challenge in 4 weeks, it took six weeks to launch a beta model of VKontakte. Regardless of the delay, the outcomes exceeded expectations. Customers flocked to the platform, and VK shortly grew to become the go-to social community for college college students in Russia.
By December 2006, VK had attracted hundreds of customers, rising at a speedy tempo. Just a few months later, Durov employed one other developer to assist handle the platform’s explosive development. Inside seven years, VK had over 100 million month-to-month customers. Nevertheless, by 2014, Durov’s time with VK got here to an abrupt finish when the corporate’s board ousted him, prompting him to go away and give attention to constructing Telegram.
This expertise of single-handedly constructing VK in 2006 had a long-lasting impression on Durov’s strategy to enterprise and problem-solving. It bolstered his perception that each advanced process is solely a group of smaller, manageable components:
I additionally realized that there are not any advanced duties on this world – solely many small ones that look scary when mixed. Break up a giant process into smaller components, manage them in the best sequence – and “you’ll get by way of”.
– Pavel Durov on his Telegram channel, October 2024
Effectively, life, as nice as is it, may be merciless and unpredictable – not simply to mere mortals like us, however to the wealthy and well-known as effectively…
