Executive Left Six-Figure Role To Pursue Happiness, Ended Up A Billionaire

Benzinga has covered the age-old question of “Can money buy happiness?” extensively, through multiple written pieces and research, here, here, and here.

So far, our research says yes, though there is a plateau in terms of happiness associated with earnings, and the situation isn't one-size-fits-all.

Eric Yuan — the mind behind Zoom Video Communications Inc ZM — tells a story about how happiness trumped earnings, and in the end, success still followed.

Before he reached billionaire status with the success of Zoom, Yuan was an immigrant from China striving to make his dreams come true in Silicon Valley.

Yuan’s fascination with Silicon Valley was spurred when he heard a speech delivered by Microsoft Corp. MSFT founder Bill Gates, in which he detailed the promise of the future internet.

Despite facing several setbacks and eight visa rejections, Yuan never lost sight of his dream to set foot in Silicon Valley. On his ninth attempt, at 27 years old, he obtained a U.S. visa and made his way to the U.S. in 1997, according to an article by CNBC.

Yuan spoke no English but had a talent for writing computer code.

Coding landed him a position at WebEx, a video conferencing software company that was acquired by Cisco Systems Inc CSCO for $3.2 billion, with Yuan earning a “very high six-figure” salary as the tech giant’s vice president of engineering.

He found himself unhappy.

Yuan felt the product he helped build at WebEx wasn’t advancing quickly enough. The system, in his view, became burdensome for customers, leading him to believe that there was a need for more accessible and efficient mobile video conferencing software.

Though to build his product, he had to abandon his high-paying job at Cisco and venture into the uncertainty of building a startup.

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While risky to some, Yuan attributed leaving Cisco to pursue his own happiness. "The purpose of life is to pursue happiness, and I was not happy. Then what's the risk?"

His pursuit led him to establish Zoom in 2011.

Despite the crowded video conferencing market dominated by major players, he managed to secure funding from angel investors, including fellow former Cisco executive Dan Scheinman, who backed Yuan’s vision with a $250,000 investment.

The company launched its first product in 2013, which quickly gained traction with more than 3,500 businesses using Zoom within five months of its launch. By 2015, the number of companies using Zoom ballooned to around 65,000.

Zoom’s rise to success wasn’t without hurdles, either. It experienced steep backlash just two months after its IPO in April 2019 due to security vulnerabilities in its software.

Hurdles aside, Yuan’s remaining 7.7% stake in Zoom is worth more than $1.54 billion, a pretty big leap from his six-figure salary at Cisco.

While his journey from an unhappy executive to a successful entrepreneur made him a billionaire — and he is happy.

Read Next: If You Invested $1,000 In Zoom Video Stock At Its Pandemic Low, Here’s How Much You’d Have Now

This article is part of the Benzinga Inspire series.

Photos: Courtesy Zoom