How Zoom grew 30x almost overnight

Summary of How Zoom grew 30x almost overnight

by WaitWhat

27m•February 5, 2026
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Overview of How Zoom grew 30x almost overnight

This Masters of Scale episode (hosted by Jeff Berman) features Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan describing his immigrant origin story, his path from WebEx/Cisco to starting Zoom, Zoom’s rapid scaling (notably the 30x jump in daily meeting participants during early COVID), how culture and architecture enabled that growth, the company’s mistakes (fast hiring and later layoffs), and how Zoom is positioning itself in a competitive, AI-driven collaboration market.

Key takeaways

  • Product + culture = scale: Yuan argues a great product must be paired with a strong culture (“Deliver happiness”) to scale sustainably.
  • Build for scale from day one: Zoom’s architecture was designed for large multipliers, so it handled the 30x usage surge without major code changes.
  • Word-of-mouth can beat big incumbents if the product delight is real; early growth was largely organic.
  • Rapid hiring to match a surge is risky: Zoom hired ~6,000 people over two years during COVID and later executed a painful ~15% reduction.
  • Listen to churned customers: Yuan personally reached out to users who canceled to learn why and improve.
  • Strategic posture: openness (integrations), move beyond video to an AI-driven work platform, and keep investing in product and innovation.

Timeline & scale metrics

  • Eric Yuan immigrated to the U.S. after multiple visa attempts, joined WebEx/Cisco, then left to start Zoom when he couldn’t get support to rebuild WebEx.
  • Pre-COVID (Dec 2019): ~10 million daily meeting participants; revenue < $1B; ~2,000 employees.
  • During COVID: jumped to >300 million daily meeting participants — roughly 30x increase in a few months.
  • Hired aggressively during COVID (~6,000 hires in ~2 years), later reduced headcount by ~15%.

Founding story and motivation

  • Yuan was inspired by early internet pioneers and Bill Gates’ speech; wanted to join Silicon Valley.
  • At WebEx/Cisco he saw poor video and mobile experience and believed a ground-up rebuild was required. Lack of internal support led him to found Zoom.
  • Initially sought seed VC funding but was turned down; seed capital came from friends in Silicon Valley.
  • He initially envisioned a consumer product but ran into monetization challenges.

Product, engineering, and growth strategy

  • Usability focus: Frequent user interviews showed dissatisfaction with Skype/WebEx; Yuan built a "better solution" focused on user experience.
  • Architecture-first approach: Engineers adopted a mindset: “what if traffic is 10x–20x?” The platform was architected to scale without rapid code refactors.
  • Marketing: Early years had little to no marketing; growth was driven by product-led network effects and word of mouth. Later, Zoom added marketing (e.g., sponsorships).
  • Customer feedback: A dedicated team still studies churn; Yuan personally contacted early cancelers to learn why they left.

Culture & leadership

  • Core value: “Deliver happiness” — prioritize employee happiness to drive customer happiness.
  • Practical culture actions: flat structure early on, open access to executives, book clubs with reimbursement for employee learning, leaders available via chat.
  • Leadership stance during growth: Yuan stayed hands-on and continued self-reflection about where to focus (especially on AI and product).
  • Hybrid work policy: To “eat your own dog food,” Zoom adopted hybrid norms (employees back in office twice a week) and focuses on tooling to level the remote/in-person experience.

Mistakes and hard lessons

  • Over-hiring during surge: To support global demand during COVID, Zoom expanded headcount rapidly (6,000 hires in ~2 years). Yuan calls that a “huge mistake.”
  • Resulting cost and productivity issues led to a painful 15% reduction in force. Yuan accepted a large compensation reduction as part of leadership’s accountability.
  • Lesson: hire deliberately even during exponential growth; plan for post-surge sustainability.

Competition, product expansion, and AI

  • Post-COVID competition intensified as incumbents prioritized video.
  • Zoom’s response:
    • Double down on product innovation and customer relationships.
    • Expand beyond video conferencing into a broader collaboration platform and business services.
    • Emphasize an open ecosystem and integrations (Google, Microsoft, etc.) so customers aren’t locked to one vendor.
    • Invest heavily in AI to transform workflows and stay competitive.

Immigration angle

  • Yuan’s story highlights the value of immigrant founders in U.S. innovation.
  • He advocates for balanced immigration policy that recognizes the economic contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs and engineers.

Practical recommendations for founders (actionable)

  • Design your architecture assuming 10x–20x demand — prioritize scalability early.
  • Invest in culture intentionally: small, meaningful programs (e.g., learning reimbursements, open access to leaders) compound over time.
  • Make customer exit interviews a priority — learn from cancelations.
  • Be cautious with hiring during temporary surges; model post-surge costs and productivity impacts.
  • Maintain an open platform posture — integrate with ecosystems your customers use.
  • Prioritize AI and innovation where it can materially change customer workflows.

Notable quotes

  • “Deliver happiness.” — Eric Yuan (Zoom’s guiding cultural phrase)
  • “If you do not have a great culture, you really cannot scale your business.” — Eric Yuan
  • “What if I build a better solution? I think I have a chance to survive.” — Eric Yuan on competing with Skype/WebEx
  • “We have that policy: feel free to reach out to any senior executives, including myself.” — Yuan on maintaining accessibility as the company grew

Recommended next steps for listeners

  • If you’re a founder: audit your architecture and hiring plans for scalability and sustainability.
  • If you lead teams: implement at least one low-cost, high-meaning cultural program (book reimbursements, open office hours).
  • If you’re building products: prioritize customer delight and system openness; start planning how AI can automate meaningful parts of your users’ workflows.

Sources: interview with Eric Yuan on Masters of Scale (WaitWhat).