Bad First Impression

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Kutcher has also invested in a variety of successful startups like Airbnb and Spotify

Back in the day, when Instagram only had 10 million users, actor-turned-investor Ashton Kutcher met Systrom. However, the former ‘That ‘70s Show’ star was admittedly not impressed with the entrepreneur at the time.

Apparently, Kutcher was ‘put off’ because Systrom refused to follow the advice he gave on introducing a ‘re-gram’ feature that was similar to the retweet option on Twitter on the platform.

The actor and Guy Oseary, his investing partner, were reportedly interested in putting money on Instagram. He has also invested in Path, a competitor photo-sharing platform.

Despite this not-so-good first impression, Kutcher still decided to invite Systrom, along with a group of other founders, to Utah for a ski trip. That was when things turned around between the two individuals.

Life-and-Death Situation

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Instagram now has over a billion users on its platform

It all started when the Instagram co-founder barged his way into the actor’s room at dawn.

He did so to get Kutcher and their other companions out of the house they were staying in as a fire had broken out inside. The place was already filled with smoke and they were all in danger.

Luckily, Systrom was fast to act. This impressed Kutcher, who began seeing the entrepreneur as a good leader.

The two of them reportedly became friends after the incident with the actor introducing Systrom to the other celebrities, from actors to musicians, in his social circle.

This led to famous people going on Instagram where they would gain millions of followers, helping the platform grow further.

Different Paths

Since then, Systrom and Kutcher continued on their paths in the tech space.

The 42-year-old actor has made a name for himself as a tech investor and has reportedly put a whopping $3 billion into startups. In total, the father of two has participated in over 170 funding rounds.

Meanwhile, Systrom and his co-founder Mike Krieger sold Instagram to another social media giant, Facebook. The acquisition happened in 2012 about a year after Kutcher and Systrom first met.

They reportedly got $1 billion for the company. Unfortunately, neither of Instagram’s founders remained with their brainchild.

Systrom and Krieger left in 2018 allegedly due to tensions with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.