Yahoo Finance EXCLUSIVE: ‘Still trying to prove myself’, says multimillionaire CEO of Tumblr
For most of us, reaching multimillionaire status by the age of 25 would serve as a resounding indicator of our success.
But despite being 29-years old and reportedly worth A$376 million, the founder and CEO of blogging platform Tumblr, David Karp, is still not convinced of his accomplishments.
Karp, dressed in his staple black t-shirt and mop of black hair, joins a growing list of entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson who dropped out of school or university to pursue a business idea that turned out to be right on the money.
However, he feels uncomfortable about the media ‘celebrating’ his high-school dropout image as if his first hugely successful idea will also be his last.
“I reject that I am done, which is often the narrative,” Karp tells Yahoo7 Finance.
“I built the company, sold the company, [and I’m] all set now, which is so not it,” he says.
“Many of us end up in this situation because there was some drive. In this case it was a creative drive that I wanted to see this thing come into existence.”
Also read: 5 things you need to know about David Karp
The New York-based entrepreneur pauses before placing emphasis on the fact that dropping out of school wasn’t an easy decision.
“It wasn’t the path I wanted to take, I just badly wanted to learn to code and 15 years ago in New York City there wasn’t as much computer science education in high schools,” he explains.
Karp, who is in Sydney to formally launch Tumblr in the Australian market, says that in terms of proving himself, there’s more pressure on him than ever before.
“The stakes are as high as they’ve ever been now that we are working with the biggest brands in the world,” he says.
Karp is referring to life after Yahoo's A$1.5 billion acquisition of Tumblr in 2013.
"We still have a ton to prove, I think, particularly post acquisition.
“Once you really start getting valued in billions of dollars, you really have to show the world that you’re as important a platform as you say you are,” Karp says.
It is also the first time since the age of 21 that Karp is not just accountable to himself, but now has Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer as his boss.
While the Tumblr office remains in New York, Karp is part of Mayer’s direct team and meetings with her take place at least once a week.
Also read: 7 celebrities to follow on Tumblr
Karp says that under Yahoo, Tumblr has grown while maintaining focus on its creative community.
“The strength of our team has grown since we’ve become a part of Yahoo. That’s pretty uncommon I think for a little company being absorbed into a big company, so that’s pretty cool,” Karp explains.
However, Karp is quick to stress that he is not a ‘sell-out’.
“I wanted to make sure we didn’t lose sight of what was important to us and I wanted to make sure that we didn’t sell out.
“Selling out to me means going corporate, starting to take ourselves too seriously and putting ourselves before our users, our community,” he says.
He cites the example of Tumblr’s most recent update of its iPhone app in the form of fan fiction.
Also read: Tumblr just released the best app update notes ever
“You know we try and embrace the weirdness, try not to feel too corporate to ourselves or to anybody else, and at the same time we are so open and connected to our users which is something I worry gets lost when you start to get too big, or feel too big,” he says.
While Karp acknowledges he was a ‘nerdy kid’, he admits he doesn’t mind the limelight as long as the focus is on someone else—preferably the likes of Barack Obama or Taylor Swift.
“I am a little bit of a ham, so I don’t hate it… but I love when I get to get up and brag about Tumblr.
“Most of the kind of stuff you will see me doing are Q&As with our users and the President [Obama].
“That’s the stuff I love to do, like celebrating Taylor Swift,” he says referring to a recent and entertaining interaction between the singer and him on Tumblr.
“I was excited not to be the focal point of that but to get up there and thank Taylor Swift for all she’s done for Tumblr and the community here, and everything she’s done for the world! That’s the stuff I really cherish,” he says.
Karp says he tries to keep the focus off himself and more on Tumblr.
“I wish everything didn’t become some sort of a tabloid affair.
“Luckily for the most part everyone left me alone, but it’s annoying to read about yourself, your friends, people in the industry who you know and care about, not because of the work they are doing, but because of the dopy escapades people try and bill around these figures,” he adds.
You can follow Ingrid Fuary-Wagner on Twitter at @ingridFW1
