Indeed Telegram has often amazed for le sought after functions and the update speed: it's true, it still doesn't have calls (audio or video), but it was among the first services to include a system of the boat and channels, has always boasted excellent security in the secret chats and, in general, has always been very attentive to user needs, implementing the most reasonable requests as soon as possible.
Furthermore, Telegram is free and, unlike WhatsApp, it has no intention of offering itself as a platform where companies can contact users: but then what is Telegram's business model? Currently no: Telegram doesn't make money and, for the moment, it is based solely on the wealth of its founder, Pavel Durov.
This name often echoes among the most interested in technology, but it absolutely does not have the same media resonance as the contemporary and "colleague" Mark Zuckerberg: therefore, in short, who is Pavel Durov?
Pavel Durov is a Russian businessman and computer scientist; born in St. Petersburg in 1984, lived in Italy a part of his childhood, when his father was a professor of philology at the University of Turin, the city where he attended a few years of elementary school. In his youth, he spends a lot of time in close contact with the older brother Nikolai, mathematician and computer expert for whom Pavel has great admiration.
An eclectic personality interested in various fields of study, Durov devotes a lot of time to self-care: he is a vegetarian, doesn't drink or smoke, always wears black and defines himself as a libertarian.
In 2006, after graduating from Philology, Pavel begins to work on VKontakte (In contact in Russian), the social network that will later earn him the nickname of Russian Mark Zuckerberg.
The success of VK continues to grow - the social network is used by more and more people, including the famous activist Alexei Navalny, who had denounced the abuses of the Russian police.
The Moscow government does not expect a similar reaction, the agents do not know how to behave and several hours pass before the siege on the house ends.
Following this episode, relations between Durov and the Moscow government deteriorate: on the other hand, Pavel is a controversial and difficult figure to manage, a libertarian who firmly believes in information sharing and who praises the Internet as a place of free exchange between users.
To give a better idea of who Durov is, it is enough to mention some episodes of his life, which have had an important media coverage: for example, for his 26th birthday, the Russian entrepreneur donated $1 million to Wikipedia.
But even more emblematic is an anecdote dating back to 2012, which in an interview with TechCrunch Durov defined as one of the funniest moments in the company's history. VK had received large funding and a financial bonus was provided for a company vice president; however, to compliments from Pavel and his colleagues, the manager replies by saying that he doesn't care about money, that he works at VK for the idea and not for the money.
Allora Durov propone di throw money away: the vice president in question starts throwing cash out the window, but Pavel takes him back: Don't throw them like this, do it in a more creative way.
Thus, Durov and his associates begin folding 5.000-ruble notes (about $155 at the exchange rate at the time) to airplane shape and throwing them from their office window on Nevsky Prospekt, the main road through St. Petersburg. Of course, the rain of money attracts a lot of people and the VK team stops throwing airplanes made of banknotes when the crowd starts fighting over the money.
Such an egregious action only worsens relations between the Moscow government and the computer scientist, who in 2013 was formally accused of having hit a police officer.
Durov argues that it is acompletely made up accusation, but the investigations continue and involve Sledkom (a sort of Russian secret service), which soon begin to investigate VK as well, search the headquarters and get their hands on the company's documents. Meanwhile, two of VK's biggest investors, Vyacheslav Mirilashvili and Lev Leviev, are selling their shares to United Capital Partners (UCP), a government-friendly firm that has never invested in technology before.
In 2014 Durov also sold his shares in the company (12%) and, while remaining CEO for some time, was subsequently licensed from VKontakte, the company he himself founded, after supporting the protests of some Ukrainian activists and refusing to share the data on them held by VK.
At that point Pavel, together with his brother Nikolai, decides to leave Russia to devote himself to his new project, Telegram. The two Durov brothers "acquire" citizenship in the Islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, a tiny state in Central America, thanks to a $250.000 donation to the local sugar company, the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation.
Thanks to this passport, the two brothers choose one nomadic life and, together with the remaining 12 engineers who make up the Telegram team, they begin to move continuously between European countries, so as not to remain too long under the jurisdiction of a single state.
From here on the story is more or less known to most of our readers: over time Telegram has become the giant it is now and Durov has always maintained that the company will never make money through user metadata.
According to the FAQ, the only acceptable forms of monetization (in the future) will be voluntary donations o additional paid features (which however will not undermine the current structure of Telegram).
The Telegram logo, a paper airplane. Does that tell you anything?
Durov is a complex and decidedly atypical character in the world of information technology and his project, Telegram, reflects his vision of the world in many respects.
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