Rejected Eight Times. Then He Connected the World.

In March 2020, the world shut its doors.

Schools closed. Offices emptied. Families could not visit grandparents. Almost overnight, hundreds of millions of people opened the same app to see each other's faces.

That app was Zoom.

The man behind it, Eric Yuan, had spent years hearing no. The United States rejected his visa application again and again. His bosses rejected his ideas. But he kept trying, because he believed seeing someone's face should be easy.

When the world needed that most, his company was ready.

A student in China who hated distance

Eric Yuan was born in 1970 in Tai'an, in Shandong province, China.

At university, his girlfriend lived far away. To see her, he had to take long train rides that lasted many hours. He often dreamed of a way to see and talk to her without the trip.

That girlfriend later became his wife. And that dream became his life's work.

He studied at Shandong University of Science and Technology and went on to a master's degree at the China University of Mining and Technology.

In the 1990s, he heard Bill Gates talk about the coming internet boom. Eric knew he had to be in Silicon Valley.

Eight rejections

There was one big problem. The United States kept rejecting his visa.

Eric applied again. Rejected. And again. Rejected. Reports say he was turned down eight times over about two years.

Most people would have given up. He applied a ninth time. In 1997, it was finally approved.

He arrived in California speaking little English and joined a small video conferencing startup called WebEx as one of its early engineers.

The boss who would not listen

Eric worked hard at WebEx and rose to lead its engineering team. In 2007, the tech giant Cisco bought WebEx for about $3.2 billion. Eric became a vice president of engineering at Cisco.

But he was not happy. Customers kept complaining that WebEx was slow, clunky and did not work well on phones. Eric had ideas to rebuild it from scratch for a mobile world.

Cisco said no.

So in 2011, Eric did something bold. He left his big corporate job and started his own company. About 40 engineers followed him.

Building Zoom

In 2011, Eric founded the company that became Zoom. It launched to the public in 2013.

His rule was simple: make video calls that just work. Click a link. See faces. No headaches.

Zoom grew by making users happy, not by shouting the loudest. Businesses loved it. Employees loved him too. In 2018, Glassdoor named him one of the top rated CEOs in America.

Going public

On April 18, 2019, Zoom went public on the Nasdaq. Unlike many tech startups, it was already profitable.

The man who could not get a visa was now leading a public American company.

The year the world zoomed

Then came 2020.

When Covid spread, Zoom went from a work tool to a daily life tool. Classes, doctor visits, birthday parties, weddings and even funerals moved onto Zoom. The word "zoom" became a verb.

The growth was so fast it caused problems. Uninvited people started breaking into meetings, called "Zoombombing," and critics raised security and privacy concerns. Eric apologised publicly and paused new features for months to focus on fixing safety.

Zoom survived the storm and kept the world connected.

After the boom: the AI bet

When the pandemic ended, people went back to offices. Zoom's growth slowed a lot.

Eric decided Zoom had to become much more than video calls. He pushed hard into AI. Zoom launched AI Companion, an assistant that summarises meetings, writes follow ups and handles tasks. It added phone systems, contact centers and AI agents for customer service.

He even tested the future himself. On a 2025 earnings call, Eric delivered his prepared remarks using a custom AI avatar of himself.

In February 2026, Zoom reported full year revenue of about $4.87 billion. Eric called it a turning point.

"FY '26 was a pivotal year for Zoom and for our industry."

He believes speed and care for customers will keep Zoom ahead.

"As long as we innovate faster, focus on the product and customer experience, I think we're going to win more."

2:55 After the boom: the AI bet

Where he is now

Today, Eric Yuan is founder, CEO and chairman of Zoom Communications. He is steering a company that became famous for video toward a future as an AI first platform for work.

He still describes Zoom's purpose the way that young man on the train would: helping people connect.

Why the story matters

Eric Yuan's story is built on stubborn hope.

The visa office said no eight times. He applied a ninth. His employer said no to his ideas. He quit and built them himself. The pandemic brought fame and a flood of problems. He apologised and fixed them. When growth slowed, he bet on AI.

For young builders, the lesson is simple. A rejection is not a verdict. Build what customers actually complain about. And when you mess up in public, own it and fix it fast.

He could not always travel to the people he loved, so he built a way for everyone to be there.

The Record

Born: 1970

From: Tai'an, Shandong, China; moved to the United States in 1997

Studied: Shandong University of Science and Technology; master's, China University of Mining and Technology

Career before Zoom: Engineer and VP of engineering at WebEx and Cisco

Built: Zoom

Timeline

1970 Born in Tai'an, Shandong, China.

1990s Long train rides spark his dream of easy video connection.

1997 Visa finally approved after repeated rejections. Joins WebEx.

2007 Cisco buys WebEx. He becomes a VP of engineering.

2011 Leaves Cisco and founds Zoom.

2013 Zoom launches publicly.

2019 Zoom goes public on Nasdaq.

2020 Pandemic makes Zoom a household name.

2025 Uses an AI avatar on an earnings call.

2026 Zoom reports about $4.87 billion in yearly revenue and doubles down on AI.