How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition

Image credit:
instagram.com/kevin/
Kevin Systrom with singer/celebrity Carly Rae Jepson.
On April 9, 2012, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger sold their 13-person startup, Instagram, to Facebook.
Facebook purchased the photo filter app 18 months after its launch for $1 billion: $300 million in cash, the rest in Facebook stock.
What has the year been like for Systrom since selling his company?
Here's what he's been up to through (how else?) Instagram photos.
How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
About one month after the Facebook sale, Systrom and Krieger took their team on an off-site spring trip to Napa.

About one month after the Facebook sale, Systrom and Krieger took their team on an off-site spring trip to Napa.
How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Systrom stopped by his old high school, Middlesex boarding school, a few days later.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
There, he paid a visit to his old photography professor.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
In New York, Instagram was recognized as the "Breakout of the Year" and received a Webby Award.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
For Memorial Day weekend, Systrom spent time with friends at The Parker in Palm Springs.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Then it was off to NYC for the Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic which Systrom attended with one of his investors, Thrive Capital's Joshua Kushner.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
The jetsetting continued. Systrom spent mid-June in London, where he ate this for brunch one morning.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Systrom returned state-side to finish out the month at a friend's wedding, then lounged on a boat in Lake Tahoe.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Meanwhile, the Instagram team was still hard at work. In mid-August, Instagram 3.0 was released.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Systrom and his girlfriend Nicole flew up to Oregon and spent some time at the shore.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
And in early September, Systrom set off abroad again.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
This time, he headed to Tokyo.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
He took this shot while jogging by the Imperial Palace there.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
After a long summer of travel, on September 17, Systrom started work at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Working at the Facebook headquarters came with some perks. Here's Systrom meeting singer/celebrity Carly Rae Jepson.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
Down in LA, Systrom got to play DJ for the West Hollywood Halloween Carnival. He did the same one month earlier in Vegas with actor Adrian Grenier.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
In early December, Systrom took off for Europe again, this time to Paris.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
He spent his birthday and New Years in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He took a few quick trips to Jackson Hole over the winter.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
In late February, Instagram hit its 100 millionth user.

How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
In late March/early April, about one year after the Facebook acquisition, Systrom and his girlfriend relaxed in Hawaii.
