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The incredible story of how YouTube got its start and rose to become the world's most popular place to watch video (GOOG)

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YouTube is the undisputed king of online video.

It has over a billion users, which is almost a third of the entire internet population. These users watch hundreds of millions of hours of content every single day. 

But many people don't know how YouTube got its start. 

The company rose like a rocket ship after its founding in 2005, and was bought by Google scarcely a year later. 

Under Google, YouTube went from being a repository of amateur video to a powerhouse of original content, not to mention a launching pad for its own new brand of superstar, like PewDiePie

Here is how YouTube got its explosive start, and maintained that momentum to become the biggest force in online video. 

February 2005: Chad Hurley registers the trademark, logo, and domain of YouTube on Valentine's Day. Former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim had come up with the idea after two significant events in 2004 — Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl, and the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean.Getty/Donald Miralle

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April 2005: The first video posted to the site, "Me at the Zoo," is only 19 seconds long. The video is exactly how it sounds: founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego zoo standing in front of the elephants and talking about their trunks.YouTube

May 2005: YouTube launches its first public beta site. As you can see, the design has changed quite a bit since then.Wayback Machine

September 2005: YouTube gets its first one million-hit video. The video was a Nike ad that went viral, which showed Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho receiving his pair of "Golden Boots."YouTube

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December 2005: YouTube officially launches out of beta following a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital.Wayback Machine/Screenshot

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Here's how Uber got its start and grew to become the most valuable startup in the world

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