On April 9, the hearts of internet entrepreneurs everywhere must have skipped a beat at the news that Facebook was paying $1 billion in cash and stock to buy Instagram, a San Francisco-based start-up.

Less than two years old, Instagram offers mobile apps that allow users to add effects to their smartphone photos and share them with friends. Though the company has no revenue and employs only about a dozen people, it has experienced a meteoric rise and enjoys an “almost cult-life following,” according to the New York Times. Its 30 million users upload more than five million photos a day, though the app was only available on Apple devices recently.