Instagram was called Burbn before Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger renamed it in 2010.
Burbn began as a location-based mobile application that included check-ins, plans, and photo sharing. Systrom and Krieger studied how people used the early product and concluded that photo sharing was its most appealing feature.
They stripped away much of Burbn’s original complexity and concentrated on photos, filters, and simple sharing. The redesigned product was renamed Instagram, combining the ideas of an instant message and a telegram. It launched in October 2010 for Apple’s iPhone.
The Burbn story is frequently used to explain product focus in startup culture. Instagram did not begin as a polished, photo-only network; it became one by removing features and concentrating on the behavior that generated the strongest user interest.