Three PayPal employees created YouTube as a video-sharing website where users could upload, share, and view content. The Internet domain name "www.youtube.com" was activated on Monday, February 14, 2005, at 9:13 p.m.
YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim when they worked for PayPal. Before working for PayPal, Hurley studied design at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania; Chen and Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. YouTube's initial headquarters was above a pizzeria and Japanese restaurant in San Mateo, California.
The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 14, 2005, with video upload options integrated on April 23, 2005. The first YouTube video, titled Me at the zoo, was uploaded on April 23, 2005, showing co-founder Jawed Karim at the San Diego Zoo.
YouTube began as an angel-funded enterprise working from a makeshift office in a garage. In November 2005, venture firm Sequoia Capital invested an initial $3.5 million, and Roelof Botha (a partner of the firm and former CFO of PayPal) joined the YouTube board of directors. In April 2006, Sequoia and Artis Capital Management invested an additional $8 million in the company, which had experienced significant growth in its first few months.