When Facebook snapped up Instagram in 2012, who among us thought their love would last forever? In the hurly-burly of a Silicon Valley life cycle, the détente between Facebook, the purchasing company, and Instagram, the purchased company, never should have lasted this long. Specifically, the 2010 success story of Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger — cofounders of the photo-sharing app who announced Monday they are leaving Facebook — should have gone through a brief transition before wandering off with their $1 billion purchase price to plan future adventures that may or may not have included appearances at Burning Man. But that’s not what happened. After registering 1 million users months after founding Instagram, then 10 million that first year, Systrom and Krieger attracted the attention of one Mr. Mark Zuckerberg. He bought in for a cool $1 billion in April 2012, and part of the deal, partially unspoken, gave Systrom and Krieger a continued unbridled hand to make their successful business even more so. | 