I used to wake up and look at our analytics and think, “What if yesterday was the last day anyone used Pinterest?” Like, everyone collectively decided, “We’re done!” Over time I got more confidence.
BEN SILBERMANNThere’s a lot of pressure to look like the last company that was successful.
More Ben Silbermann Quotes
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If Google teaches you anything, it’s that small ideas can be big.
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Most people generalize whatever they did, and say that was the strategy that made it work.
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As a kid, I always idolized entrepreneurs. I thought they were cool people in the way that I thought basketball players were cool people. It’s cool that some people get paid to dunk basketballs, but I’m not one of those people.
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I want Pinterest to be human. The Internet’s still so abstract… To me, boards are a very human way of looking at the world.
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Don’t take too much advice. Most people who have a lot of advice to give ~ with a few exceptions ~ generalize whatever they did. Don’t over-analyze everything. I myself have been guilty of over-thinking problems. Just build things and find out if they work.
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The companies that I really admire the most are the ones that have a deep visceral understanding of why people use their service, and they figure out ways of making money that are completely consistent with how people are feeling and what they are doing at the time.
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People say doing a startup is like a marathon. It’s actually a roadtrip at night with no headlights.
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We’re trying to do something so that when the average person uses Pinterest, it has to make the service better.
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When Pinterest works well, it helps you find things that are meaningful to you. We want to build a system that helps you do that.
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I’d never managed anyone before, so I don’t have a lot of experience. But I’m lucky – I have a lot of team members who have a really honest relationship with me.
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I look around my neighborhood, and I see people hailing a cab or ordering their food and then paying for it all with their phone. I’ve read about that stuff for a really long time, and now it’s starting to become commonplace.
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I kind of think of engineering like the chefs at a restaurant. Nobody’s going to deny chefs are integrally important, but there’s also so many other people who contribute to a great meal.
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I always just want to move along to the next step.
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You think you’re going to Toledo but you’re actually going to Miami and you might not have enough gas so you might need to buy gas from someone who might take you out if you aren’t driving well
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Just build things and find out if they work.
BEN SILBERMANN