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Just build things and find out if they work.

Ben Silbermann

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.
BEN SILBERMANN

Basketball Kids Player
There’s a lot of pressure to look like the last company that was successful.
BEN SILBERMANN

Entrepreneur Looks Successful
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.
BEN SILBERMANN

Business Giving Thinking
Don’t take too much advice.
BEN SILBERMANN

Advice Entrepreneur Levers
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.
BEN SILBERMANN

Experience Honest Lucky Team
People say doing a startup is like a marathon. It’s actually a roadtrip at night with no headlights.
BEN SILBERMANN

Night People Thinking
If Google teaches you anything, it’s that small ideas can be big.
BEN SILBERMANN

Entrepreneur Google Ideas
I was obsessed with this idea that these things that you collect, they just say so much about who you are. I can’t say it came from hard-nosed business analysis… It was just something I really want to see built.
BEN SILBERMANN

Analysis Ideas Want
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.
BEN SILBERMANN

Meaningful Pinterest Want
I use Pinterest for everything. Book collections, trips, hobbies. It’s all there. I planned my wedding on it. When I had a kid, I planned all his stuff on it. So it was nice to discover that I wasn’t the only one.
BEN SILBERMANN

Book Collection Kids Nice Planned
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 SILBERMANN

Anyone Thinking Yesterday
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.
BEN SILBERMANN

Boards Way World
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.
BEN SILBERMANN

Long People Phones
I think the thing that I’ve learned is that really great people, they actually want to work on hard problems.
BEN SILBERMANN

People Thinking Want
What you collect says so much about who you are.
BEN SILBERMANN

Collect Much Say
I thought Google was the coolest place. People there were so smart and they were all doing these really interesting things. I just felt really lucky to be a part of it even in a small way.
BEN SILBERMANN

Interesting People Smart

Just build things and find out if they work.

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Just build things and find out if they work.

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