Ben Silbermann
Ben Silbermann
Ben Silbermann is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded and is CEO of Pinterest, a virtual pinboard which lets users organize images, links, recipes and other things. The website allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections called "pinboards". Examples include events, interests, hobbies and more. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, 're-pin' images to their own collections and/or 'like' photos...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth14 July 1982
CityDes Moines, IA
CountryUnited States of America
Ben Silbermann quotes about
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.
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.
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.
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.
What you collect says so much about who you are,
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.
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.
One of the things I've learned is to be receptive of feedback.
I always just want to move along to the next step.
Don't take too much advice.
There's a lot of pressure to look like the last company that was successful.
If Google teaches you anything, it's that small ideas can be big.
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.
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.