- Ben Silbermann is the CEO and cofounder of Pinterest, which, according to a new eMarketer report, surpassed Snapchat in users in 2019.
- In 2018, Silbermann said every user had his cellphone number on an episode of BI's podcast "This is Success."
- Today, Pinterest has 322 million global monthly users and is valued at $12.3 billion.
- Click here for more BI Prime content.
Pinterest CEO and cofounder Ben Silbermann said he learned the importance of being closely involved in the early days of the company.
Before Pinterest became the third-largest social media app in the US and amassed 322 million monthly users worldwide, according to a company quarterly report, Silbermann said every user had his cell phone number.
In 2018, he told us for an episode of Business Insider's podcast "This Is Success" that he received calls from customers at all times of the night. While he later scratched this from his email signature, he recalls this fostered an organic community of users.
What's more, Silbermann proved the power of building relationships not just with users, but with team members. Since Pinterest went public last year, Silbermann is less involved than before. But, still makes a habit of touring the country to meet with Pinterest users to learn how they're using the product and streamline their experience.
"Obviously, everyone can't be out of the office visiting people all day so we have a lot of other tools as well," said Silberman, who also has research and data teams. "Everybody should have a very firsthand feeling for how to make the product better and for who's using the product."
Silbermann started conceptualizing Pinterest's software in 2007 while he was working at Google. He connected with Evan Sharp, a then-architect student in New York who collected pictures to aid his studies, which gave the pair an idea to create a virtual space where users could collect images and browse through other's collections.
Silberman said the most common way people heard about Pinterest — and still most common today — was through word of mouth. "They would throw a party, or they'd redecorate their home, or they'd cook a special meal. And their friends would say, 'Hey, where'd you get the idea?' And they'd say, 'Oh, I got that idea on Pinterest.' Then they'd say, 'Oh, what's Pinterest?' And they'd try it out and download the app."
Silbermann wants other founders to know when growing an audience, it's okay to leave the office. "The trick is to put all those things together and form a picture of what your customers are looking for," he said. "Then prioritize the things that will have the biggest impact that you can execute really, really well."
Listen to the full episode and subscribe to "This Is Success" on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen.
This is an updated version of an article that originally ran on Nov. 1, 2018, which included Myelle Lansat as a contributor.
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