He Used The Web Secrets He Learned At Google To Found A Social Network Worth Billions. This Is The Story Of Pinterest's Founder
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When you quit Google to start projects that are not successful, others start to look at you as a failure. Essentially, this is Ben Silberman’s story. He has never been a failure and soon would become a brilliant billionaire.
Despite the difficult times he never lost his determination or the desire to achieve all his ideas.
This led to the birth of Pinterest: today it is worth billions and is listed on the Wall Street stock exchange…
Recently, Paypal and Microsoft tried to buy this company but were not successful..
There is a reason why Ben managed to succeed despite his failures. A life lesson in entrepreneurship that I will share at the end of his story. Once you have all the pieces, it will be a very interesting puzzle.
His friend Paul Sciarra eased his frustration as Ben made his comeback. Together they co-founded Pinterest. Paul plays a key role in this story.
Pinterest closed the second quarter of 2021 with revenues of $ 613.2 million, with nearly 500 million users. Let’s see how he achieved this…
HE HAD GREAT IDEAS THAT COULDN’T BE ACHIEVED AT GOOGLE
Silbermann was born in 1982 and grew up in Des Moines, Iowa.
His parents, Jane Wang and Neil Silbermann are ophthalmologists. Two ophthalmologists who, treat patients with medical and surgical treatments.
In short, his parents had little to do with technological information and business. They are perfectly normal people.
However, Ben Silbermann showed signs of great intelligence and aptitude for technology from an early age. Many considered him a child prodigy for the gifts he possessed.
He often spent his time indoors experimenting with technology while his peers played together outdoors.
He attended the Research Science Institute of MIT, he graduated in 1999. Despite his passion for technology, he graduated in Political Science from Yale University in 2003.
A degree that didn’t align with his deep passion for technology, he didn’t let that stop him…
Before Pinterest – launched in March 2010 – Silbermann worked at Google which was at the start of its explosion.
After a short time as an employee in the internet start-up, he decided to quit. To fearlessly reach for his future.…
His courage and dreams are the reason he made this choice.
He wanted to work in the engineering department but didn’t have the right degree.
Instead, he was in charge of online sales and advertising at Google, a job he did not enjoy.
He was happy to work for Google, but, it didn’t interest him.
Not only that:
“His dream was to start his own business. So in 2006, after three years at Google, he decided to take the plunge and left to focus on his startup, Cold Brew Labs ”.
He decided to get into iPhone app design with his college friend Paul Sciarra.
After a few unsuccessful attempts, the co-founders brought Evan Sharp into the team, together they create Pinterest.
PINTEREST WAS BORN FROM HIS PASSION FOR COLLECTING
Unfortunately, things don’t always go as you would like. This was the case with Ben and his associates.
There were multiple unsuccessful attempts, they were on the verge of collapse. Abandoning everything to go back to being employees of some tech company. Giving up on their dreams.
But no!
They decided to develop one more idea, it would become Pinterest. Evan Sharp was also involved in this project. They were all in their early twenties, young and determined to carry on their idea, which became a winner.
An idea that was conceived by Ben Silbermann:
“Thanks to his passion for collecting stamps he thought of creating a website that gave the possibility to collect and arrange images and videos”.
But it wasn’t embraced by users right away.
In the beginning, the social network had a few hundred users. In the first year only 10 thousand subscribers.
People didn’t understand how to use it. Maybe it was ahead of its time. Was it ahead of its time and people had not caught on yet?
Then a stroke of luck, which never hurts. Luck rewards those who try and are ready to climb aboard.
First, you must build the platform.
Three years after the birth of Pinterest the platform takes off.
Thanks to a famous blogger who spoke well of Pinterest, the site began to attract subscribers.
When the iPhone app was released in early 2012, there was another step forward that helped bring Pinterest to more people globally.
It has been estimated that one million users became four million in just a few months.
Today Ben Silbermann is regarded as a successful entrepreneur. His IPO was born in 2019 and the company was immediately valued at 12 billion dollars.
HE MUST BE INSANE: BUT IN A GOOD WAY
Ben Silberman’s first app was named Tote. Unfortunately, it was technically unsuccessful.
Without that failure, he would never have founded Pinterest. The bankruptcy with his first app was a blessing.
Most of all:
“If Ben Silbermann had not been perseverant in carrying out the project, today he would have become a “has been”
But why the word crazy? That’s Ben’s lesson?
Here is the golden tip as he himself explained:
“To be successful in life you have to be persevering in a crazy way.”
Even when everyone turns against you. When you are about to lose hope. When on a rational level there doesn’t seem to be a reason to go on.
That’s when you have to keep trying. Just like a madman against all evidence of logic.
This is how Ben Silberman behaved.
I want to confess that a few times, looking back into my past I felt the same way. Today, I am more or less a millionaire Italian entrepreneur. Unknowingly, I did this too, but it worked, despite the frustrations and difficulties.
I wanted to introduce myself, here I am below.
Now if you want to read wild and funny stuff. Receive fresh, up-to-date information that very few have seen, follow my Twitter profile. It’s become one of the most trending and engaging Twitter profiles: https://twitter.com/SirNickNite
Nico Nobili —Alias SirNickNite
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