My parents are doctors, both my sisters are doctors, so I figured I'd just be a doctor too. Sometime in my junior year, I had this sudden realization that maybe that wasn't for me. I was sort of lost at sea. Ben Silbermann More Quotes by Ben Silbermann More Quotes From Ben Silbermann Just build things and find out if they work. Ben Silbermann starting entrepreneur ifs I think the thing that I've learned is that really great people, they actually want to work on hard problems. Ben Silbermann want people thinking What you collect says so much about who you are. Ben Silbermann who-you-are 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 nice kids book 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 There's a lot of pressure to look like the last company that was successful. Ben Silbermann entrepreneur successful looks If Google teaches you anything, it's that small ideas can be big. Ben Silbermann google entrepreneur ideas I always just want to move along to the next step. Ben Silbermann want steps moving One of the things I've learned is to be receptive of feedback. Ben Silbermann ive-learned inspiring inspirational I think anyone who makes products has this simultaneous joy and, almost, shame looking at it. You look at it all day and all you can see is all these things you want to make better. Ben Silbermann joy looks thinking 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. Ben Silbermann engineering people thinking 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 player kids Don't take too much advice. Ben Silbermann levers entrepreneur advice 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 pinterest want meaningful People say doing a startup is like a marathon. It's actually a roadtrip at night with no headlights. 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 Ben Silbermann night people thinking 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 smart people interesting 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 honest team lucky 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 phones long people I always read about these stories of entrepreneurs - it’s like they’re in the desert with no water, and they’re the ones that survive. But I’ve been really fortunate to have people on my team who are optimistic about the future and who know that if you work through hard times that there’s usually something good at the end. Ben Silbermann optimistic hard-times team 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
