Ben Silbermann Quotes

Powerful Ben Silbermann for Daily Growth

About Ben Silbermann

Ben Silbermann, an American entrepreneur and designer, is best known as the co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, a renowned social media platform that allows users to 'pin' and share images and videos they find on the internet. Born in 1985 in rural Kansas, Silbermann grew up with a love for art and design, often spending his free time drawing and painting. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Computer Science and Art History, he worked for Google in New York City as an advertising engineer. In 2010, Silbermann, along with Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra, co-founded Pinterest. The platform was designed to allow users to discover new ideas, save them, and share them on a virtual 'pinboard'. The concept was born out of the trio's desire to create a more visual version of social bookmarking sites like Delicious. In 2012, Pinterest raised $100 million in funding, valuing the company at $1.5 billion. Under Silbermann's leadership, Pinterest has continued to grow, becoming one of the most popular social media platforms today with over 433 million monthly active users. Silbermann's influence extends beyond Pinterest. He is known for his minimalist design aesthetic and focus on user experience, which are reflected in the clean, intuitive interface of Pinterest. His leadership style emphasizes a collaborative and inclusive environment, which has been instrumental in fostering a diverse and creative workforce at Pinterest. Quotes by Ben Silbermann often reflect his vision for Pinterest and his approach to entrepreneurship: "We're really trying to build a platform that is the place where you come to find ideas about how to do things in your life," and "You can’t make a good product if you don't understand the customer's needs." These words encapsulate Silbermann's focus on user-centric design and innovative thinking.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Make something you'd want to use yourself."

Ben Silbermann's quote "Make something you'd want to use yourself" emphasizes the importance of creating products or services that are not only functional but also have personal value. This principle encourages designers, inventors, and innovators to genuinely care about the quality and usefulness of their work because they themselves would find it beneficial. By prioritizing authenticity and relevance, creations become more relatable, engaging, and ultimately successful in the marketplace. The quote also underscores the idea that passion, personal interest, and attention to detail are key drivers for creating outstanding and meaningful products.


"The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow."

This quote by Ben Silbermann suggests that the internet, much like a town square in traditional societies, is evolving into the central hub where diverse communities from around the world can gather, interact, exchange ideas, and engage in shared experiences. It symbolizes the digital transformation of human interaction on a global scale, making it easier to communicate, collaborate, and build connections across geographical boundaries.


"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."

Ben Silbermann's quote emphasizes that good design transcends aesthetics; it encompasses functionality. In other words, the effectiveness and user-friendliness of a product or service are integral parts of its design. It underscores the importance of focusing on both form and function when creating an optimal user experience.


"Good design can solve problems in a more user-friendly, intuitive, and efficient way."

This quote emphasizes the power of good design in simplifying complex issues and making solutions accessible, intuitive, and efficient for users. By focusing on user-centric design principles, we can create interfaces that minimize confusion, reduce learning curves, and streamline processes to improve overall user experience. This ultimately leads to increased productivity, satisfaction, and success in the digital world.


"The best ideas often come as jokes. Make your jokes; they are more valuable than you think."

This quote emphasizes that seemingly casual or humorous thoughts, which we may dismiss as mere "jokes," can contain profound ideas. The implication is to encourage the expression of creativity in any form, even if it seems trivial at first glance, because these seemingly insignificant moments could potentially yield valuable insights and innovative solutions to complex problems. Silbermann suggests that our jokes might hold more worth than we realize.


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

Some, Always, Cool People, Dunk

At a small company, so much of the trick is focus. Not only can you only do a finite number of things, but you have to do them in the right order.

- Ben Silbermann

Focus, Small, Them, Finite

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

Think, Shame, I Think, Simultaneous

I've worked on products where they go down in the middle of the night, and no one notices. You get the 'site down' notice, but it doesn't matter.

- Ben Silbermann

Night, Go, Middle, Notices

I think that a lot of the most talented and driven people, they're not super deterred by failure. So if you put out a really big challenge, I think they get reality excited by that - they say, 'Hey, why not, let's go give it a shot, and if we fall short on that, at least we took a shot at doing something really important and meaningful.'

- Ben Silbermann

Doing, Big, Big Challenge, Deterred

Google was like the only company that was like, 'We're making so much money; let's take a picture of every street in the world.' Nobody does that.

- Ben Silbermann

Google, Making, Like, So Much Money

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

Small, Doing, Lucky, Coolest

For me, Google was the coolest place. It was the coolest place. People there were so smart. And they were all doing these really interesting things. I just felt lucky to be part of it even in a small way.

- Ben Silbermann

Small, Doing, Lucky, Coolest

I always describe Facebook and Twitter to some extent as 'them time': it's time about the world and what's outside of you. Pinterest, for a lot of users, is 'me time.' What do I want my future to be? Who am I? What are the things I want to do?

- Ben Silbermann

Some, About, Extent, Who Am I

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

Want, Very, Still, Human Way

So March 2010, we launched Pinterest, and we were at 3,000 accounts. And that wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't started building Pinterest actually in November 2009. And that alone wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't left my job to start a company in May 2008.

- Ben Silbermann

Bad, Been, November, Accounts

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, Discover, Use, Collections

The biggest thing about Pinterest is that people are there saving ideas for their personal lives. Not to rile up other people or make a big statement.

- Ben Silbermann

Big, Other, Lives, Personal Lives

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

Cab, Ordering, About, Neighborhood

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

See, Idea, About, Just Something

I really think that even though Pinterest isn't a lot of people's idea of hard technology, it helps make everyday things a little bit better. And I believe that for most people, everyday things, those are everything.

- Ben Silbermann

Believe, Idea, Bit, Everyday

So many things that I was excited about as a kid were about proximity. The idea that somebody could grow up in rural Iowa and be into break dancing because of YouTube - that was a really simple, profound idea.

- Ben Silbermann

Dancing, YouTube, Iowa, Proximity

What you collect says so much about who you are.

- Ben Silbermann

You, Says, About, Collect

Most people generalize whatever they did, and say that was the strategy that made it work.

- Ben Silbermann

Work, Made, Most, Strategy

I always just want to move along to the next step.

- Ben Silbermann

Next, Always, Move, Next Step

One of the hard parts about building a service that you use yourself is that it's easy to forget what it was like the very first time someone signs up. Every once in a while, I'll create a brand new account and give it a try and see how hard it is to find things that I really love, see if I'm using it or thinking about it differently.

- Ben Silbermann

Love, Very, Use, Brand

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

Through, Been, Entrepreneurs, Something Good

We're trying to do something so that when the average person uses Pinterest, it has to make the service better.

- Ben Silbermann

Better, Average, Pinterest, Average Person

We want the average person to use it and think that it makes the experience of using Pinterest better.

- Ben Silbermann

Think, Better, Average, Average Person

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

Year, Maybe, Sometime, Realization

I really liked insects - all kinds: flies, grasshoppers, weevils.

- Ben Silbermann

Flies, Kinds, Really, Insects

From the outside, there's a perception Silicon Valley is full of really young, geeky guys. The reality is there are lots of different types of people there.

- Ben Silbermann

Young, Silicon Valley, Types, Perception

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

Wake Up, Used, Our, Collectively

The whole reason Pinterest exists is to help people discover the things that they love and then go take action on them, and a lot of the things they take action on are tied to commercial intent.

- Ben Silbermann

Love, Reason, Discover, Intent

There are a lot of really valuable services that are always pushing you to communicate with other people. But there are relatively few services that are about helping you be the person you want to be and fulfilling your ambitions.

- Ben Silbermann

Communicate, Always, Other, Relatively

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