Some former executives argue that the company should have hired salespeople faster. “There’s a natural rate at which you can scale a company that’s healthy,” Mr. He preferred what he called “quality growth.” Silbermann opposed both, according to people familiar with the decision. Other executives argued that the company should court celebrities and pay influencers to share content on Pinterest, similar to YouTube’s premium content program. The company disagreed that growth had stalled, arguing that it had “slightly slowed.”Įxecutives on Pinterest’s “growth” team proposed spending $50 million a year to acquire users through marketing, a common tactic for web companies. “You can draw a direct line from those interests to a commercial opportunity or retail category,” said Andrew Lipsman, an analyst at eMarketer.īut just as the company began selling ads in 2014, user growth stalled and it wasn’t clear why, according to multiple people familiar with the company. The business case was simple and powerful: It was a shopping mall disguised as a mood board that held its users’ aspirations, unearthing pure and unfiltered commercial desire. A Forbes cover story about Pinterest declared, “Move over, Zuck.” The market for social media advertising was still young and up for grabs. It seemed possible that Pinterest could be as successful as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube - maybe even Google. The company’s growth exploded by 2011, just a year after its service went live, spawning countless copycats - for families, for music, for pornography, for Lady Gaga fans - and clones in every major country. Silbermann screened potential hires for their values before even considering their technical skills. In the beginning, when Pinterest was desperate to hire engineers as quickly as possible, Mr. “We believe innovation happens when disciplines knit,” the company’s website says. Pinterest values “knitting,” a term its employees use to describe collaboration among groups. He has tried to instill that same thinking at the company. “You could find your people there and really explore inside yourself,” he said. But his first encounter with high-speed internet, at Yale in 1999, changed his mind. Silbermann, 36, grew up in Des Moines in a family of doctors and assumed he’d also go to medical school. Uber’s founder, Travis Kalanick, pushed a “toe-steppin’” and “hustling” culture at Uber. Mark Zuckerberg infused Facebook with a “move fast and break things” hacker mentality. Tech companies usually reflect the personalities of their founders. Silberman was asked about his limited public profile in a recent interview, he noted with a hint of exasperation that he was right there, talking to me for this article. Belsky said, “He is so comfortable being misunderstood and underestimated.” “I tell them, ‘You have to tell your story, especially now,” said Scott Belsky, an entrepreneur who was an early investor in Pinterest. There is wide speculation that it will go public next year. The company is on track to top $700 million in revenue this year, a 50 percent increase over last year, according to a person familiar with the company. Those users have pinned 175 billion items on 3 billion virtual pinboards. In the past week, the company crossed a new milestone - 250 million monthly active users. Silbermann’s approach - or maybe because of it - the company is worth $12.3 billion and growth is accelerating. Novak, who would not disclose the size of his firm’s stake in Pinterest.Īnd yet despite Mr. “If they don’t keep up, they very quickly become prehistoric,” said Mr. Matt Novak, a partner at All Blue Capital, said his firm was trying to sell its stake in Pinterest, which the firm acquired on the secondary market, because it had not lived up to its potential. Many of those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the company’s private affairs. But the reserved, slow and steady approach has long frustrated some investors and employees, who believe that it has neutered growth, according to interviews with more than a dozen people who have worked with or for the company.
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