In this article you will know the Ben Silbermann storythe creator of Pinterest.
Pinterest has gone from being an unknown service with slow growth and very few users, to one of the most popular social networks today. Thanks to this, its co-founder Ben Silbermann is a millionaire.
The Ben Silberman Story
Ben Silbermann’s story is very inspiring because he was persistent enough to stick with a project that no one believed in.
Ben always had a habit of collecting things like stamps and so he thought of creating a website that would allow people to do the same.
He started Pinterest after leaving his job at Google, but after a few months of trying, he only got around 200-300 users.
In an interview, Ben said that many people did not understand the website when they first saw it and that it did not have a large following at the time.
In addition, he said that he messaged all of his friends (around 300) but only a few seemed to have gotten the idea of Pinterest.
The now young millionaire was not only struggling with a website that was difficult to understand, but also having serious problems attracting new users. In the first year, Pinterest only had 9,000 users.
One day, when a blogger started recommending Pinterest, the site took off very quickly. He was obviously a famous blogger. The rest of the story is well known. Pinterest became a giant social network worth billions and turned Ben Silbermann into a young millionaire.
Persistence was vital in the Ben Silbermann story
Imagine yourself in Ben’s shoes, would you have continued with your project after 90% (or more) of the people you knew did not like your idea?
Ben met too many investors and they all rejected his idea. Personally, if Ben had come to me during the early days of Pinterest, I don’t think the idea of him would have struck me as interesting. After all, what good is a site to “collect” your stuff?
I know what’s on your mind right now. You think Pinterest is a great site. Yes, it became a great site after it was filled with millions of images, but what motivated the first 100,000 people to join an “empty” website?
Today I use Pinterest because it’s awesome, but a few years ago I wouldn’t have used it even if you paid me; simply because it had no content compared to the Google search.
In other words, Ben Silbermann was trying to market an idea that no one was buying.
This seems crazy right? Go against everyone you know. Against the opinion of investors and experts.
On top of all that Pinterest tried to sell after reaching 10,000 users, the buying company refused to attend the meeting.
In short, Ben was going against everyone, but he kept moving.
What allowed you to become a young millionaire?
Obviously Ben was persistent to an unreasonable degree and this is exactly what you need to do to be successful in life.
When I saw Ben in an interview, I automatically remembered what Steve Jobs said about success. They both said the same thing: it is that to be successful your persistence must dominate your rationality.
If Ben had been thinking rationally, he would never have continued. A social network that obtained 300 users in a few months, how many years would it take to reach a million users?…Centuries!
Conclusion to Ben Silbermann’s story.
Jobs said that sometimes it’s crazy to move on and that anyone in their right mind would quit. But here’s a golden tip: to be successful in life you have to be persistent in an insane way.
We hope that the story of Ben Silvermann, the creator of pinterest will inspire and motivate you so that you do not give up.
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can read our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
