Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, co-founders of Pinterest, both used their prior experiences in the technology and the internet to start a very successful business of their own. Silbermann was a Google employee until he left to design apps on his own. However, these failed to gain any traction, until eventually he designed a product inspired by his own love of collecting things.
Similarly, Sharp worked at Facebook as a product designer. He met Silbermann in New York, and then joined his team to make Pinterest a reality.
Pinterest is really about idea sharing. People enjoy telling others about their ideas, and Pinterest gives them a platform to not only do so but also to gauge how a community will respond to it. It is a great place to see other peoples ideas as well, and find inspiration for many different things.
This business idea is a great example of collision in a liquid network. In the realm of technology and the internet, two men with the experience and ideas necessary collided to make a business that could possibly eclipse Facebook and other social media giants.
Without one another, the idea would just be a pair of hunches, and nothing would have come from it. However, in a community where ideas can bounce around, change, and grow, true innovations can be born.
This is a great example of synergy – the two men were able to accomplish more together than they would have been able to on their own. Their different experiences and insights allowed them to work together to create Pinterest, which, from my own experience is a great platform for sharing and capturing ideas.
Interesting how both entrepreneurs left stable jobs in order to take on a new challenge. This shows the necessary risk involved in the whole entrepreneurial process
As i was reading this i was literally thinking, “this is a great idea of collision in a liquid network”. These two men were not necessarily looking for each other yet it was a great surprise when they did. Silbermann also did not give up on his dream to make apps and kept pushing forward. Now pinterest is used for so many things by so many people.
As someone who really likes Pinterest I think this is pretty awesome. As someone above said, this really reminds me of a liquid network. I love how minds come together to form something great, that is the heart of innovation.