Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom reflects on company-building lessons and hiring mistakes made during Instagram's early days.
Opinion
Systrom: Investing in industry verticals is 'BS' compared to team quality
“This is gonna be heresy to a VC's ears, but like, I think investing in verticals and spaces is BS. Like, yes, in general, generative AI is gonna produce something pretty cool, Like, yes, the stuff, like, these verticalized, like, the sharing economy, it's like…”
Insight
Systrom: Every successful social app begins as a utility before scaling
“Every app that is successful in social starts off as a utility, and it becomes a large social behemoth over time.”
Insight
Systrom: Believing friends share content interests was social media's biggest mistake
“And the fundamental thesis is that your friends are kind of into the stuff that you're into, and I would argue it is the greatest mistake Of social networks in the last 20 years, is to believe that is true.”
Opinion
Systrom: Social networks must become less social and rely on behavioral affinity
“So, long time, like, long story short, I think that social networks need to become less social, and I think that something that will make up for it is this idea of learned association or learned affinity through your behavior.”
Prediction Open · timeframe Feb 2028
Systrom: San Francisco will rebound as top startup center within five years
“But like, mark my words, look back five years from now, and I, you're even seeing the glimmers of it now. Just all these companies getting started. If you look at history, history, what is it? It's like it never repeats perfectly, but it rhymes. And there's no…”
What-if
Systrom would not work 16-hour days if he were in an office
“And if I were working this hard elsewhere, first of all, I wouldn't work this hard in an office. It just wouldn't happen.”