The founder of Pinterest on what surprised him the most when starting a company

In the clip below, Ben Silbermann shares what surprised him the most in starting a company after reading about overnight startup successes like Facebook and Instagram:

“It can take a really, really long time to build things that are worthwhile.”

He describes just how demoralizing things were in the beginning when he was building Pinterest:

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

A lot of people will compare startups to running a marathon, but Ben disagrees:

“The part of the analogy that’s right is that it’s long. But it’s actually really different. When I think about my experience, it’s more like going on a roadtrip in a car that doesn’t have very good headlights and you don’t have much gas and you think you’re going to Toledo, but you find out you’re supposed to be in Miami and if you really have to buy gas you might have to buy gas from someone who might just kick you out of your own driver’s seat.”

He continues:

“That uncertainty and the fact that every single day you’re dealing with a lot of choices and you don’t have perfect information is the lesson for me that was hardest to learn and continues to be a real challenge in doing a startup today.”

Full video: Y Combinator “Ben Silbermann at Startup School 2012” (Oct 2012)