这期 "Acquired" 播客深入探讨了 Pinterest 的历史和 IPO，这家公司颠覆了硅谷典型的激进增长模式，而是专注于构建坚实的基础，并培养与用户群体之间的独特关系。Ben Gilbert 和 David Rosenthal 追溯了 Pinterest 联合创始人 Ben Silberman 的历程，从他在爱荷华州得梅因市的成长，到他早期的科技实验，以及最终创立这家公司的过程。 Silberman 最初的创业项目，一个用于存储医疗记录的网站，未能获得成功，这促使他探索蓬勃发展的 iPhone 应用生态系统。他与 Paul Sciarra 合作，成立了 Cold Brew Labs，并开发了 "Tote"，一个移动购物目录应用。尽管缺乏吸引力和投资者兴趣，但一个允许用户保存商品的“稍后保存”功能激发了一个想法。 关键时刻是建筑系研究生 Evan Sharp 的加入，他带来了至关重要的设计元素：流畅的网格布局，现在已成为 Pinterest 的代名词。团队随后将产品更名为 Pinterest，灵感来自 Dos Equis 的商业广告。尽管开局不顺，但该平台在博客作者中获得了关注，尤其是在以女性为中心的创意设计社区中。这种早期的成功带来了天使投资，并最终获得了由 Bessemer Venture Partners 领投的 A 轮融资，Sarah Tavel 是这笔交易的倡导者。 播客强调了 Pinterest 早期做出的一些非传统决策，例如选择投资于基础设施建设和强大的公司文化，特别是对工程团队多元化的承诺。这包括从 Facebook 聘请关键高管，并优先考虑健康的工作场所环境。该公司还认为，它的团队需要代表其用户群体，因此公司加倍努力进行多元化招聘，作为工程方面的最佳实践。 Pinterest 确实需要感谢几位非常早期的领导者。由于 Dibia 曾在 Facebook 的人力资源部门工作，她能够帮助 Pinterest 的管理层找到资源。 播客还回顾了 Pinterest 进军商业化的过程，最初测试了联盟链接，然后过渡到使用推广 Pins 的更可控的方法。尽管最初持怀疑态度，但该平台证明了其推动商业的能力。 进入 2015 年，Pinterest 已经家喻户晓，估值大幅上涨，使公司达到了 110 亿美元。 展望未来，播客分析了 Pinterest 的 "牛市 " 和 "熊市 " 情况。"牛市" 强调了 Pinterest 与 Twitter 和 Snap 等竞争对手相比更快的增长速度，以及其清晰的盈利路径。Pinterest 作为 "发现引擎 " 的独特地位，激励用户在现实世界中采取行动，使其有别于传统的社交媒体平台。 然而，"熊市 " 引发了对来自 Instagram 竞争的担忧，Instagram 可能会复制 Pinterest 的功能并抢占其市场份额。而且，Pinterest 的市场规模就是比搜索或大众社交的市场小。 播客最后讨论了 Pinterest 的 IPO，其定价高于最初的范围，但仍低于最后的私人估值，导致市场最初的上涨。讨论触及了 Pinterest 决定上市的原因，并将其与直接发行选择进行了对比。它分析了初始价格的成功之处，以及 Pinterest 的故事与 Lyft 的故事有何不同。播客最后长期分析了 Pinterest 未来产生巨大影响所需的东西。

This episode of the "Acquired" podcast delves into the history and IPO of Pinterest, a company that defied typical Silicon Valley narratives of aggressive growth and instead focused on building a solid foundation and fostering a unique relationship with its user base. Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal trace the journey of Ben Silberman, Pinterest's co-founder, from his upbringing in Des Moines, Iowa, to his early tech experiments and eventual founding of the company. Silberman's initial venture, a website for storing medical histories, failed to gain traction, leading him to explore the burgeoning iPhone app ecosystem. Partnering with Paul Sciarra, they formed Cold Brew Labs and developed "Tote," a mobile shopping catalog app. Despite its lack of appeal and investor interest, a feature allowing users to save items for later sparked an idea. The pivotal moment came with the introduction of Evan Sharp, an architecture grad student, who brought the crucial design element: the fluid grid layout, now synonymous with Pinterest. The team then renamed the product to Pinterest, inspired by a Dos Equis commercial. Despite a rocky start, the platform gained traction with bloggers, specifically within the women-focused design community. This early success led to angel investments and eventually a Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with Sarah Tavel championing the deal. The podcast highlights the unconventional decisions Pinterest made early on, choosing to invest in building infrastructure and a strong company culture, especially the commitment to diversity on its engineering team. This involved hiring key executives from Facebook and prioritizing a healthy workplace environment. The company also decided that it needed to have it's team represent it's user base, so the firm doubled down on diverse recruiting as an engineering best practice. Pinterest did have a couple of very early leaders to thank. As Dibia had worked at Facebook's HR group, she was able to help find resources for Pinterest's management. The podcast also recounts Pinterest's foray into monetization, initially testing affiliate links before transitioning to a more controlled approach with promoted pins. Despite initial skepticism, the platform proved its ability to drive commerce. Moving into 2015, Pinterest was a household name, a massive jump in valuations brought the company up to 11 Billion dollars. Looking to the future, the podcast analyzes the "bull" and "bear" cases for Pinterest. The bull case emphasizes Pinterest's faster growth compared to competitors like Twitter and Snap and its clear path to profitability. Pinterest's unique position as a "discovery engine," inspiring users to take action in the real world, sets it apart from traditional social media platforms. The bear case, however, raises concerns about competition from Instagram, which could replicate Pinterest's features and steal its market share. Also Pinterest's market is simply smaller than a market as massive as search or general social. The podcast concludes by discussing Pinterest's IPO, which priced above the initial range but still below the last private valuation, leading to an initial pop in the market. The discussion touches on the rationale behind Pinterest's decision to go public, contrasting it with the option of a direct offering. It analyzes the success of the initial price, and how Pinterest's story contrasts to that of Lyft. The podcast concludes with the long time analysis as to what it could take for Pinterest to have a massive impact in the future.