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Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger – How to Build a Great Product

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Colossus

Technology, Business, Investing

4.72.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2019

⏱️ 94 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guests this week are Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of Instagram. I met Kevin and Mike a few months ago over a shared interest in business and investing. I have found them both to be extremely good people who have a rare talent for finding and solving interesting problems. Indeed, problem-solving and jobs-to-be-done is a big part of our conversation. I realized walking into the podcast that Kevin and Mike have a rare set of experiences: having both built and sold an extremely successful product from scratch, but then also operated and scaled inside one of the largest businesses in the world. This means they have unique knowledge to offer just about anyone interested in business and products. We dig into all those lessons here. I am working on hosting more founders and CEOs on the podcast, and can’t think of a better pair to show you why I want to do so. Please enjoy my conversation with Kevin and Mike.  For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes 1:38 – (first question) – Projects they’ve been working on since leaving Instagram 5:22 – How they can apply what they are learning in machine learning 7:18 – Most interesting experience diving back into data and machine learning 8:42 – How startups compare today to when they founded Instagram 13:23 – Judging founders and whether they know how to use their data effectively 14:26 – The jobs-to-be-done framework 19:14 – Laying out a vision vs solving problems that pop up 25:20 – Developing and sharing the principles of the company with the team 30:48 – Creating a community when it includes almost the entire world 39:03 – The most popular ways people used the platform 41:24 – What was the jobs-to-be-done rational behind the stories feature 44:15 – Interesting things that they saw as Instagram entered the developing world 46:40 – Their thoughts on how Instagram shaped culture and if they focused on those 52:58 – The new waves that they are observing right now 55:11 – How their thinking on leadership and teams changed during their time at Instagram and Facebook 1:03:23 – The pillars of a good business, including humility and confidence 1:06:06 – Focus on growth and distribution in a startup 1:10:01 – How early were they thinking about monetization on this free platform 1:13:43 – How do they think about how they invest their money and allocate resources 1:17:36 – Mentors for Kevin and Mike 1:20:30 – Their passion for learning to fly and the someday/maybe list 1:23:01 – Their interest in coffee 1:26:24 – Advice for everyone else 1:30:00 – Kindest thing anyone has done for them   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome everyone, I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like The Best.

0:08.6

This show is an open-ended exploration of markets, ideas, methods, stories, and of strategies

0:13.9

that will help you better invest both your time and your money.

0:17.2

You can learn more and stay up to date at InvestorFieldGuide.com.

0:24.6

Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management.

0:28.5

All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do

0:32.9

not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management.

0:36.3

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis

0:40.6

for investment decisions.

0:42.4

Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions and the securities discussed

0:46.2

in this podcast.

0:49.6

I guess this week are Kevin's system and Mike Krieger, the co-founders of Instagram.

0:53.7

I met Kevin and Mike a few months ago over a shared interest in business and investing.

0:57.6

I found them both to be extremely good people who have a rare talent for finding and solving

1:01.9

interesting problems.

1:03.4

Indeed, problem solving and jobs to be done is a big part of our conversation.

1:07.2

I realized walking into the podcast that Kevin and Mike also have a rare set of experiences,

1:12.0

having both built and sold an extremely successful product from scratch, but then also operated

1:16.8

and scaled inside of one of the largest businesses in the world.

1:20.3

This means they have unique knowledge to offer just about anybody interested in business

1:23.9

and in products.

1:25.1

We dig into all those lessons here.

...

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