Episode Summary
Executive Summary: In this live How I Built This conversation, Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger reflect on leaving the company, the emotional and professional reset after selling to Facebook, and how they’re approaching “the next chapter.” They discuss identity, rebuilding as beginners, trust and collaboration, and Instagram’s evolving responsibility around kindness, safety, and scale in social media.
Main Topics: Leaving Instagram and identity after departure (Priority: 5/5): Both founders describe the relief, loss, and strange freedom of stepping away from a company that had defined their daily lives and identities for years. Becoming beginners again (Priority: 5/5): They frame post-Instagram life as a return to being novices, emphasizing how learning new skills and tolerating being bad at something can be energizing. Why they left despite success (Priority: 5/5): They explain that leaving wasn’t about failure but about the intensity of six years of grinding, the need for recovery, and the desire to do something new. Responsibility and kindness at scale (Priority: 5/5): The founders discuss social media’s reckoning, the need for platforms to actively foster kindness, and the challenges of governing a billion-person network. Product safety and machine learning (Priority: 4/5): They highlight specific safety work, including bullying filters and adaptive protections for self-harm content, as examples of platform responsibility. Trust, collaboration, and complementary personalities (Priority: 4/5): The interview ends with a reflection on their strong partnership, mutual trust, and how differing personalities made them better founders and leaders.
Key Arguments: Leaving a successful company can still be necessary because the work is exhausting and a break is needed to recover before starting something new. A founder’s identity does not vanish after departure; the legacy of building a product and being a co-founder remains meaningful. The transition out of leadership is emotionally hard because leverage, structure, and daily inertia disappear at once. Social media’s scale creates new responsibilities; platforms must actively shape norms and safety rather than assume kindness will emerge naturally. Product moderation must evolve with user behavior; simple keyword rules are insufficient because communities and bad actors adapt. Great partnerships are built on trust, complementary strengths, and the ability to challenge each other constructively. The next chapter should emerge from the intersection of passion, skills, and what the world needs, rather than from over-strategizing.
Data Points: Instagram sale price: $1 billion - Referenced in the recap of Instagram’s sale to Facebook Time from launch to major scale: About 2 years - Guy notes they reached nearly 30 million followers in roughly two years Followers/users at time of sale: Nearly 30 million followers - Describing Instagram’s rapid early growth Facebook acquisition year: 2012 - Kevin notes they sold the company in 2012 Post-acquisition period at Facebook: 6 years - He says they spent six more years there before stepping down Instagram scale by departure: Over 1 billion users - Kevin says they grew it to over a billion Company size at end: Over 1,000 employees - Mike describes the company growing from 13 people at acquisition to over a thousand Initial team size at acquisition: 13 people - Mike contrasts early acquisition size with later company scale Time to exit adjustment: About 6 months - Mike says it took about six months to unwind from company mode and become a beginner again Time to learn to fly: A few months (not enough) - Kevin says he tried to learn to fly after leaving, but the time was insufficient First user issue response time: 2–3 days - Kevin says they built a block feature quickly after an early stalking-related complaint Audience reach reference: Over 2 billion people every month - Kevin cites the unprecedented reach of large platforms Bullying filter example: Machine-learned filter - They describe a system designed to keep bullying from reaching users
Pivotal Quotes: "I think the first readjustment is all of a sudden, like, you do have a weight off your shoulders because, like, the site isn't down, there isn't a decision to be made every single second." — Mike Krieger: Describing the initial emotional shift after leaving Instagram "You don't leave a job because everything is awesome." — Kevin Systrom: Explaining why founders can depart even from a highly successful company "What you're going to realize is like, oh my god, I have to be a beginner again. And that's thrilling." — Kevin Systrom: Reflecting on the freedom and challenge of starting over
Implications: For founders and operators, the episode highlights that leaving a successful company can be a healthy reset, not a failure. For tech platforms, it underscores that scale brings duty: safety, kindness, and adaptive moderation must be designed continuously.
About How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz interviews the world’s best-known entrepreneurs to learn how they built their iconic brands. In each episode, founders reveal deep, intimate moments of doubt and failure, and share insights on their eventual success. How I Built This is a master-class on innovation, creativity, leadership and how to navigate challenges of all kinds.New episodes release on Mondays and Thursdays. Listen to How I Built This on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can lis...