Kevin Systrom — Tactics, Books, and the Path to a Billion Users | The Tim Ferriss Show

Kevin Systrom (@kevin) is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of Instagram. While at Instagram, Kevin served as the CEO, where he oversaw the company’s vision and strategy and daily operations. Under his leadership, Instagram grew to over one billion users and launched dozens of products including video, live, direct messaging, creative tools, Stories, and IGTV. The company also grew to over 800 employees with a campus in Menlo Park, new offices in New York City, and a new headquarters in San Francisco. Prior to founding Instagram, Kevin graduated from Stanford University with a BS in management science and engineering. Kevin currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. Please enjoy! Intro [00:00] The book Kevin gifted most frequently [01:16] A book that helped Kevin in his early days [03:03] Doing the simple thing first [04:02] Instagram’s origin story [08:09] How Kevin and Mike decided which features to keep or eliminate [09:42] How filters became part of Instagram’s big picture [13:37] Important lessons from Stanford’s Mayfield Fellows Program [15:16] Insights from the Golden Personality Test [19:16] How Mortimer Adler recommends reading nonfiction books [21:00] A sampling of the kind of books currently occupying Kevin’s nightstand [23:08] The precursor to Twitter (Odeo) and what Kevin did there [23:58] Evan Williams’ superpowers [26:01] Some of the most successful pivots in recent history [28:51] Can you train to make the right call to pivot? [33:20] How to get honest feedback [36:51] Some honest feedback Kevin was grateful to get [38:44] What is a 360 interview, and what can it teach us? [41:36] Disallowing seven on a one-to-10 scale [44:29] How Kevin has bounced back from tough times [45:46] Selling Instagram for $1B—not everything you’d think it would be [51:06] The power of understanding your own motivators [53:06] How did Kevin learn to manage? [55:12] On getting through decision-making bottlenecks [58:45] How does Kevin choose the books he’s going to read? [1:04:17] What Kevin gets most out of reading history books [1:06:14] Some of my recommended biographies and histories [1:08:40] Advice Kevin gives to entrepreneurs that very few actually take [1:10:09] Other mistakes Kevin sees entrepreneurs and creators making [1:14:29] What would Kevin’s billboard say? [1:16:58] Parting thoughts [1:21:32] This podcast is brought to you by Helix Sleep. Visit and take the simple 2-3 minute sleep quiz to get started, and the team there will build a mattress you’ll love. The mattress arrives within a week, and the shipping is completely free. You can try the mattress for 100 nights, and if you’re not happy, they’ll pick it up and offer a full refund. To personalize your sleep experience, visit and you’ll receive up to $125 off your custom mattress. This podcast is brought to you by FreshBooks. FreshBooks is the #1 cloud bookkeeping software and the easiest way to send invoices, get paid, track your time, and track your clients. Right now you can get a free month of complete and unrestricted use. You do not need a credit card for the trial. To claim your free month and see how the brand new Freshbooks can change your business, go to and enter “Tim Ferriss” in the “how did you hear about us” section. SUBSCRIBE: About Tim Ferriss: Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50 other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 300 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running. Connect with Tim Ferriss: Sign up for “5-Bullet Friday“ (Tim’s email newsletter): Visit the Tim Ferriss PODCAST: Visit the Tim Ferriss BLOG: Follow Tim Ferriss on TWITTER: Follow Tim Ferriss on INSTAGRAM: Like Tim Ferriss on FACEBOOK: