Ben Silbermann (born July 14, 1982) is an American

Internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some CEOs ...

. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of

Pinterest Pinterest is an American social media service for publishing and discovery of information in the form of digital Bulletin board, pinboards. This includes recipes, home, style, motivation, and inspiration on the Internet using image sharing. Pint ...

, a visual discovery engine which lets users organize images, links, recipes and other things.

Early life

Silbermann was born in Iowa in 1982. He was raised in

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. His parents, Jane Wang and Neil Silbermann, are

ophthalmologists Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

. In 1998, Silbermann attended the

Research Science Institute The Research Science Institute (RSI) is an international summer research program for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. He graduated from Des Moines Central Academy and Des Moines Roosevelt with the class of 1999. He then graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in the spring of 2003 with a degree in Political Science.

Career

Before

(which launched in March 2010), Silbermann worked at

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

in the online advertising group. However, after a short time with the company he left and started designing his own iPhone apps with friends. After his initial application, Tote, failed to gain traction, he teamed up with

Evan Sharp Evan Sharp (born 1982) is an American billionaire Internet entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and chief design and creative officer of Pinterest, a visual discovery engine. He joined the company's board of directors in March 2019. Early life Sha ...

to create a pinboard product that would eventually be named Pinterest. Silbermann says that the genesis of Pinterest came from his love of collecting as a kid. "Collecting tells a lot about who you are," he said, and when they looked at the web "there wasn't a place to share that side of who you were." Raising capital to start Pinterest was a hurdle that Silbermann thought laterally about. Silbermann entered the NYU Stern Business Plan Competition. "The prize was meeting with venture capitalists First Mark Capital in New York, which gave us half our money." A little over nine years after starting Pinterest, the company held its IPO in April 2019 which valued the company around 12 billion dollars. On June 28, 2022, it was announced Silberman would step down as Chief Executive Officer and transition to the role of Executive Chairman. Google executive Bill Ready will become Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. During this time, Silbermann was listed on the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

billionaires 30 under 30 list.

Personal life

Silbermann is married to Divya Bhaskaran, with whom he has two children. His wife graduated from Clark University in 2004 with a degree in Psychology. The couple resides in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silbermann, Ben Living people 1982 births American people of Chinese descent Businesspeople from Des Moines, Iowa Businesspeople from San Francisco Yale College alumni American technology company founders Y Combinator people Pinterest people American billionaires Theodore Roosevelt High School (Iowa) alumni American chief executives