Why is it said that Pinterest was a major breakthrough in the lives of its founders, Ben Silbermann and Paul Sciarra?

               When he launched the site in March 2010, Ben Silbermann defined Pinterest as a ‘catalogue of ideas’ rather than as a social network. The co-founder was so passionate about the project that he gave up his lucrative job at Google to dedicate fully to the project.

               As we know, Pinterest is a personalized image sharing platform that brings together people of similar interests. Users can view, upload, and sort images or ‘pins’ and can browse others’ too. Pinterest does not generate its own content; rather, it draws from many resources around the web.

            

  One year after its launch, the site witnessed a tremendous growth, and won the attention of more than 11 million Internet users across the world. In the same year, Pinterest was named one of the ‘50 Best Websites of 2011’ by the TIME magazine. The following year, it won the Webby Award for the best social media app.

               Today, Pinterest has over 20 million users worldwide. The success turned the co-founders into three of the best innovators of their time. According to the Forbes Magazine, Silbermann is the 12th richest American entrepreneur under the age of 40, as of 2016.

               Paul Sciarra, who left Pinterest in 2012, is now the entrepreneur-in-residence for the venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz.