KEVIN SYSTROM

I'm always in awe of people who are artists in their fields - people who understand that simply by taking ideas and translating them into reality, they've created value in the world.

People interact with their phones very differently than they do with their PCs, and I think that when you design from the ground up with mobile in mind, you create a very different product than going the other way.

I believe photos is one of the underlying things in every social network that becomes successful.

I grew up as a photo nut. Every Christmas I would get a new camera. It's a huge part of my life.

Instagram was created because there was no single place dedicated to giving your mobile photos a place to live and to be seen.

I've always been into taking my photos, cropping them square, putting them through a filter in Photoshop.

I think not focusing on money makes you sane because in the long run it can probably drive you crazy.

When people say that college isn't worthwhile and paying all this money isn't worthwhile, I really disagree. I think those experiences and those classes that may not necessarily seem applicable in the moment end up coming back to you time and time again.

In the past, people have looked at photos as a record of memory. The focus has been on the past tense. With Instagram, the focus is on the present tense.

Working at a startup to make a lot of money was never a thing, and that's why I decided to just finish up school. That was way more important for me.

The major reason why Instagram works is that you can follow anyone out there and start following their photos immediately.

Every photo you take communicates something about a moment in time - a brief slice of time of where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing.

I don't think you should ever start a business and move in a direction where you can't see it becoming a business.

If you've got an idea, start today. There's no better time than now to get going. That doesn't mean quit your job and jump into your idea 100% from day one, but there's always small progress that can be made to start the movement.

Every startup should address a real and demonstrated need in the world - if you build a solution to a problem lots of people have, it's so easy to sell your product to the world.

Great products sell themselves.

Instagram is a media company. I think we're about visual media.

I actually think some of my best moments in life have been while I was with people from Instagram - whether it's super late nights getting a release out or being able to travel to places I'd never visited and meeting some of the most interesting people I've ever met.

'Instagram' is an app that only took 8 weeks to build and ship but was a product of over a year of work.

A platform is the base from which something big happens. In our case, we're an entertainment platform in the sense that there are people signing up like MTV, Burberry, folks like Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. And why? Because it's their channel to control their entertainment to their fans.

'Instagram' is definitely becoming a new entertainment source for people day after day.

Most photo apps before asked something of the users. They said, 'You produce, act, and perform.' 'Instagram' said, 'Let us take care of the secret sauce.'

There are billions of dollars spent every year on traditional media. The majority of people are spending more time every day on the Internet, especially on mobile. You're starting to see a shift of that spend go to mobile, especially to things like 'Instagram'.

It's funny: I was a photographer before I was a programmer.

I run a business and go all over the world doing things for that business, things that are fairly orthogonal. But my job is to run my company, not to be the best Instagrammer. I'll let other people be awesome at it.