Topic
22 facts from 15 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
2010
Andreessen Horowitz seeded Instagram, then chose to back the competitor Pick, Please at the Series A rather than Instagram.
“Andreessen, along with Baseline, does the seed in Instagram and then chooses at the series A in one of the most boneheaded decisions of all time”
mid-2010s
Choudary says Facebook, Instagram and YouTube were seen as social networking winners in the mid-2010s, all built on the social graph.
“Facebook, Instagram, YouTube were declared as the winners of social networking, and all of them were structured on a s on a simple logic of the social graph.”
2012
Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion.
“In 2012, they bought it for a billion dollars.”
2012
The hosts calculated an 88% annualized return on Facebook's Instagram acquisition, the highest on their list.
“That puts it at an 88% annualized return for Facebook. Yeah.”
2012
Costolo says Twitter tried to buy Instagram in March 2012, just before Instagram raised a round at a $500 million valuation led by Greylock.
“March 2012, when I tried to buy Instagram, it was before they had raised the $500 million valuation round from, I think, Greylock.”
2012
Facebook bought Instagram for a billion dollars in April 2012, shortly after Instagram turned down Twitter's offer.
“hey, Instagram just sold to Facebook for a billion dollars. And I remember thinking like, oh, man, that's rough for us.”
2012
Costolo recalls that at the time of the deal Instagram had about 30 to 35 million monthly active users and Twitter about 140 million.
“Instagram is like 30 million MAU. It's not 500. It's not 200. It's like 30 to 35. And Twitter is like 140 million MAU at this point.”
2012
After the acquisition, Mark Zuckerberg told Costolo that Instagram photos would stop appearing inside Twitter feeds and would show only as links.
“The Instagram team has decided that Instagram photos need to be viewed on Instagram.”
2012
Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion on April 9, 2012, during its IPO quiet period.
“on April 9th, 2012, during the quiet period, Facebook acquires Instagram for a billion dollars.”
2013
Costolo says Twitter's slow Android release for Vine helped Instagram's short video, launched for both iOS and Android, hurt Vine more than expected.
“We didn't get the Android client out quickly enough. And I think as a result, one of the things that happened was that when Instagram launched short video, seemingly in reaction to Vine”
2015
Haidt says Instagram was the first major social media platform that required a smartphone, whereas earlier platforms were web-based.
“The girls are mostly on Instagram, which was the first social media platform that you had to be on a smartphone for.”
2019
In early November 2019 Facebook and Instagram began testing Reels, a TikTok competitor inside Instagram, in Brazil.
“Facebook and Instagram launched a test of a new feature in Brazil, in the Brazilian market that they're calling reels”
2020
The hosts estimated that about $20 billion of Facebook's roughly $70 billion in revenue came from Instagram in early 2020.
“So Facebook's current market cap, around $540 billion. They do about $70 billion in revenue. So 20 of this 70 comes from Instagram.”
2021
Shein had about 19 million Instagram followers at the time of recording.
“Shein has, as of time of recording, 19 million fans on Instagram.”
Undated
Daniel Ek argues that after Instagram arrived, prices for fine art photography rose, which he uses to predict that top-quality work gains value when creation becomes easy.
“Photography being the sort of key reference point. When Instagram came, oh, no, no one's going to want photography. But price of fine art photography actually increased, not decreased.”
Undated
Kevin Scott argued that the lasting smartphone apps, such as TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp and DoorDash, were non-obvious hard problems rather than the initial launch apps.
“Like, you know, we, we, we don't even think the the original applications on these platforms”
Undated
Choudary says digital cameras drove the cost of taking photos to zero, moving value to storage and then sharing, as with Flickr and Instagram.
“when digital cameras came, uh, the cost of taking photos went down to zero.”
Undated
Mike Krieger, a co-founder of Instagram, works in Anthropic's new products division.
“We were talking to Mike Krieger, who's one of the people at Anthropic in their new products division, co-founder of Instagram.”
Undated
Steven Bartlett said he posted about a thousand times on Instagram to reach a thousand followers, then gained 300,000 followers in three carousel posts.
“I did a thousand posts on Instagram and reached a thousand followers. And then in my last three, when I had 7,000 followers, I gained 300,000 followers in three posts”
Undated
Ashley Padilla says her work for Diane Keaton began with helping with the kids and grew to include running Keaton's Instagram.
“it started with the kids, and then it turned into, like, Oh, well, can you run Diane's Instagram? and I was like, Okay”
Undated
Tim Cadogan says one-on-one texts to friends and family work better than broadcasting a fundraiser on Facebook or Instagram.
“Because the one on one relationship is so much more powerful than blasting it out on Facebook or Instagram.”
Undated
Kate Berlant says she bought a neck massager advertised on Instagram, worried she had hurt a neck artery, and ended up having an unnecessary angiogram.
“Instagram advertised to me this neck massager. I go, sure, bought it.”
Episodes