Are Smartphones Actually That Bad For You? (Guest: Tim Kendall, CEO of Moment, Former President of Pinterest)

Tim Kendall is a Silicon Valley OG. Tim ran monetization at Facebook, and later became Head of Product At Pinterest (and eventually President). Tim is responsible for thinking through products that impact our lives on a daily basis. His latest mission is to get people to use their smartphones less through an app called Moment.

We talk to Tim about how he ended up joining Facebook, his meeting with Peter Thiel, and what he worked on in the early days of the company. Tim met Eric Schmidt through a Stanford lunch that very few others attended, which is what ultimately led to this life and career changing opportunity. We ask Tim about the Chris Hughes NYT OpEd and his opinion on the matter. Tim talks about whether Facebook knew what it would be capable of in the early days, and what it was like in DT Palo Alto back in the day.

Tim talks about Pinterest and why it gets less media scrutiny than other competitors in the social media space. He talks about Pinterest's culture, and it's ability to respond to crises such as the anti-vax hoaxes that were being spread on the platform in the not-too-distant past.

We spend a lot of time asking Tim why he decided to focus on a company that tries to get people to use smartphones less given that he built some of the technologies that actually make us want to use our phones more. His answers may suprise you. We ask Tim about the growing movement of people in the Valley sounding the alarm about smartphone usage.

Please check out this must-listen episode of the podcast.