Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

July 24, 2023

Duration

1h 27m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Adam Mosseri is the Head of Instagram, where he is responsible for overseeing the engineering, product, and business teams and leading Meta’s efforts on creators and Reels. Adam has been at Meta for more than fifteen years. He started at Meta as a designer for Facebook’s mobile app before moving to product management, where he led the Facebook News Feed product and engineering teams, and served as the Head of Facebook News Feed. Adam began his career founding a design consultancy focused on graphic, interaction, and exhibition design before joining TokBox as the company’s first designer. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (0:44) Who is Adam Mosseri? (4:04) How Adam Became Head of Instagram (17:23) Biggest Mistakes at Instagram (30:38) Deep Dive on IG Reels (35:38) Is Facebook a copycat? (39:06) Threads: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (1:03:57) Lessons from Working with Mark Zuckerberg (1:08:59) Work-Life Balance (1:17:49) Quick-Fire Round -------------------------------------------- In Today’s Discussion with Adam Mosseri We Discuss:

1. From Designer to Product Leader to Instagram CEO: What did Adam learn from his first job bartending? How did it impact his approach to customer support and research? What are the top 1-2 pieces of advice Adam would give to someone wanting to make the move from individual contributor to leader? If Adam was “not amazing at anything”, what did he do that enabled him to rise above the rest and become CEO of Instagram? What have been 1-2 of the biggest lessons from working with Mark Zuckerberg for 15 years?

1. A Deep Dive on the Wild Times as Instagram CEO: What has been Adam’s single biggest mistake as CEO of Instagram? What does Adam believe is the least known feature within Instagram that has made them successful? What does Adam believe has been the biggest product decision he has made as CEO? Why does Adam believe that Instagram is too complicated as a product? Who does Adam believe is the most formidable competitor to Instagram? Was Instagram Reels a simple copy of TikTok? What have Instagram learned from TikTok? How does Adam respond to the statement that Instagram is a “copy-cat machine” and lacks innovation?

1. Threads: The Journey from 0-100M Users in Three Days: Did Adam and the team expect the response they got to Threads? Why did they decide to break Threads out into a separate app? What went into bootstrapping the Threads friendship and interest graph? What was the Threads influencer activation strategy? What worked? What did not? Did they pay influencers? How did they choose which verticals to focus on? What is Adam’s core focus with Threads today? How is the team analysing and measuring retention? What are their goals? What are the 1-2 core reasons why Threads would not work? How do they aim to prevent them? In 12 months, where will Threads be?

1. The Future of Consumer Social: What Happens Now? Does Adam believe we have seen the transition from the social graph to the interest graph? Is it that binary? Is it possible to have both the interest and the friendship graph all in one app? How does the monetization potential differ when comparing Threads (text) to Instagram (visual)? How important is it for the next consumer social platforms to have stars that are native to their platform (Mr Beast on Youtube, D’Amelio on TikTok etc.) ------------------------------------------------ Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Adam Mosseri on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mosseri Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Adam Mosseri

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Adam Mosseri and Harry Stebbings, Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 explores adam Mosseri on Instagram’s Evolution, Messaging Surge, and Threads Gamble Adam Mosseri traces his path from middle‑of‑the‑pack designer to Instagram’s head, emphasizing breadth of skills, clear problem framing, and relentless execution over raw talent. He explains Instagram’s strategic pivots: the shift of sharing from feed to Stories to DMs, the controversial push into recommendations and video, and how Reels and messaging now power the app’s growth. Mosseri details the thinking behind launching Threads, from bootstrapping its graph off Instagram to creator‑led seeding and the focus on long‑term retention over headline signups. Interwoven are lessons on leadership, taking over a founder‑led company, managing backlash, supporting creators, and balancing an intense job with family and personal priorities.

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