Pinterest CEO Discusses Success Of Mobile App, But Says “We Don't Make Money”

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann discusses his start-up social pinboard site in a rare interview at the All Things Digital conference in California.

He discussed the impressive growth of the company, especially due to the recently released mobile app, UPI.com reports.

"When we released our mobile apps, we were taking bets on how long it'd take for those to surpass our web traffic," Silbermann said. "I figured it'd take a few weeks. It was literally the day it was released."

Silbermann hopes that the success of the mobile app will turn into a moneymaking tool. The CEO admitted that "Right now, we don't make money."

"It makes bookkeeping more straightforward," Silbermann lightly joked. "But, when we think about our mission -- we think there's a direct link between what people buy and what they want to purchase in the future. When we do announce our monetization plans, we want to make it easier for people to discover things they love -- we want to help people take the next step."

The company may not be making a lot of money, but Pinterest is valued at $2.5 billion.

Silbermann also talked about the advantages of Pinterest, versus other search engine websites like Google. While Google may be great for finding images of specifics, Pinterest allows users to discover new things.

"The problem of how you discover things is a really tough one. Problems like, 'What should my living room look like?' That's at the heart of our interests right now," Silbermann said.

And unlike other networking sites, the CEO says the pinboard site focuses on images, rather than text or chronological order, like Facebook or Twitter.

"Many things were once very text-based and very popular," Silbermann said. "But instead of being time-based, we made it visual."

Pinterest now has 54 million users, jumping 82%, Fortune reports. It also had a recent round of funding, adding $200 million to the company.