The biggest problem is startups in search of a problem. Chase what you're passionate about; you'll probably already have knowledge in the space.
When I was a student and rushing to finish a project, my gut instinct was usually to keep adding all kinds of features. It's a way of papering over the fact that you haven't quite nailed your concept yet.
In 2010, the night before we launched 'Instagram v1', my co-founder Kevin and I bet on how many people would download the app its first day in the wild.
Having a scriptable infrastructure requires upfront work but can pay huge dividends in bringing new engineers onto your infra team, as well as helping in disaster-recovery scenarios.
By 2013, we had 200 million people using 'Instagram' every month and over 20 billion photos stored.
Doing the simple thing first doesn't mean your solution will work forever.
Working on a startup is a balancing act: being crazy enough to believe your idea can take off but not crazy enough to miss the signs when it's clearly not going to.
I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and from an early age was interested in technology and engineering.
When I came to the United States in 2004 to attend university at Stanford, I was instantly inspired by the stories and advice from startup leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond, who had endeavoured to create new opportunities and improve lives around the world.
Software is like gardening - one day I'll go behind the shed and clean up. But if nobody ever goes there, does it matter a lot?
I love that our engineers are first and foremost 'Instagram' users.
Every year, thousands of startups are founded - not only in technology, but increasingly also in health care, education, and energy.
Innovation happens best when people of different backgrounds come together to solve the world's toughest challenges and, in the process, can create new jobs and opportunities. I'm hopeful that updated immigration policies will encourage entrepreneurs from around the world to help tackle these opportunities in the U.S.
I think the biggest challenge over time is that we stay creative and making sure that we continue to launch awesome products that people love.
