Kevin Systrom had the CEO title, but Zuckerberg controlled Instagram's destiny, with unwavering focus on building a great business, not simply a great product
Bloomberg Nitasha Tiku / Wired : With Instagram Cofounders Out, It's Facebook All the Way Down Catherine Clifford / CNBC : How a cheap plastic camera on a trip to Italy inspired Instagram, according to co-founder Kevin Systrom Tweets: Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : My sources say the Instagram founders are leaving after increased tension with Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of the product. IG culture/priorities very different from FB. See my April story for background: http://www.bloomberg.com/... @dhh : “Controlling one's own destiny, though, takes more than product or popularity. It takes money, which is to say it takes building a company, working business model and all”, if only more entrepreneurs got this. http://stratechery.com/... Ahmed Al Omran / @ahmed : Letting Facebook build the business may have made Instagram founders rich and freed them to focus on product, but it made Zuckerberg the true CEO, and always, inevitably, CEOs call the shots http://stratechery.com/... Mark Silva / @marksilva : The context for whatever dispute drove Systrom and Krieger's resignation: not only do they not actually control their own company (because they don't control monetization), they also aren't essential to solving the biggest issue facing their product. https://stratechery.com/... @facebook : 1/2: A message from our CEO Mark Zuckerberg: “Kevin and Mike are extraordinary product leaders and Instagram reflects their combined creative talents. I've learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. Josh Constine / @joshconstine : Wise analysis from @benthompson on how when Systrom traded risk & independence for riches & Facebook's ad business, his departure became inevitable http://stratechery.com/... Garry Buidl Tan / @garrytan : Being first isn't enough. Instagram Stories from day one was better/faster than Snapchat. Instagram Stories didn't simply stem Snapchat's growth; it accelerated Instagram's. http://stratechery.com/... http://twitter.com/... @stratechery : Instagram's CEO http://stratechery.com/... Kevin Systrom had the title CEO, but the one that built the business — and thus controlled its destiny — was Mark Zuckerberg. Kristine Servando / @tinssoldier : Instagram founders were frustrated by “unusual uptick in day-to-day involvement by Zuckerberg” and clashed with him over the product's direction. http://twitter.com/... Dylan Byers / @dylanbyers : Tension with Zuckerberg over direction of company seems to be recurring theme for acquired execs who leave Facebook https://twitter.com/... Nicholas Thompson / @nxthompson : One thing about Systrom and Krieger—they both think and care very deeply about how their products affect people. https://www.wired.com/... Sarah Frier / @sarahfrier : Still no information at all from FB after @MikeIsaac scoop on their departure. The most likely new leader of Instagram is Adam Mosseri, who formerly ran news feed at Facebook.