Ben Silbermann

CEO and co-founder: Pinterest

"I think the thing that surprised me the most in starting a company, after reading about, 'Facebook hits Harvard and gets 95% penetration in two weeks,' and 'Instagram gets to 1,000,000 people,' is that it can take a really, really long time to build things that are worthwhile."

Jonah Peretti

CEO and co-founder: BuzzFeed

"It’s easy to get excited and arrogant when things are going well but it is important to remember that success is very fragile.  Digg sold for $500K after being worth $200 million just a few years ago. In the same time period, RIM, maker of the Blackberry, lost 95% (!) of its value.  There is continual disruption in our industry and you are likely to fail if you get complacent or stop evolving."

Gary Vaynerchuk

Investor and CEO: Vayner Media

"I'm concerned a little bit with the culture of celebrating the fund raise. My dad taught me that when you borrow money it's the worst day of your life. What I'm looking for are people who are not caught up in the excitement. Even though I'm a hype man myself, I like the practicality of it all. People who understand how to turn a profit. At the end of the day, this is still business so I'm looking for real practical knowledge of how to actually make money, not necessarily raise it."