Prove It First

So prior to Ancestry, you spent more than a decade at Facebook. You were the brains behind its app install ads and also its marketplace, which now has more than 800 million users each month buying and selling things. And I know that you brought up this new idea to Facebook CEO, Cheryl Sandberg during your interview there at Facebook. How did you bring that idea to life? And is there a process playbook that you have for taking an idea from concept to reality?

I wish I could say that I was more persuasive because actually looking years ago, I met Sheryl Sandberg, the COO, and she interviewed me for a job there and she asked me what my ideas for where Facebook could go were. And I pitched her the idea of allowing people to buy and sell on Facebook. And I have to tell you for five years, nothing happened. I kept pitching it over and over and over again. And no one bought it. I remember just talking to a number of people, including the chief product officer, Chris Cox. And he's like, why would people want to buy things on Facebook? And I think what I realized was that I could see something other people couldn't see. I was the only PM who was a mom and for many years, that was true until I recruited the second and third ones.

And I could see, like I was buying anything for are my kids and selling things in these marketplace, communities and moms. And I was one of the few people who was a mom in the organization. And so I could see a totally different reality of what Facebook could be and what it meant to people in communities. And so I wish the idea from concept to reality was some linear path. It takes a lot of grit, but also takes believing in something that you're seeing and actually delivering it.

So during those first five years, when you had this fantastic idea, which now of course is so popular at Facebook, but back then, when you were facing resistance, how did you overcome that resistance?

First I earned my stripes doing a lot of other products. And along the way, I think people started trusting my instincts and trusting me more, because I've now proven that I could build products. And you know, over time, I think sometimes you have to prove it first.