Pinterest: Five-Year-Old Free Website For Posting Photos Aims To Become ‘A Cash Machine’

Even though Pinterest is only five years old, the free website, under the leadership of executive Joanne Bradford, intends to follow in the footsteps of Twitter by making lots of money. In 2014, Twitter made $1.4 billion, and Pinterest wants to do just as well or even better. With Bradford at the helm, Pinterest is on its way to turning all those pins that appear on the bulletin boards into cash.

Bradford was hired last November to make money for Pinterest, according to Upstart Business Journal. When she came on board, Pinterest was already strong, but she promised to build on what Pinterest was already doing to maintain or exceed Pinterest’s $5 billion goal. Even though Bradford is talented and capable of doing a good job at Pinterest, she doesn’t intend to meet Pinterest’s goal alone. She has hired a team of 80 people to work along with her to sell Pinterest to companies.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Pinterest is aiming to more than double the $5 billion to an $11 billion valuation, based on the fact that Pinterest has already reached nearly 76 million visitors in January, 2015. This is up 37 percent from January, 2014.

International Business Times related that Pinterest is a growing company with over 500 employees. Pinterest is expected to hire more employees. For this reason, Pinterest signed a lease for more office space in San Francisco location last year to house additional employees.

Bradford is working toward getting businesses to advertise on Pinterest. This will give Pinterest users the opportunity to not only share their images with others, but they will be able to purchase items directly from Pinterest. For example, brides have been known to plan their entire weddings from images they see on Pinterest. Can you imagine the money a company would make if it advertised their wedding products and services on Pinterest? People have planned vacations from beginning to end from images others have shared about their vacations on Pinterest.

Because the demand is there, Bradford believes companies will begin to pay for Pinterest’s new ad space to promote their products and services. Pinterest will then become a convenient place for consumers to shop.

Statistics show that Pinterest already has more than 30 billion items, and Pinterest has raised $764 million in venture funding. Pinterest is available on computers and mobile devices, making it accessible to a wide range of pinners.

Bradford said concerning Pinterest, “We’ve got really big hopes and a great vision.”

It is easy to see how Pinterest could become “a cash machine” that Bradford aims to achieve. Do you have a Pinterest account? If not, you can register for a free Pinterest account.

[Photo via Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images]