Instagram founders talk leaving Facebook at South by Southwest

While a lack of autonomy may have driven Systrom and co-founder Mike Krieger to leave Facebook, it was also inevitable.

• "In some ways, there being less autonomy is a function of Instagram winning,” Systrom said. “It got to a size where it was meaningfully important to the company. It’s just an unavoidable thing if you’re successful.”

More from the interview:

• Adding ads to Instagram: “To be clear, we were the ones pushing monetization, not the other way around,” Systrom said. “We believed Instagram has to make money somehow... Whether you like ads or not, put that aside, we have to make money somehow.”
• Warren’s proposal to break up tech: “I’d like to see … more specificity on … what problem are we solving… what integrations and problems we’re talking about… and think through what the externalities would be,” Krieger said. Systrom added that some problems like rising economic inequality and Russian election meddling are serious but are better addressed with real solutions than simply riding the anti-tech wave.
• Whether there can be a new social media hit: “I think it’s possible,” Systrom said. “It comes in waves and you’d be surprised how determined consumers are to have another good solution. … I’d be really surprised if there wasn’t another.”

What's next: Systrom and Krieger were coy on their next move, but seemed to indicate they might be game for another startup.

Go deeper: Instagram overshadows Facebook as an engagement powerhouse