San
Francisco (CNN)Kevin Systrom is funemployed.
The former Instagram co-founder and CEO announced he was leaving Facebook three weeks ago, six years after the company bought his photo app for $1 billion.
Now, he says, he is devoting his downtime to parenting, self-improvement, a new flying hobby, and pondering his next project.
"I made a deal with myself when I left: I'm not going to sit around," Systrom said at the Wired 25 conference in San Francisco on Monday. "I had a beach week, don't get me wrong, but there's a lot of people who just sit there and that's their life."
Systrom is painting the split with Facebook and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, as amicable.
"No one ever leaves a job because everything is awesome," said Systrom. "In this case, there are no hard feelings at all. I'm excited to do something new."
Instead, he's calling it a natural life event for any entrepreneur who has sold their startup to another company. Systrom said he believes people can't evolve as individuals unless they make big changes in their life, and this was his opportunity to do something "brand new."
"Entrepreneurs don't stay forever and I was actually amazed that we were on the far side of the average," said Systrom. "It's kind of like a rocket. You have to aim it in the right direction, take your hands off and let it go," said Systrom. "[Instagram] didn't feel done by any stretch of the imagination but it felt like it was in orbit."
Now in his free time, he's learning to fly from the same instructor who taught Sebastian Thun, CEO of self-flying car company Kitty Hawk. He's also working on a writing project, taking classes, reading and spending time with his baby daughter. He said he often thinks about the impact social media, phones and other technology will have on her.
"She will be on some social network," Systrom said. "I want to make sure we've started work on some of the main problems of social media today."
He told the audience he sees his work at Instragram as a template for how to improve things. Instead of relying on automation and AI to address issues like bullying on Instagram, he preferred simpler options that gave users more control.
"Sometimes solutions are a lot easier than letting the robots do all the work; sometimes it's control. Most social networks don't let you control whether or not someone replies to you. We let you turn that off," said Systrom, who described it as a philosophical decision.
Systrom doesn't know what his next project will be, but he's in no rush.
"I'm 34," he said. "I have a few more Instagrams in me, time wise."
