
Snapchat's Evan Spiegel: Saying no to $3B, and feeling lucky  - kjhughes
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57613694-93/snapchats-evan-spiegel-saying-no-to-$3b-and-feeling-lucky/
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smtddr
_" So if life isn't fair -- it's not about working harder, it's about working
the system."_ \--Evan Spiegel, _The son of successful lawyers, Spiegel grew up
in a world of wealth, power, and privilege._

This is pretty much explains the behavior of "The One Percent" and mega-corps.

I hope all of snapchat's employees are equally as rich. Otherwise they just
lost out on a huge, life-altering windfall due to some kind insane arrogance.
Or I'm very wrong, FB comes back with a bigger offer and Spiegel takes it. I
mean, it's just a screenshot/video sharing app with a little twist. A twist
that can be undone by a software-update making it impossible to prevent the
device from saving it. Did you know Android-KitKat comes with Screen
_Recording_? I wonder how snapchat deals with that.

EDIT: Ives's answer about SecureContent flag sounds good. Now I wonder about
the future Custom ROMs...

~~~
drimal
Yep. Word just got around today that FB's feeling alienated and there aren't
any other balls in the court. Evan's too arrogant to accept a lower offer.

Worst part is that everyone's feeling awkwardly trapped. I even feel bad
complaining - damn golden handcuffs.

~~~
quack
Apple creates an integrated snapchat. Removes snapchat from the apple store.
It's not like they havent done that to other popular apps that they have the
ability to replicate (google maps)

~~~
neon_electro
Except Google Maps is still on the App Store.

~~~
quack
My point still stands that Apple initially removed it when they released Apple
Maps. Since messaging is part of Apple's core experience, it's very likely
that they'll eventually update their iMessage app.

Snapchat is not unique. In fact, there are far bigger and more popular
messaging apps around the world. They just dont get the attention that
SnapChat does because it happens to be in California and in the US.
[http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/10/18/best-mobile-
messaging-...](http://thenextweb.com/apps/2013/10/18/best-mobile-messaging-
apps/)

~~~
gress
Your point is totally false. Apple never removed Google Maps from the App
Store.

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downandout
Snapchat has achieved the kind of user acceptance that only a handful of tech
companies ever do. Kudos to them. However, it is a feature, not a product. The
next great thing will come along and claim its notoriously fickle user base as
fast or faster than Snapchat itself arrived on the scene. The barriers to
entry are so low as to effectively be nonexistent.

Evan grew up rich and has family money to fall back on if he fails, so perhaps
he can afford to gamble for a bigger payday. The problem is that he is
gambling with the financial futures of his investors and employees as well. In
my opinion, a bet that Snapchat will ever be valued at more than $3 billion is
a long shot, and there is a greater-than-zero chance that the company will be
worth nothing two years from now.

~~~
sillysaurus2
_However, it is a feature, not a product._

Steve Jobs said that to Drew Huston about Dropbox. I think Steve believed it,
too.

History will show whether Snapchat is a feature or a product, because they'll
either fail or succeed. But if even Steve Jobs was bad at assessing early-
stage tech companies, then we outsiders probably shouldn't make categorical
judgments like "Snapchat isn't a product."

~~~
hackinthebochs
I think history will show Jobs right in regards to Dropbox. Dropbox created a
company based on the inefficiency in the marketplace regarding cloud storage
and file sharing. But this has all but evaporated. With Google, Apple and MS
bundling cloud/hosting apps, how can dropbox possibly differentiate
themselves? There is absolutely no network effects regarding cloud storage--
web links do not have vendor lock-in. I believe its only a matter of time
before dropbox tanks.

~~~
graeme
What efficiency evaporation are you referring to?

I use Dropbox because it works. I tried iCloud, and hit multiple points of
frustration and failure. Whereas Dropbox let me transition seamlessly from
Windows to OS X.

~~~
hackinthebochs
I mean inefficiency in terms of "an inefficiency in a market is a business
opportunity". This inefficiency is in the process of being filled by the big
players. Dropbox cannot survive as just a file sharing app in the face of
bundled software from companies with deep pockets. Apparently they are fully
aware of this as shown by their efforts to evolve into something more
sustainable.

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chatmasta
What a horrible piece of "journalism." People need to get over the privilege
bashing that seems to be so "in vogue" these days. This dude got into Stanford
(despite what people here think, that requires more than just money), created
an app sharing 400M+ photos per day after less than two years, and has big
enough balls to turn down $3B from Mark Zuckerberg. Whether you agree with how
he's handled the situation or not, you have to give him some respect. This
article is a piece of trash. I hope Spiegel wipes his ass with it.

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adamnemecek
Reads like a hit piece. Also is anyone else somewhat disturbed by all personal
details the articles goes into?

~~~
RodericDay
I think it's intended to be a hit-piece, it's incredibly blatant about it.

Think about it as the natural counterpart to Steve Jobs' biography and other
such pieces making myths out of SV entrepreneurship.

~~~
adamnemecek
Someone probably wants to acquire Snapchat and does not feel like paying 3B
for it. Or Facebook is butthurt.

/takes-off 3D printed tin foil hat

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kken
Not sure what the point of that piece it. But it made me dislike Mr. Spiegel.

~~~
pazimzadeh
Why did it make you dislike him? Shouldn't you make the best of what you have?

~~~
dev1n
I disliked him immediately after reading the line

 _The note, accompanied by a plea for a new BMW 535i_

Has anyone been able to find out what he studied while at Stanford?

~~~
confluence
Same thing most other Stanford grads study: how to beg rich adults for money.
They are very good at that.

------
redmaverick
What if Snapchat adds a feature which is something like a transient social
network with disappearing posts? I for one would jump ship from fb. I don't
like the idea that the information I post on fb can be searched and possibly
mined by my fb friends.

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_RPM
I don't understand why the press glamorizes this party lifestyle that
apparently Mr. Spiegel engaged in. I want to hear about about the work that
went into building SnapChat.

~~~
mynameishere
They aren't glamorizing anything. The piece was written to make people dislike
the guy. The work? Well, they made it over a weekend, and then somehow got
money to hire engineers to scale it up. That's the work, aside from the
marketing (which is witchcraft as far as I can tell).

------
salient
The main reason I'd prefer they didn't get bought by Facebook or even Google,
is because I know those 2 would pretty much eliminate any privacy features
Snapchat may have left. However, I fear they will intend to do that, too, in
the future in an effort to monetize, especially if they IPO. If anything, I
hope they find a very scalable monetization solution before they IPO.

------
carsongross
A poster child for our time.

~~~
aforty
A poster child for our 1%.

------
rajacombinator
How did they get letters written to his dad? Someone was mad ...

Even though the article paints him as a thoroughly detestable character, I
like the fact that Facebook - which started as an equally trivial app - is
scared of his company. It's not like Zuckerberg wasn't privileged too.

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pearjuice
What is Snapchat its future anyway? I doubt any sane tech company will raise
its bid and I also doubt snapchat has some secret formula to justify saying no
to those bids.

Are they hitting at an IPO? Bluffing? Do they have billion dollar revenue
stream lining up? What is their deal?

~~~
nilkn
In particular, I don't see Mark Zuckerberg making a second offer, because the
two of them now seem to have a sort of feud going on.

~~~
pearjuice
Mark <> Facebook

