It seemed like I was hitting rock bottom. but it is more alive than ever. The creation of has risen from the ashes with its IPO, and unlike its competition, where does all this put Snapchat?
In order to analyze the current situation of the social network, it is necessary to go back in its history and meet its creator, the father of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel. A young man who, at only 26 years old, has already conquered the Internet world with his application and has entered the Forbes list of the world’s greatest billionaires. And no, He’s not the typical nerd we’re used to.
Evan Spiegel, a childhood surrounded by luxury
Evan Spiegel’s story is far from that of his “equals”. Contrary to other creators of , such as Mark from Facebook or , of Apple, the idea of Snapchat did not come from a garage nor did its creator belong to a family with few resources. On the contrary, Evan Spiegel has had an easy life and money and fame have not come as a surprise, but he was born surrounded by it.
Spiegel grew up in a luxurious Los Angeles development with his two sisters, Caroline and Lauren. son of lawyers, went to the best schools and since he was a child he pointed out ways towards computing. At the age of six, he was given his first computer, and it was “love at first sight”.
Over the years he specialized more in the world of design. Already in elementary school he mastered programs such as Photoshop, and during high school he took parallel design lessons at Otis University. He would later enroll at Stanford University to study Product Design.
Nevertheless, Spiegel is the kind of person who doesn’t need a career to succeed. (he did not graduate), and more having the money as support. At Stanford, and more specifically at the Kappa Sigma sorority, to which he belonged, he met those who would become more than just friends, the co-founding partners of Snapchat: Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown.
The birth of Snapchat
As if it were an American movie, It was at a Kappa Sigma fraternity party that Spiegel unknowingly began to forge Snapchat.
Bobby Murphy approached him and offered to be the designer of a social network that Murphy was going to present to Google. Spiegel accepted, and although the project did not prosper, the friendship had already been forged and Spiegel thus got a job on another project, an app to send information from the internet with sms called txtWeb.
His path was channeled and he was gaining experience, until a new opportunity knocked on his door. Another Kappa Sigma member, Reggie Brown, asked Spiegel the question whose answer is now worth €32 billion: “How can you delete an image from a social network after sharing it?».
The lightbulb went off and together with Murphy and Brown, Spiegel created Pikaboo, a social network whose messages were destroyed within 10 seconds. it was a big flop. But they did not give up.
They outlined some concepts, changed the name and thus Snapchat was born. as commented “We weren’t cool kids, so we decided to do something cool.”
You already know the story since then: and then in the rest of the world, generating a whole Universe of own functionalities: the ephemeral photographs and videos, stories, lenses, geofilters…. But Evan Spiegel has been able to evolve his initial idea:, and has been reconverted at the corporate level
With Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram it seems that the best days of Snapchat are over, but… will Evan Spiegel manage to redirect the course of his company?
The other face of Evan Spiegel: the sex symbol
At only 26 years old, Spiegel has not only managed to cajole investors with Snapchat, but also monopolizes gossip magazines and is engaged to the model Miranda Kerr. A true sex symbol who distances himself from his colleagues in Silicon Valley, where he has no headquarters. It’s more, Snapchat has no fixed headquarters.
Currently its around 1,800 employees are spread over several houses, the most important being that of Venice Beach, in Los Angeles, where Spiegel grew up. He moves from one to another in a chauffeured black Range Rover (he’s a fan of luxury cars) and his security is around $900,000.
It has just changed the name of Snapchat to Snap Inc. It can boast of having said no to Mark Zuckerberg and his proposal to purchase the app. His fortune is estimated at $5 billion. And last year alone he earned $500,000 in base salary.
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