Keep pulling the thread on Evan Spiegel.
Snapchat has over 1 billion monthly active users.
Snap generates over $6 billion a year in revenue.
Snapchat+ has surpassed a $1 billion annual revenue run rate.
Snap concluded 15 years ago that software features do not provide a durable competitive moat, a lesson the industry is now learning with AI.
Snap is investing in hardware and a vertically integrated augmented reality stack as a competitive moat that is difficult to copy.
In 2024, Snap released an operating system for its Specs hardware, allowing developers to build full-featured software inside the glasses.
Snap is not yet net income profitable because it has been investing heavily in future growth areas.
Snapchat users post over 8 billion photos using AR lenses per day.
Evan Spiegel believes that a key reason for the success of recent consumer apps like TikTok and Threads is that they solved distribution challenges.
TikTok spent billions of dollars to subsidize both creators and viewers to bootstrap its video marketplace ecosystem.
Threads was able to succeed by leveraging the existing distribution network of Meta's other products.
Snapchat's early growth strategy focused on connecting users with their closest friends rather than their entire social network.