Keep pulling the thread on Evan Spiegel.
Snap is approaching one billion monthly active users.
Snap is on the verge of achieving net income profitability.
Snap plans to release its Spectacles glasses to consumers for the first time later this year.
Snap made a strategic decision around 2016-2017 to separate social features from media consumption to avoid the perverse incentives of newsfeed-based models.
Snap owns its entire technology stack for Spectacles, including Lens Studio developer tools, the Lens Core rendering engine, a proprietary operating system, and its own optical engine.
More than two-thirds of new code at Snap is now written by AI.
Evan Spiegel believes the ease of software development with AI is overcoming the traditional "App Store lock-in" moat held by companies like Apple.
Snap's direct revenue business, primarily from Snapchat Plus, has surpassed a $1 billion annual run rate.
Snap manufactures its most IP-sensitive and sophisticated components for Spectacles, including waveguides, in-house in the US and the UK.
Snap's Spectacles aim to combine the wearability of normal glasses with the capabilities of a spatial computer like the Apple Vision Pro.
Evan Spiegel predicts that large-screen use cases, such as TVs and desktop displays, will be the first to transition to AR glasses like Spectacles.
Snap has been investing in its Spectacles glasses project for 12 years.