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Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

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Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#41

Post by andrepd »

traviswingo wrote: post #31
jdross wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminds me of this incredibly wrong post by DHH: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2585-facebook-is-not-worth-33...

Alright, touche. Facebook is actually worth what the market claims it to be worth, because of the large amount of people in one place, all willing to tell the world exactly what their interests are. Its a marketing heaven. Snapchat might be worth a lot, but I'm just sick of companies like this being valued so high, simply because they provide literally no benefit to society. If Snapchat went down tomorrow, would it r…

That's a symptom of capitalism. When your sole objective is maximizing profit, all else be damned, there is no such thing as working for the greater good or solving any of the critical problems we need to solve to keep our species moving forward. You get photo-sharing apps.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#42

Post by bqe »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #34
bqe wrote: post #28

Can someone who uses Snapchat routinely tell me why you use it routinely? I've been using it for a few weeks to send a picture or two to the few people I know who use it, but it seems pretty limited. I follow a few "famous" people on it, and they basically just post random images of them walking around NYC or them traveling. I don't yet see the benefit.

It's more immediate than a text, less intrusive than a call. With a snapchat, you're more likely to open it and respond quickly than a text message, because just like the time limit on images, once the time has passed, the moment is gone. It keeps you hooked in.

Sometimes I worry about a dystopian future of tech where each startup is making small incremental improvements on various minor aspects of life ("It's slightly easier than sending a text!") only to be disrupted by a newcomer with another small improvement on it ("It's even more slightly easier to send than a text than the last startup!").

The big breakthroughs never happen. We just continue to iterate and A/B test ourselves into a convenient oblivion.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#43

Post by freyir »

Phlarp wrote: post #22
kneel wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm wondering if it's a coincidence that facebook's revenue was 18 billion last year...

More and more it seems the entire excersize is just elaborate cover for Evan and Mark to have a dick measuring contest. Evan: "I'm coming for you, you know you'll have to buy it all sooner or later, try not to insult me with your next offer!" Zuck: "In your dreams kid!"

That's an interesting interpretation.

I think Zuckerberg is extremely paranoid about Facebook being displaced. Facebook knocked MySpace off the throne, and everyone predicted Facebook would suffer the same fate. It hasn't happened because Zuckerberg has been strategically paranoid.

Even after getting a slow start in mobile, he threw ridiculous amounts of money at the situation until they were back on top.

I think the present-day VR hype is due to Zuckerberg being paranoid that VR would be the next mobile, and wanting to get ahead of it. Everyone followed his lead and people are betting the farm on VR being the next big thing, when that's just not clear at all. But for Facebook, spending $2B on Oculus was an ounce-of-prevention purchase.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#44

Post by bduerst »

traviswingo wrote: post #31
jdross wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminds me of this incredibly wrong post by DHH: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2585-facebook-is-not-worth-33...

Alright, touche. Facebook is actually worth what the market claims it to be worth, because of the large amount of people in one place, all willing to tell the world exactly what their interests are. Its a marketing heaven. Snapchat might be worth a lot, but I'm just sick of companies like this being valued so high, simply because they provide literally no benefit to society. If Snapchat went down tomorrow, would it r…

> simply because they provide literally no benefit to society.

The value of something is typically a combination of different values, not just the intrinsic worth to society.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#45

Post by curiousgal »

traviswingo wrote: post #31
jdross wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminds me of this incredibly wrong post by DHH: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2585-facebook-is-not-worth-33...

Alright, touche. Facebook is actually worth what the market claims it to be worth, because of the large amount of people in one place, all willing to tell the world exactly what their interests are. Its a marketing heaven. Snapchat might be worth a lot, but I'm just sick of companies like this being valued so high, simply because they provide literally no benefit to society. If Snapchat went down tomorrow, would it r…

I don't know why you're getting downvoted but you are absolutely right.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#46

Post by edgyswingset »

underyx wrote: post #24
CameronBanga wrote: post #4

I know that I don't "get" venture capital, but is Snapchat even profitable (or close to) yet? If not, and it's going to take nearly 2 billion more to get there, do they really have a product that will ultimately return value? It's the cynic in me, but by a series F, and needing 2 billion, this feels like the sort of funding where early investors are propping the valuation of Snapchat in order to sell off to someone l…

>needing 2 billion They probably don't need 2 billion but can grow faster by making use of this money instead of going for some aggressive monetization. I don't get why everyone acts like Snapchat is unable to monetize the platform — they just don't want to if they don't need to yet.

> I don't get why everyone acts like Snapchat is unable to monetize the platform — they just don't want to if they don't need to yet.

I'm not convinced that's true. Reportedly, in 2014 they made 3.1 million in revenue and -128 million in net income [0]. I don't think a difference that's two orders of magnitude is a function of "not wanting" to monetize the platform. I'm convinced they're a [0]: http://gawker.com/snapchat-lost-a-ton-of-money-last-year-170...

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#47

Post by [deleted] »

bduerst wrote: post #36
jdross wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminds me of this incredibly wrong post by DHH: https://signalvnoise.com/posts/2585-facebook-is-not-worth-33...

To save you a search query, Facebook today has a market cap of $342 B (this 2010 article says they're not worth $33 B).

[deleted]

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#48

Post by iliaznk »

overcast wrote: post #32
iliaznk wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Mark Suster and Justin Kan are just two examples of gorwnups using Snapchat successfully for video blogging.

They're using it as a business, not what the other 99.9% of people are using it for.

There's a chance then that more people will be using it for that purpose targeting wider audience.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#49

Post by freyir »

bqe wrote: post #28

Can someone who uses Snapchat routinely tell me why you use it routinely? I've been using it for a few weeks to send a picture or two to the few people I know who use it, but it seems pretty limited. I follow a few "famous" people on it, and they basically just post random images of them walking around NYC or them traveling. I don't yet see the benefit.

Sometimes I message friends with it.

Mainly, I use it to follow sexy Instagram "models". I also add vacation photos to my story to make my life look more exciting than it typically is.

It's kind of depressing.

Re: Snapchat raised $1.8B in a Series F round

#50

Post by Mikushi »

agumonkey wrote: post #33
kneel wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their demograph is just graduating high school. They will be very valuable in the future.

So that's the whole thing ? cultural stockholm syndrom ?

Yes, and revenue based in online advertising, which is itself mostly fraud and lies bound to collapse on itself sooner or later.
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