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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

#191

Post by swombat »

nostrademons wrote: post #170
gjolund wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like I said, I am glad that those people have a sandbox to "interact" in. Do you honestly think that sandbox is worth $20b?

I think it's worth more, honestly. Probably $100-200B. That sandbox is a lot bigger than the sandbox you & I like to inhabit. The set of folks interested in technical programming & startup-related news probably numbers under 100K. I was an admin for a Harry Potter fansite in college that had 100K registered users, close to 1M when guests were counted, and we were far from the largest Harry Potter fansite. The set of…

Your point still stands but I think 100k is a vast underestimate. I suspect there's much more than 100k in Silicon Valley/SF alone (though I don't live there so not sure). There's certainly tens of thousands in central London, let along across the world. Paul Graham alone (and he's hardly the only centre of attention in the startup world) has 340k followers on Twitter. I'd assume about 10m, give or take.

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

#192

Post by qq66 »

gjolund wrote: post #159
ramenmeal wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about snapchat is useless? Or is this just typical "damn kids these days" speak? The app is an incredible form of communication, and there is a reason people prefer it to other mediums.

What exactly are people communicating? If snapchat shutdown tomorrow would anyone actually care, or would they immediately shift to the next best platform? Compared to say a public utility, car manufacturer, global shipping company, etc. There are real problems in the world, and snapchat doesn't solve any of them. There are real companies trying to solve these problems, and snapchat is worth more than most of them. O…

> If snapchat shutdown tomorrow would anyone actually care, or would they immediately shift to the next best platform?

You can say this about a lot of great companies. Toyota shuts down tomorrow, I buy a Honda instead. Sure, I wanted the Toyota, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. UPS shuts down tomorrow, I use FedEx. Apple shuts down, I use Android. Starbucks shuts down, I go to Peet's.

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

#193

Post by qq66 »

gjolund wrote: post #174
beambot wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you work on...? (It's relevant if you're going to say that Snapchat Software Engineers' problems aren't "real".)

I've worked on: * Liver transplant protocols * Military VR for PTSD therapy * Early R&D for self driving cars * Long range point to point wifi systems being used in Africa * VR motion capture studio used in the most of the Marvel movies * Built several prototype zero net energy homes * Built several solar concentration array in Haiti with a team after the earthquakes * Tidal energy generation prototypes The list goes…

And maybe someone who just got a liver transplant that you enabled announces it to their friends and family on Snapchat :)

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

#194

Post by harryh »

gjolund wrote: post #131

The only real value of Snapchat is that now I dont have to scroll past the innane content snapchat is used for on other social networks. Im not going to say snapchat is or isnt worth $20b. I am going to say that I am sad that so much energy and money is being thrown at such a trivial application. Im a software engineer, and i like solving real problems. I cant imagine working at snapchat and trying to motivate myself…

Do you never do anything fun?

Go to the movies? Play a video game? Watch a sporting event? All of these are mostly meaningless but fun activities.

I think it's great that a lot of people are working hard to build fun things for other people.

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

#195

Post by redthrowaway »

gjolund wrote: post #131

The only real value of Snapchat is that now I dont have to scroll past the innane content snapchat is used for on other social networks. Im not going to say snapchat is or isnt worth $20b. I am going to say that I am sad that so much energy and money is being thrown at such a trivial application. Im a software engineer, and i like solving real problems. I cant imagine working at snapchat and trying to motivate myself…

Some engineers like working on hard engineering problems. Others like working on products used by millions of people, and making that product as good as it can be.

The existence of the one doesn't invalidate the other. There's plenty of room in this industry for both types.

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

#196

Post by beambot »

gjolund wrote: post #174
beambot wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you work on...? (It's relevant if you're going to say that Snapchat Software Engineers' problems aren't "real".)

I've worked on: * Liver transplant protocols * Military VR for PTSD therapy * Early R&D for self driving cars * Long range point to point wifi systems being used in Africa * VR motion capture studio used in the most of the Marvel movies * Built several prototype zero net energy homes * Built several solar concentration array in Haiti with a team after the earthquakes * Tidal energy generation prototypes The list goes…

Many software engineers (esp. at a web/comms company) are going to be working on similar frontend and backend problems -- and the fact that these guys are working at SnapChat doesn't marginalize their contribution to the world. They're working on one of the most-utilized, fastest growing communication platforms on earth. If anything, I'd say their "problems" are probably as interesting as any you've listed. They could just as easily end up producing things like React (FB), BigTable (Google), MapReduce (Google), Bootstrap (Twitter), etc.

Respectfully, I find this "other peoples' work is shit and meaningless" attitude off-putting. As someone who does similar R&D work as you (see profile), here's my perspective: Be grateful for getting to work on interesting problems, and don't be so quick to dismiss others just because it doesn't float your boat.

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

#198

Post by rigobert_slim »

gjolund wrote: post #131

The only real value of Snapchat is that now I dont have to scroll past the innane content snapchat is used for on other social networks. Im not going to say snapchat is or isnt worth $20b. I am going to say that I am sad that so much energy and money is being thrown at such a trivial application. Im a software engineer, and i like solving real problems. I cant imagine working at snapchat and trying to motivate myself…

interesting that most of the comments who disagree with you actually just take issue at your calling it a "trivial application"

language aside, you're hitting on an important idea that a lot of people are missing:

'trivial' doesn't mean useless, but this specific type of artistic agency and communication are unfortunately the only means of expression most have when there are no economic means of personal expression (i.e. going back to college, affording consistent healthcare, paying rent without going in debt, having disposable income to go out with friends, buying materials/server-space to use as means for artistic or scientific personal expression rather than needing to rely on a pre-programed photo-filter).

there's an honest sadness to the idea Snapchat is funded so heavily when the same amount of money could be used to fund multiple small businesses who might need to integrate tech into their operations and who can create jobs for people who need them

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

#199

Post by st3v3r »

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…

Ok. Get to work. I expect to see a post next week about your startup.

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

#200

Post by freebs »

ramenmeal wrote: post #146
gjolund wrote: post #131

The only real value of Snapchat is that now I dont have to scroll past the innane content snapchat is used for on other social networks. Im not going to say snapchat is or isnt worth $20b. I am going to say that I am sad that so much energy and money is being thrown at such a trivial application. Im a software engineer, and i like solving real problems. I cant imagine working at snapchat and trying to motivate myself…

What about snapchat is useless? Or is this just typical "damn kids these days" speak? The app is an incredible form of communication, and there is a reason people prefer it to other mediums.

I agree. No other social network gives me experiences of my friends worlds every day.
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