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Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

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Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#131
post #84

The SNAP thesis I like the best is - "Twitter-like growth with FB ARPU". The monetization potential of this company is massive (geofilters, sponsored content, hardware with spectacles, etc.) and there's no direct comp for that. Pokemon Go showed us the bleeding of digital to physical, and Snap has the potential to be the first company to unlock value from it (ex. geofilters). Plus you can view SNAP as a call option o…

I don't buy that sponsored content or hardware are that exciting in terms of monetization potential. Geofilters are interesting new ad product, but as an ad product they are not really that exciting as you lose virality(ephemeral) and sharing. They are limited to your immediate social network. >it's actually been in international markets primarily I'd like to know where you read this. I'd still be concerned because t…

My bad, when I say geofilters I mean filters in a broader sense (like the Taco Bell filter which was viewed 224 million times)[1].

You can see the international DAU numbers in the S-1, but TC had a good summary and graphs: https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/02/snap-s1-numbers/

[1] http://www.adweek.com/digital/taco-bells-cinco-de-mayo-snapc...

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#132

My favorite tweet about the whole situation: https://twitter.com/objective_neo/status/736530568222015489

High tech has become more marketing and less tech.

Considering the state of the snapchat app on android, I absolutely agree.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook is a better messaging platform than SMS, for me, because I have friends spread across the globe that I can contact with a simple internet connection.

I sometimes feel like nobody uses Google Hangouts anymore, which also integrates with SMS so you don't have to bother with multiple applications.

Well, I never "Hangouts" message someone, but I use hangouts as my daily SMS app, because texts come in through my google voice number.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#134
post #85

I'm happy for the NYSE that this went well. SNAP has done some pretty large volume so far with no problems. Interestingly enough, well atleast to someone who cares about the cash equity markets, the NYSE actually did a test run last week to try and simulate the chaos that occurs during any hot IPO. So now we know that there is atleast some appetite for shares with no controlling interest and no indication of paying o…

> So now we know that there is atleast some appetite for shares with no controlling interest and no indication of paying out a dividend any time soon. A current market cap of 30 Billion is a pretty darn big accomplishment! This is really disturbing. I don't know if its an indicator of too much money in the market, or just the fact that the market itself has expanded so much. Why would investors be OK with losing powe…

It could be an indicator that a lot of people invest without regard for foundational questions like "does this valuation make sense" or "does my ownership interest grant me any control of the company?"

And I'll be the first to raise my hand on that front. On the face of it, I'm not really interested in owning a stock like this. But I've stopped picking stocks entirely, now I just invest in the stock market through index funds. And there are a lot of people like me -- enough that Vanguard funds own about 5% of just about every public company you can name. People like me are essentially saying, "We don't really care what this company does, how much it costs, or whether its stock can vote, we want to own 5% of it." (And that's just Vanguard -- there are plenty of other passive funds out there, too.)

In an IPO that sells 10 or 15% of the company, these "buy at any price" investors can eat up a pretty big chunk of the available shares. So all it takes is a few investors to say, "yes, we want to buy at this valuation," and the rest of us will blindly follow.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#135
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a banker so maybe I'm missing something, but I wouldn't be too happy if my company popped after the IPO. The way I see it, that just means that I left money on the table. If anything, this increases my respect for Zuckerberg and team. I'm not really excited about the prospect of bankers lining their favored clients' pockets with my money.

Your company would have left money on the table, but not you as an equity holder.

It's not uncommon to sell your personal shares in the IPO.

Even if you don't sell your own shares, selling 10% of the company at $5 billion (no pop) is strictly better than selling 10% of the company at $3 billion (assuming a 60% pop to $5 billion). The company has more money and you own the same portion of the company.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#136

This $27.8 billion dollar valuation tells me that somewhere along the line, my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society. I've never used Snap or their platform. I don't even really know what the benefit of their service. I am curious if I'm in the minority or if there's lots of developers like me who aren't able to comprehend these valuations.

The two single guys in my circle of friends use it for the kinds of communication you wouldn't want to occur in the same app where your relatives are (say, Facebook/Whatsapp). One of them's outside the app's usual age demo but is definitely around them enough that it's a very valuable app for him (network effects—everyone at any given bar has it and you'll have much greater success connecting with them over Snapchat than anything else).

I don't know anyone else who uses it, but the rest of us are boring married people who don't go to bars much (and not for the same reasons if we do). A couple of the marketing guys at work send stuff out on it for the company, I gather, which is really weird to me since my impression is that it's (still) mostly used for sending clips of drunken stupidity and nude pics or hookup arrangements. They definitely don't use it to message grandma—that's what Facebook is for.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason 50% of the US didn't vote in the last election. Or employees don't demand to view board decks. Most investors are buying as a way to make money off of continued success. They don't want to control the business or make decisions, and even if they did, they don't want to invest enough to make a dent in the normal 1-share-1-vote sort of model. They're looking the company and hooking their accounts to…

Why not just invest in corporate bonds then? At least then you're safer from bankruptcies.

Because you're also safe from huge success.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#138
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FOMO. And the market is really frothy in general right now.

For some reason whenever people use the word "frothy" to describe something, I gag slightly.

Probably it's from the maturation clinic you took in school where they covered STIs. That and "cheesy."

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#139

This $27.8 billion dollar valuation tells me that somewhere along the line, my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society. I've never used Snap or their platform. I don't even really know what the benefit of their service. I am curious if I'm in the minority or if there's lots of developers like me who aren't able to comprehend these valuations.

If you have no need for integrated texting/flirting/sexting/following, it's not of benefit right now.

Microsoft paid something like $40/user for hotmail, and IDK what for LinkedIn (20B?). What other platform will these kids move to? Maybe Instagram, but that leaves two big, well-funded players with ~500M users down the road. Billions to create/integrate with media/virtual content.

Unless something supplants snap for the tweens, I think they've got a lot of long-term capture. Their "phones" are their universe.

Re: Snap Jumps in Debut After App Maker Raises $3.4B in IPO

#140

This $27.8 billion dollar valuation tells me that somewhere along the line, my job and lifestyle have caused me to detach from a significant chunk of society. I've never used Snap or their platform. I don't even really know what the benefit of their service. I am curious if I'm in the minority or if there's lots of developers like me who aren't able to comprehend these valuations.

You are not alone.

I have been struck with amazement at the rise of apps like Snap, Twitter, and Instragram. They have captivated an entire generation, leaving me on the sideline. As a developer, I suppose I'm not the most social being on the planet, but it does concern me that I have become "detached" from everyone else.

I spoke with an Uber driver the other day whos 14 year old son has 700,000 instragram followers and is making money selling advertising to big brands like Target. I'm not old, but that sure as hell made me feel old...

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