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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

#171

Reminds me of Twitter IPO... just wait.

I think this will be worse. Snapchat isn't nearly as culturally sticky as Twitter. Sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook have a robust friend/follower system, and users have a huge backlog of things they contributed to the platforms. No contributions on Snapchat last more than a single day, so what is motivating users to stay on the platform instead of using Facebook or Instagram's offerings? Their friends list…

I think Snap has potential to be huge… anything that wins the race to replace TV is going to be big. Whether they can do it before FB clones them/leverages their network is a big open question.

That said, despite the fact that I love Twitter more than any other network, almost none of my friends use it maybe ~a dozen people I know closely in real life still post to it. Almost all of my friends use Snapchat and complain about my lack of engagement with it.

Anecdotal, but I don't think they are comparable… additionally if your (likely closer nit group of vs. FB's "everyone you know") friends aren't posting, brands are putting up a TON that people seem to really like.

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

#173

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…

They had a pretty large participating contribution (50M shares as I recall) so that is a bunch of money that paid off some folks who might have been skittish. I was surprised to see as large a bounce as there was. And it has no doubt realigned the world view of a bunch of Snapchat employees[1]. To your last point I can't imagine they are going to talk earnings in a GAAP context unless they are generating lots of free…

Yup, solid advice re: waiting. Generally, I've heard it as "don't do anything drastic with the money for a year". That gives enough time to let the emotions cool down.

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

#174
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 in…

The $SNAP price isn't being driven by index funds. Index funds also aren't about blindly investing ("we don't really care what...") - it's about delegating that trust. For example, SPY is delegating that to a trusted entity (you're trusting that the S&P 500 will remain a meaningful measure of the US stock market).

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

#175
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…

> "Twitter-like growth with FB ARPU"

Isn't Twitter's big problem that they stopped growing? Much like Snap it appears if the most recent trend holds.

TWTR had 231m MAU at the time of its IPO compared to 313m currently (3.5 years later). They hit a roadblock at the end of 2014 and have not recovered.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/282087/number-of-monthly...

Compare that with Facebook who despite covering a meaningful percentage of humans is still growing:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly...

The multi-billion dollar question is which path Snap takes...

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

#176
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they don't bundle SMS and 'HoIP' any more, and aren't they killing it in favour of Duo & Allo? But with ~~poor~~ no marketing, and no web UI...

You can use Hangouts for SMS and 'HoIP' still, but they made it a lot more difficult. I'm really not the target demographic for messaging applications, but I am baffled by how Google has handled Hangouts (which seemed to be incredibly popular and worked better 10 years ago - I'm avoiding the name changes over the years because I was able to use the same account continuously), Allo and Duo (I have never tried either a…

Internally, how do Googlers feel about its messaging "strategy"? I've heard the explanation that Google encourages the schizophrenia with the "launch a product to build your promo packet" philosophy, but that doesn't seem to cause issues in other product lines. But the strategy also certainly can't be intentional, since Google's squandered an obvious chance at dominating the messaging space and is teetering on irrelevancy there.

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

#177

SNAP's real value lies in its future as an augmented reality company. They've spent something close to $1B in R&D - likely going toward hardware or something...

what gave it away? was it the VR hardware announcement they made a few months ago? :)

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

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had removed the last part from the comment as to seem less trollish, so please forgive me for coming across as such. Anyway, since you asked, here is my formalized argument: (1) [falsifiable axiom] You cannot have meaningful economic growth without technological innovation. Technological innovation is improving the efficiency of existing resources or increasing the availability of resources as compared to previous…

Kids like it. Shouldn't that count for something? You might as well question why video games, or professional sports, or Hollywood, or any other form of commercial entertainment generates so much money.

Haha, that's exactly my point! I do question why the entertainment industry siphons so much capital away from other, more productive endeavors. Perhaps no one has any good ideas on how to create the future, so we might as well throw it all at beer and sports.

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

#180
post #28
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the major difference between the two is that Facebook can engage grandma as well as junior. It has broad cross-generational appeal. The whole point of Snapchat is "mom and dad don't use it" which means they're beholden to the whims of a very young audience. Which I guess is good, since young people aren't known to move on to the next big thing at the drop of a hat.

> since young people aren't known to move on to the next big thing at the drop of a hat. I'm assuming that was said with a whole lot of sarcasm? In my opinion, that will be the death of Snap - something else new and shiny will come along in a year or two and Snap will be a ghost town.

Bring in myspace.
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