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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

#181
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was highly skeptical, but as of the past few months i use it more than FB and Instagram. What I found was the limited and spontaneous nature of snapchat works well because it is much less formal and easy than a Facebook or Instagram post that I have to "compose". I.e, i can take a silly picture of my dog and put a sticker on it and fire it out there, without having to worry about shot composition/hashtag use (Insta…

I like how you encapsulated it here. This is actually exactly why I can't use Snapchat, but I understand the appeal for others. I mostly stopped using FB because I just don't have the patience or time for low-effort/low-quality posts, and Snapchat deliberately takes the post-level a step down and creates a sort of low-effort stream of consciousness between friends.

"a sort of low-effort stream of consciousness between friends."

That's exactly the draw for many people, and why it's so sticky. It's about as close to a genuine in-person conversation as you can get. I don't think of it as low quality, just low reach. I speak more colloquially around my friends than I do my employer, and I like Snapchat because it similarly allows me to communicate "at ease".

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

#182

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.

Snapchat is useful, but so is paper. Billions of people use paper every single day.

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

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

$200B valuation with only $50MM in revenue... You must like bubbles, 'cause that's how you get bubbles.

I thought Facebook was way overvalued at $15B when they had zero in revenue. Now they've got about $20B in annual revenue and are worth $340B.

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

#184

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…

Snapchat isn't useless, but you're right that there's more important problems to solve.

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

#185

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…

1. Build apple/imgur/facebook/instagram/farmville. 2.Make ton of cash. 3.Fund real science shit. 4.Repeat.

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

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$200B valuation with only $50MM in revenue... You must like bubbles, 'cause that's how you get bubbles.

I thought Facebook was way overvalued at $15B when they had zero in revenue. Now they've got about $20B in annual revenue and are worth $340B.

It's almost a good comeback. Yet, Facebook had obvious ways to monetize it's data plus lots of data types to monetize. It was inherent in its design. Also, semi-proven by MySpace. What is comparable for SnapChat? Seems more contrained.

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

#188
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect it's for a lot of other things: Advertising, technology (HW & SW), customer support, paying off initial investors, space, etc.

> paying off initial investors Here comes Charles Ponzi ...

When companies defer their exits, it becomes reasonable for seed investors to ask for their money back. This happens quite a bit in Private Equity, where investors resell companies every 5-7 years.

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

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a refrain on Hacker News since I started coming here for insights since 2008. That because you, personally, don't understand why you would do such a thing therefore said thing is invalidated. It's lazy. Additionally taking that point of view outs you. Much like how when I was 16-23 and creating things on the internet when there was only 100MM users and people were wondering why anyone would want to spend all…

It's clear from your comment history that you're very confrontational, and cocksure. So I'll keep this brief, and end it here. This is a discussion, and questions were asked. Take your own "advice".

Questions were not asked. Glenn Beck style "condemning statement that happens to have a ? at the end of it" were made.

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

#190

People need to stop focusing their criticism on how stupid the app is or how they're going to lose all their users. It's almost a meme by now of how people say this every time Snapchat is brought up. By now it's a foregone conclusion, and requires active ignorance and not really caring to keep an open mind, to continue to hold onto that belief in the face of tremendous evidence that 1) Snapchat is very popular, 2) Sn…

I'm a heavy Snapchat user and just sending stuff to a partner doesn't seem to be the main use case nowadays - it's stories (basically a video equivalent of Twitter and Instagram mushed together) or throwaway group sending.

Agreed, but most people won't understand stories until/unless they have a bunch of friends on Snapchat, so it's not the best aspect to start with.
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