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Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

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Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#51
post #40

I'm surprised (rather, disappointed) that the article doesn't make any comparisons to Facebook's IPO. For today's 14-to-25-year-olds, Snapchat is the new Facebook, in terms of user engagement, market penetration, mindshare -- so it stands to reason in terms of valuation it would be too. There are some important differences, of course. Facebook owns multiple properties that mount competition to Snap Inc: Instagram, Me…

I disagree in the similarities of Facebook. Snapchat is like twitter but worse. Because it's anonymous and not associated with real names, they don't have an actual relationship graph, unlike twitter they don't have an interest graph. All they really have is your location. Everything is ephemeral so it's going to be even harder to figure out what type of advertising they should actually target. Also we don't know where people spend most of their time in private messages or stories and the only thing they really are focusing on monetizing is stories. Also like Twitter their advertising system can be subverted. Brands and advertisers will go directly to influencers to peddle their products vs going through snapchat. Also at the time Facebook was yet to introduce advertising on their mobile product. I believe Snapchat will have a much harder road to monetization than Facebook had.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#52
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that they will write these off evetually. To me they feel very similar to Google glass insofar the customer bases being somewhat similar, maybe spectacles' being somewhat younger.

IMO, Google glasses were an obtrusive form of eyewear with limited AR capabilities—with a price tag of $1500. Spectacles are $130.

You are right they are quite a bit cheaper but they are just as obtrusive. I think that glasses (esp. dioptric) are fundamentally a part of your identity and I think that most people fundamentally hate associating themselves with a company not to come across as a 'fanboys'. Like wearing the snapchat glasses projects a certain type of persona which I think most people might prefer not to project.

I think that they should be marketed as "cool glasses (that also record video)" as opposed to "video recording glasses". "Video recording glasses" are a gimmick, "cool glasses (that also record video)" could be timeless.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#53
post #40

I'm surprised (rather, disappointed) that the article doesn't make any comparisons to Facebook's IPO. For today's 14-to-25-year-olds, Snapchat is the new Facebook, in terms of user engagement, market penetration, mindshare -- so it stands to reason in terms of valuation it would be too. There are some important differences, of course. Facebook owns multiple properties that mount competition to Snap Inc: Instagram, Me…

>There are some important differences, of course. I'm surprised you wouldn't bring the biggest difference - the data. Facebook had tons of user data, even at their IPO, while Snap has relatively little.

Facebook owns PII data -- data the user attests -- and user engagement data. Snapchat just has user engagement data -- data derived from the user's behavior. This is a notable difference, but frankly, at this point in time it doesn't matter: every potential advertiser worth their salt knows that the average Snapchat user is between 14-25. Both services usually know location.

To many advertisers, the Facebook ad platform's sophisticated audience analysis isn't so much value-add as a way to prune people unlikely to be interested from being shown your ads. This is why the comparisons between Snapchat and MTV are apt.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The engineering community is sleeping on Snapchat, but shouldn't be. My life is AR. I'm the CEO for an AR company, I speak write and live and breathe all things AR. Snapchat is poised to be the most important AR company around for several reasons. 1. They have a MASSIVE userbase that is comfortable with sharing their lives 2. That userbase has already shown an interest in AR - and yes whether you like it or not their…

Their spectacles is going to be a game changer. I hope it does well (buy also part of me hopes it does not for the sake of everyone's privacy in public). https://www.spectacles.com/

No, they are not. It's gonna be another gimmick lifestyle tech product that gets trumped up in the press and then no one cares about. They are glasses that only take ten seconds video and can only post it to snapchat. And they cost $130. Come on.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#55

When a company like Uber is raising insane amounts of money I think to myself - "ok, they're working on vehicle automation and other ambitious projects, it makes sense". When a company like snapchat is looking for 4B in addition to existing funding I am left completely dumbfounded. Can someone please explain why they would need this much cash?

Have you seen their investor roll?

Do you think they are sitting around looking for a 500m exit?

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#56

When a company like Uber is raising insane amounts of money I think to myself - "ok, they're working on vehicle automation and other ambitious projects, it makes sense". When a company like snapchat is looking for 4B in addition to existing funding I am left completely dumbfounded. Can someone please explain why they would need this much cash?

The engineering community is sleeping on Snapchat, but shouldn't be. My life is AR. I'm the CEO for an AR company, I speak write and live and breathe all things AR. Snapchat is poised to be the most important AR company around for several reasons. 1. They have a MASSIVE userbase that is comfortable with sharing their lives 2. That userbase has already shown an interest in AR - and yes whether you like it or not their…

Their filters do SLAM?

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their spectacles is going to be a game changer. I hope it does well (buy also part of me hopes it does not for the sake of everyone's privacy in public). https://www.spectacles.com/

No, they are not. It's gonna be another gimmick lifestyle tech product that gets trumped up in the press and then no one cares about. They are glasses that only take ten seconds video and can only post it to snapchat. And they cost $130. Come on.

No WiFi. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#58
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how will they make money? Selling ads in the AR world?

https://www.spectacles.com/

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that their models are topless?

I can't help but feel they are signalling their intent to be an eye into my private life, not unlike the monitoring predicted in 1984.

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The engineering community is sleeping on Snapchat, but shouldn't be. My life is AR. I'm the CEO for an AR company, I speak write and live and breathe all things AR. Snapchat is poised to be the most important AR company around for several reasons. 1. They have a MASSIVE userbase that is comfortable with sharing their lives 2. That userbase has already shown an interest in AR - and yes whether you like it or not their…

And how will they make money? Selling ads in the AR world?

http://www.businessinsider.com/snapchats-sponsored-lenses-ar...

Re: Snapchat Seeks to Raise as Much as $4B in IPO

#60
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they are not. It's gonna be another gimmick lifestyle tech product that gets trumped up in the press and then no one cares about. They are glasses that only take ten seconds video and can only post it to snapchat. And they cost $130. Come on.

No WiFi. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Lol people post this everytime someone critiques a hyped up new bullshit tech product. Guess what, the vast majority of them fail. Spectacles is not the iPod. It's going to flop, I stand by it.
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