Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
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Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#2Two bits which caught my attention:
"[Evan Spiegel] has dismissed ideas that rely heavily on data, according to people who have worked with him. He prefers to study the experience of users for cues on revisions and new features, some of the people said.
...
One banker involved in the IPO said he thought the lack of voting shares and other decisions could imperil the company’s standing with investors, possibly hurting its stock price. But he said he didn’t articulate that to Snap’s executives for fear of jeopardizing his spot on the prized deal."
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#3This just reminds me of the whole ratings agency misalignment of incentives during the financial crisis.
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#4I think Snap is an interesting company. I'm very curious to see where it'll be in 3-5 years.
I wonder if kids not yet on Snap (because they're too young), will go directly to Instagram for its stories feature in addition to pictures, etc., or if it'll still acquire those future social media users. I think it's unlikely to grab many new adult users who are only now getting into social media.
If I were the head of Snap, I'd scrap the spectacles operation and spend time thinking about, and experimenting with, the future of media and social media.
Perhaps there's an iPhone-like opportunity.
I also think it needs to make its product way faster and more intuitive to use.
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#5I think Snap is an interesting company. I'm very curious to see where it'll be in 3-5 years. I wonder if kids not yet on Snap (because they're too young), will go directly to Instagram for its stories feature in addition to pictures, etc., or if it'll still acquire those future social media users. I think it's unlikely to grab many new adult users who are only now getting into social media. If I were the head of Snap…
Snapchat is very confusing and poorly designed. 100% agree with you on the intuition part.
But I don't think spectacles really has much influence on future of company; that is, Snapchat will fail or succeed for other reasons entirely. It might look expensive on paper, but the glasses project is more of a marketing stunt than a mass market product. If people don't want to use Snapchat, they won't use a device that is designed for it. So problems with the platform will make people not buy them.
The app is being copied by others, and their app also is getting worse. More features, more bugs, more ads. People promote their image and show off happiness and wealth on their stories. It has all of the negative experiences of other social networks, and it's got the sexual harassment aspect, too. Many many female friends of mine receive unwanted dick pics.
It's easy to see why they're struggling to grow. My first impression was that it was a messaging solution. Then it morphed into a social network, and some people expect to add you as a friend as casually as they would on Facebook.
In my opinion, Snapchat was more intimate and not something you just add everyone.
As a result of people adding hundreds of low-intimacy relationships to an app that was intended to be a 1-to-1 messaging solution, they are becoming disenchanted with the novelty. It's no longer fun to use Snapchat like it used to be.
Looking back, if paying $5 for the app would have kept Snapchat from doing their media stuff and led to making it a secure, encrypted platform, I would've gladly bought it. Just sad that it's become Facebook.
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#6I think Snap is an interesting company. I'm very curious to see where it'll be in 3-5 years. I wonder if kids not yet on Snap (because they're too young), will go directly to Instagram for its stories feature in addition to pictures, etc., or if it'll still acquire those future social media users. I think it's unlikely to grab many new adult users who are only now getting into social media. If I were the head of Snap…
Snapchat is very confusing and poorly designed. 100% agree with you on the intuition part. But I don't think spectacles really has much influence on future of company; that is, Snapchat will fail or succeed for other reasons entirely. It might look expensive on paper, but the glasses project is more of a marketing stunt than a mass market product. If people don't want to use Snapchat, they won't use a device that is…
Would $5 have been too big a barrier-to-entry for the youngest Snapchatters?
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#7I think Snap is doing the best pure "Social Media" experience of any service right now. Whether or not that can really be monetized without becoming another Facebook is a different story.
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#8Two bits which caught my attention: "[Evan Spiegel] has dismissed ideas that rely heavily on data, according to people who have worked with him. He prefers to study the experience of users for cues on revisions and new features, some of the people said. ... One banker involved in the IPO said he thought the lack of voting shares and other decisions could imperil the company’s standing with investors, possibly hurting…
Matt Levine had a good take on the second point (as always): an underwriter used to lend its name and authority to an IPO as a gatekeeper, back when IPOs were rarer. Now they will sign onto just about any deal, and while they still do some due diligence, it means very little to investors that Morgan Stanley or UBS is underwriting.
“Nobody bought Snap because of Morgan Stanley's imprimatur. In this world, the underwriters are mostly just service providers. Certainly they have due-diligence obligations -- they really aren't supposed to take companies public if their financials are fraudulent -- but they don't have much leverage to insist on things like voting stock or forward-looking earnings guidance. The market decides stuff like that, not the underwriters. The underwriters just shut up and execute.”
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#9I think Snap is an interesting company. I'm very curious to see where it'll be in 3-5 years. I wonder if kids not yet on Snap (because they're too young), will go directly to Instagram for its stories feature in addition to pictures, etc., or if it'll still acquire those future social media users. I think it's unlikely to grab many new adult users who are only now getting into social media. If I were the head of Snap…
Snapchat is very confusing and poorly designed. 100% agree with you on the intuition part. But I don't think spectacles really has much influence on future of company; that is, Snapchat will fail or succeed for other reasons entirely. It might look expensive on paper, but the glasses project is more of a marketing stunt than a mass market product. If people don't want to use Snapchat, they won't use a device that is…
> and it's got the sexual harassment aspect,
> too. Many many female friends of
> mine receive unwanted dick pics.
Re: Snap’s Rise and Fall: How a Big, Splashy IPO Prompted the Doubters to Keep Mum
#10I still think Snap is a good long play because so far they are the only social network to "get" Augmented Reality. Google has already had multiple AR missteps (Glass, Tango, Pokemon Go via Niantic), Facebook is playing AR copycat, Microsoft's AR is targeting big industry.
Snap's entertainment experience puts the viewer in the center of the action, similar to VR 360° experiences and Spectacles is a direct expression of that understanding. Snap's AR advertising (sponsored filters) has been an overwhelming success. I don't think a real competitor has emerged for Snap yet, as long as they stay the course.