Episode Ep 32 March 4, 2017 1 hr 22 min

The Snap Inc. IPO

From Acquired Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Snap! Acquired is live on the scene reporting from the "Super Bowl" of 2017 tech events: Snap Inc's hugely anticipated (and just plain huge) IPO. What does the future hold for this plucky “camera company”? Will Snap's IPO endure as tech's most important picture-frame since the 2012 debut of Facebook, or is it destined to fade as just another snapshot? We debate!

Sponsors:

Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26
Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

More Acquired!

Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
Join the Slack
Subscribe to ACQ2
Merch Store!

Topics covered include:

Reference to our previous Acquired episode on Snap covering Facebook’s failed attempt to acquire the company in 2013, which goes deep on Snap’s origins and early history
Snap’s busy years since: launching Discover, Lenses, Geofilters, new Chat, Memories, an ads API, acquiring Bitmoji, and, of course, debuting Spectacles
The incredible document that is Snap's S-1 filing (read starting from the “BUSINESS” section on p.93)
Snap Inc’s “unique” voting structure
Evan Spiegel’s “CEO Award” bonus for successfully completing an IPO: an extra 3.0% of the company worth more than $600M
Snap’s IPO pricing, first day of trading “pop”, and momentum carried into day two
Introducing a new show section (for IPOs): Narratives!
- Snap is a “camera company"
- Snap's opportunity is winning television ad dollars
- Snap is a cult of the “product genius”
- Snap has a growth problem… and its name is Instagram (Stories)
- Snap has a cost problem: the (first?) gross margin negative IPO
- Wall Street to Evan: “we trust you… for now"
Chris Sacca’s biggest email fail of 2012
…And of course all the classics from the Acquired canon: waves, moats, flywheels, network effects, starting small and more!