Episode 32: The Snap Inc. IPO

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:

• Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
• WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
• Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25
• Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26

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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! 

  The Carve Out: 

• Ben:  The Bill Simmons Podcast with Ben Thompson
• David: The Art of War, also Evan Spiegel’s Carve Out for 2013 :)