Snapchat CEO: Exact Formula Used To Build A $130 Billion Company! I Said No To $3 Billion From Mark Zuckerberg! It’s Time To Quit Your Job When You Feel This!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 149 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From turning down $3 billion from Facebook to building a $100 billion empire, Evan Spiegel reveals the blueprint behind Snapchat. Evan Spiegel, co-founder & CEO of Snapchat (now Snap Inc.), founded the app while at Stanford and became the youngest billionaire at 25. In this conversation, Evan and Steven cover how Snapchat almost didn’t exist, Evan’s ‘T-Shaped’ leadership style, getting bullied before founding Snapchat, and the harshest day of his CEO journey. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:29 The Dots That Got You Here 03:33 Did You Feel Like You Fitted In? 03:46 When Did Computers First Come In? 05:02 Things Aren’t as Complicated as They Seem 05:28 You Got Bullied 06:09 What Were You Like as a Kid 07:33 Why CEOs Don’t Do Many Podcasts 08:55 Why Did You Choose Product Design? 10:30 Your Class in Entrepreneurship 11:00 Key Lesson From Entrepreneurship Class 12:02 Big Ambitions 13:26 Entrepreneurship in Europe 16:00 Your First Failure 18:00 How to Know When to Quit 18:50 Why Love & Passion Matter 19:19 Launching Early & Getting Feedback Fast 20:39 How Initial Ideas Can Be Wrong 21:37 How You Started Snapchat 27:03 Customer Feedback to Implement 28:36 Raising Capital 29:46 Investor Feedback 30:17 Building a Social Network Sounds Delusional 31:51 Doubting Snapchat's Success 36:19 Quitting University for Snapchat 37:33 Advice for Young Entrepreneurs 39:27 Are Job Titles Limiting Creativity? 40:34 Hierarchy Issues in Companies 42:22 Innovating at Snapchat 47:59 Importance of Hiring 49:00 Hiring Mistakes to Avoid 51:06 Leadership Traits of a Perfect Hire 52:25 Being Nice vs. Being Kind 53:52 T-Shaped Leadership 56:44 Advice to Younger Evan 59:39 Embedding Company Culture Early 01:01:51 When Company Culture Dilutes 01:03:35 Company Incentives 01:04:25 Worst Early Advice 01:05:47 How Mark Zuckerberg Approached You 01:10:04 Saying No to That Offer 01:13:13 Youngest Billionaire at 25 01:14:19 Managing Romantic Relationships 01:19:23 Ads 01:20:21 Your LinkedIn Bio Joke 01:22:45 Messaging Zuckerberg When They Copied Features 01:26:57 Should Big Tech Monopolies Be Stopped? 01:29:25 Hardest Day When Copied 01:30:30 Leading in Tough Times 01:31:48 Content Moderation Challenges 01:36:28 Why Meta Rolled Back Moderation Policies 01:39:20 Optimism About America 01:40:08 Social Media & Your Kids 01:42:51 Is TikTok's Ban Good for Snapchat? 01:46:07 Snapchat Going Public 01:48:28 Killing Projects You Loved 01:50:15 How Do You Prioritize? 01:52:23 Ray-Ban Spectacles Launch Reaction 01:53:37 Will Kids Learn From AI? 01:56:34 Tradeoffs With AI 01:58:22 Ads 02:00:35 Snapchat in 2025 02:02:14 Importance of Counsels at Work 02:05:34 When to Listen to Your Team 02:06:22 Work-From-Home Policies 02:08:42 Principles of a Successful Entrepreneur 02:10:18 Managing Stress 02:13:10 Worst Days of Snapchat 02:13:50 Do You Have Imposter Syndrome? 02:15:08 Would You Start Another Tech Company? 02:17:23 Hardest Thing You’ve Overcome 02:18:17 Self-Awareness 02:20:45 Do You Feel Impatient as a Leader? 02:21:35 What Would Your Team Say About You? 02:22:12 What Are You Really Good At? 02:26:55 Biggest Question Entrepreneurs Should Ask Follow Evan: Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/hnvyN8X8SRb More about Snap's new glasses - https://g2ul0.app.link/GDzqC6XeTRb Watch on YouTube: https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACEpisodes Get My Book & Cards: 'The 33 Laws Of Business & Life' - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACBook Conversation Cards: https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb Follow Me: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: LinkedIn Ads - https://www.linkedin.com/DIARY Perfect Ted - https://www.perfectted.com (Code: DIARY40) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You became the world's youngest billionaire at the age of 25. You've got Mark Zuckerberg offering you
0:05.2	$3 billion. That was a fateful day for sure, but we decided that we'd rather go it alone.
0:11.1	Was there ever a day where you doubted that decision?
0:15.5	Evan Spiegel is the co-founder behind one of the world's biggest social media platforms. Snapchat.
0:20.5	He turned disappearing messages into a multi-billion dollar empire,
0:23.5	redefining how we connect online.
0:25.4	Evan, you don't do many podcasts, do you?
0:27.2	I don't do much public speaking at all, but I want to share a bit more.
0:31.0	So let's go back to those early days.
0:32.6	So I was an introvert growing up, and I loved to build stuff.
0:35.6	At school, I had built my own computer. And once you start
0:38.1	realizing that things that look really complicated on the surface aren't that difficult,
0:41.9	you start wondering, you know, what else you can build. So that led to building Snapchat at 21.
0:45.9	I was an undergrad at Stanford and we'd raised $485,000, sort of $4.25 million valuation.
0:51.6	What a fucking deal. But back then, there were a lot of apps that would get popular really, really quickly,
0:55.5	and then sort of fade away.
0:56.5	And a lot of people told us that we should sell it.
0:59.0	They said, you're just sending photos back and forth.
1:01.0	I was this going to grow for the long term.
1:03.0	But the growth of Snapchat was atypical, to say the least.
1:05.0	It was like this virus, and it was reaching 75 million users on a monthly basis. So I wondered if you had any advice on the fundamental principles of success.
1:12.6	How much people care about what they do and the ability to move quickly is the predictor of success.
	...

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