Back

𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘃𝘀 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗭𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴 𝗖𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗮 $𝟯𝗕 𝗥𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆-𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑. Snapchat is exploding. Young people love it. Quick, raw, and fun — it feels like the future. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐙𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬. He offers $𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 to buy Snapchat. But Evan Spiegel — just 23 years old — says 𝐧𝐨. He wants to build something bigger. Zuck doesn’t get angry. He gets 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜. And what comes next? One of the most savage moves in startup history. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆-𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀 Zuckerberg doesn’t just build new features. He 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞. Snapchat Stories? → 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 (2016) AR Filters and Lenses? → Added to 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 & 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 Disappearing messages? → 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐀𝐩𝐩 & 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 get them too Spiegel watched as 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 ... ...got 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 to Facebook’s 𝟑-𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧+ 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲 Snap’s user growth slows. Instagram Stories blows past it. Advertisers shift budgets. Teens move to Instagram. Snapchat is still loved, but Facebook is 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐧. Even Snap’s 2017 IPO is underwhelming. Meanwhile, Instagram becomes 𝐙𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐠’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭. 𝟯 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸-𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝗿 1. 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. A good product is powerful. But a good product with billions of users? 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲. 2. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡, 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 — 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲. Facebook didn’t invent Stories. But it scaled them better than Snapchat ever could. 3. 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬. Spiegel kept his company. But he faced a decade-long war with a tech giant. 𝐙𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞, 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. This wasn’t just business. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐫. I hope you've enjoyed this. Follow Vishu Bheda for more such amazing business stories!