Over the weekend, I reported about the recent successes of an up-and-coming start-up, Snapchat, that lets people send messages that disappear after they are viewed. I spent two days with the founders of the company, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, in Los Angeles, interviewing them and learning about their business.
Snapchat’s headquarters are on the sunny stretch of the Venice Beach boardwalk, steps from surf and sand, in an airy beach house whose previous tenants include a medical marijuana dispensary and a Nike party house.
Their offices have a glowing, life-size replication of their app icon positioned outside the main entrance.
The company also has security detail, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep anyone wandering by from trying to break into the offices.
The company also has a lot of Snapchat-themed art in its offices, including a series of prints that say “No photographs please” and a glitter portrait of their company mascot, “Ghostface Chillah.”
Snapchat does not currently generate any revenue, but its founders envision a future where the company could partner with brands or advertisers that want to show certain Snapchat users a glimpse of a new device, a preview of a new movie or a sneak peek of an upcoming line of clothing. Or, they say, they could show “exploding coupons,” an image that gives information about a deal or discount that expires after a certain amount of time.
Mr. Spiegel and Mr. Murphy met at Stanford, and eventually became roommates. Mr. Spiegel said he would often ask Mr. Murphy for help with computer science and Mr. Murphy recalled being impressed with a line of shirts that Mr. Spiegel designed for their fraternity, which set the precedent for their future business partnership.
One of Snapchat’s defining features is that it allows users to take screenshots of photos they receive, which sends a notification to the sender, alerting them that an image of their photo was taken. This, of course, means that nimble-fingered Snapchat users can make copies of photos that would otherwise disappear after a few seconds. Snapchat’s founders say that feature can also be considered akin to a “like” or a “favorite,” a signal to the sender that their image was favorably received.
Before working on Snapchat, Mr. Spiegel and Mr. Murphy collaborated on a Web product, Future Freshman, a guide for high school students who were applying to college. The product failed to gain any significant traction, however, and the founders went back to the drawing board before coming up with Snapchat.
Snapchat’s original name was Pickaboo — a riff on the kid’s game Peekaboo. But that name was taken by another photo company, and after a brainstorm session, the founders settled on Snapchat.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 11, 2013
An earlier version of this post misspelled the surname of one of Snapchat's founders on some references. He is Evan Spiegel, not Siegel.
Bits Blog: Reporter's Notebook: Snapchat's Path From Stanford to the Beach
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