Evan Thomas Spiegel aka Evan Spiegel is the CEO and Co founder of the most popular mobile application Snapchat. This tech geek is loved by everyone for bringing up the most incredibly used photo sharing app. The smart and savvy tech entrepreneur rebelled against the archived timelines of the other social media platforms to allow users to communicate at the moment through temporary pictures, video and text. As of now, there are 100 million active users sharing 9,000 snaps per second. Huge, right? Evan shot to fame after pioneering the idea of self deleting pictures on Snapchat. Evan Spiegel is someone the young generation looks up to for inspiration. With an estimated net worth of $ 2.1 billion, 26 year old Spiegel is the youngest billionaire in the world.

Here are 5 life lessons to learn from Evan Spiegel!

1. Dare to be unique

Do not be like everyone else. Dare to be unique and showcase your thing with confidence! The talented lad Evan said to have faith in yourself. Know that you will be capable of all the growth expected of you and that you expect of yourself. Having faith in oneself and letting things happen makes you stand out from the crowd. If you have an idea that is unique and different, do not be afraid to showcase it!

As an entrepreneur, you need to believe in yourself and make things happen with passion and dedication!

2. Follow your heart

Evan Spiegel spoke at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business where he was the chief guest. Spiegel called out students to follow their heart and intuitions. He encouraged the people present at the event to listen to their heart and follow that instead of relying on someone else’s advice. If you have an idea, go follow it! Put your soul and heart into it to make it happen and see the stars following your path!

3. It’s not about the Degree

A degree doesn’t matter as long as you are passionate about something that could be implemented with immense dedication. Spiegel came up with the idea of Snapchat while working on a class project as a student, at Stanford in 2010. He initially named it Picaboo. With two of his fraternity brothers, Spiegel left the college in 2012 to develop Snapchat before he completed his degree and the rest we know is history! Evan unique Spiegel explained he too had participated in his class’ graduation ceremony, despite not receiving his degree. He even wore the cap and gown and walked onto the stage.

4. Learn from your mistakes

The inception of Snapchat took place with a mistake. Yes, we are not kidding! Snapchat was also thought up in a college dorm room. The idea came after a conversation with his frat brothers Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy at Stanford University about sexting. There was a confusion made by one of the Snapchat’s co founder Reggie Brown. He had stepped into Spiegel’s room to discuss a photo he wished he didn’t send to someone. Brown had said I wish there was an app to send disappearing photos. Spiegel immediately became animated and called it a million dollar idea. Of course, he wasn’t wrong. We now have the best photo sharing app! Learning from your mistakes and using it as an opportunity to focus on the better is a very important thing! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, learn from them instead.

5. If at first, you don’t succeed, try and try again

It was then that Evan and his colleague developed the idea of Snapchat and started working on its development. They named it Picaboo, which failed to attract any investors’ support. Basically, just because there were some flaws in it. On top of that, the idea that why one would share an image that disappears led to the downfall of the group. Spiegel once said you are going to make a lot of mistakes. I’ve already made a ton of them some of them very publicly and it will feel terrible, but it will be okay. Just apologize as quickly as you can and pray for forgiveness.

At the end of the day if you are passionate about something and work hard for that you will ultimately achieve it.