What started off as a means to send girls and guys nude images, is one of the most used applications around the world today. A simple idea of being able to send disappearing pictures became a force in technology, advertising and entertainment. This is the founding story of Snapchat, the multimedia messaging app created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown.
Launched in the year 2011, the idea came to the founders when they were studying at Stanford University where Spiegel presented its first incarnation as part of a project for his product design class. Initially called Picaboo, the photo sharing service was first launched on the Apple App Store. But, soon after launching the app, Spiegel and Murphy decided to remove Brown from the company which led to a lawsuit and a subsequent $ 158 million settlement.
Spiegel and Murphy relaunched the app, post the lawsuit, with a new name, Snapchat. Snapchat became incredibly popular with kids and gained 100,000 users by April 2012 majorly through word of mouth. While Evan’s, Bobby’s and Spiegel’s first crack at an idea like Snapchat was a disaster, the present iteration is the beta version is an unparalleled success. Snapchat, as we know it, came to be after 6 weeks of intense work and a presentation in front of 30 students and 2 professors. The idea of pictures not lasting forever was a concept people were really not familiar with and once everyone understood the concept, it became an instant success!
Even after going through rounds of failures and mishaps, Snapchat came to become one of the most successful businesses in the world of startups. One of the most unique photo sharing apps, Snapchat is now valued at a staggering $ 24 billion. In May 2015 alone, Snapchat raised $ 538 million in new funding rounds and it is believed to have shared more than 15 billion images during the last 3 years. With such quick growth and progress, Snapchat stands at being the third most valued startup in the world!
