Met the Creator of Snapchat…no biggie

Guess what? Yeah, I guess the title gives it away, but our class just met the creator of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel. Pretty cool.

Snapchat is an app for iphone that allows people to send timed pictures to their friends, meaning that the message receiver can only view the photo for a certain period of time and then it disappears.

But the coolest part? This guy is only 22 years old. Only four years older than me. It’s hard to imagine that someone so close to my age can create one of iphone’s top apps, shoving him into the world of business.

We asked him about his secrets for success. He told us that he never really planned for the app to take off like it did (aka he didn’t have any secrets). He and his friends created Snaphchat because they believed that texting was over. They wanted to communicate with pictures instead. They also didn’t understand why photos had to be so permanent. Why couldn’t the pictures just evaporate after it had been viewed?

At first, Spiegel’s peers bashed his idea. “People are only going to use that thing for sexting” they told him. But Spiege simply shrugged his shoulders and continued messing around with his new little toy because it was fun and a great alternative to boring text messages.

Evan Spiegel and Snapchat are a great example of how your own creation made for your own pleasure can become a phenomenon. Instead of listening to his peers, Spiegel kept his app because he enjoyed it and believed in its potential.

 

Photo from NY Times