Evan Spiegel: 10 Amazing Facts About Snapchat's Co-Founder
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His First Business Was A Disaster
Learning from past mistakes is a great way to ensure success in the future, as Spiegel can certainly attest to. In 2010, he launched a startup called Future Freshman. The website provided students and parents with important advice about the college application process. The website also served as a way for users to relieve stress from applying for colleges. Although Future Freshmen sounded like a noble idea, the company never took off, and Spiegel eventually had to abandon it.
His First Business Was A Disaster
Learning from past mistakes is a great way to ensure success in the future, as Spiegel can certainly attest to. In 2010, he launched a startup called Future Freshman. The website provided students and parents with important advice about the college application process. The website also served as a way for users to relieve stress from applying for colleges. Although Future Freshmen sounded like a noble idea, the company never took off, and Spiegel eventually had to abandon it.
He Set Up A Unique Voting Power Situation
When a company typically goes public, they try to lure in potential investors by offering voting rights along with the stock. However, Snap took a different approach. The company offered no voting rights attached to the stock that was sold during the IPO. In fact, Spiegel and his co-founder Murphy maintain 70 percent of the voting power in the company. Meanwhile, both co-founders have roughly 45 percent ownership of the total shares available in Snap.
He Was The Youngest Self-Made Billionaire
In 2015, 25-year-old Spiegel became the world's youngest self-made billionaire. The wealth was obviously a result of the success of Snapchat and the growth of the company as a major social media network. Snapchat's other co-founder, Murphy, was tied with Stripe co-founder John Collison (both age 26) to become the second youngest self-made billionaire. On the one hand, it is very impressive to become a billionaire at a young age. On the other hand, the success brought a lot of negative attention towards Snapchat.
He Grew Up Wealthy
Although Spiegel earned a lot of money as an adult, his childhood was also luxurious. His parents were both wealthy lawyers. They raised him in the Pacific Palisades area near Los Angeles. He grew up with all of the amenities that a wealthy kid could ask for. Spiegel attended a private high school and was accepted into Stanford University, which was his father's alma mater. Many years later, Spiegel did acknowledge his incredible upbringing and his privilege.
He Was Fearful Of People Stealing His Ideas
When Snapchat started, Spiegel was terrified that other people in the tech sector would try to steal his ideas for the company. In fact, he was so afraid of this, that when the company ran out of money, he preferred to max out his credit cards instead of speaking to angel investors. He eventually changed his mind and managed to speak to different people in venture capital. This is when Snapchat began to take off.
He Is Philanthropic
With Snapchat taking off, Spiegel and his co-founder Murphy are using their wealth to help the world. The duo pledged to donate up to 13,000,000 shares of Class A common stock over the next 15 to 20 years. This could potentially result in hundreds of millions of dollars. The funds will go directly to programs for the arts, education, and youth non-profits. In addition, the company is also known for donating money to other philanthropic causes.
Spiegel Was Briefly Romantically Linked To Taylor Swift
Although Spiegel is now happily married to model Miranda Kerr, at one point he was reported having a short fling with recording artist Taylor Swift. Numerous gossip columnists said that Spiegel and Swift kissed each other in 2014 at a New Year's Eve party. As a reference, Spiegel began dating Kerr in 2015. Both Spiegel and Swift never confirmed the tabloid rumors. In 2015, Spiegel reportedly wanted to buy Swift's record label, but the deal never went through.
Snapchat Started As A Class Project
Long before Snapchat became a major social media network, it was a project designed by Spiegel and classmates Robert Murphy and Reggie Brown at Stanford University. The original name for the technology was Picaboo. At Stanford, the project didn't go well, and many students ridiculed the concept. Spiegel didn't give up after facing the criticism. Even though he was a few credits shy of graduating, he dropped out of Stanford to work on Picaboo, which later became Snapchat.
He Came Clean About Controversial Emails
In 2014, just as Snapchat was becoming a household name, a tech blog published some controversial emails sent by Spiegel when he was still an undergrad and in a fraternity. The emails include questionable language that seemed sexist and homophobic. Instead of denying the past, Spiegel came clean. He publicly apologized for the old emails and essentially said that the language does not reflect who he is today. Spiegel didn't let the damaging emails ruin his new reputation.
He Turned Down An Offer From Mark Zuckerberg
In 2013, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recognized that Snapchat was becoming an incredible force in the social media world. To remove the competition, Zuckerberg offered to buy Snapchat for $3 billion. Spiegel turned the down the offer. At the time, Spiegel received a lot of criticism for not taking the $3 billion deal. However, he knew that Snapchat had incredible potential, and he wasn't ready to sell. The decision paid off as Snapchat went public and is now worth over $20 billion.
Lives In A House Previously Owned By Harrison Ford
After getting married to model Miranda Kerr, Spiegel decided to buy a house for them to live in. The couple eventually settled on a $12 million worth seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom house in Brentwood, CA. The house was actually listed for $12.5 million, but Spiegel negotiated a better deal. Spiegel and Kerr also redecorated the house. The building sits on a 1-acre property with gorgeous scenery. The real kicker is that this incredible house was owned by movie star Harrison Ford.