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Evan Spiegel has been building Snap for fifteen years, and this post is the cover note on a letter he sent the team on 8 September that Snap published in full. The letter is where the substance is, and it is unusually plain about the hard part. He names the share price in the first paragraph, writes that Snap has never turned a full year GAAP net income profit, and points at analysts estimating the first one in 2027. Advertising revenue grew 9% year on year last quarter, which he calls slower than many of Snap's competitors, and he puts the gap between compounding that at 15% and at 5% as what decides the company's profitability over the next three to five years, so ads growth is now the first business priority after community safety. Against that he sets SPECS, launching this year after twelve years of work, which he calls an asymmetric bet rather than a plan. The part worth a founder's time is the shape of it. 971 million people used Snapchat monthly in Q2, and the letter opens on the share price rather than on that.
Evan Spiegel
After fifteen years building Snap, I’ve never been more excited about our business and what’s ahead. I’m profoundly grateful for our community of nearly one billion Snapchatters, our team, and partners who make it all possible. 👻😎
Annual letter here:
Evan Spiegel's post on X, curated on eChai
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