Exact Formula Used To Build A $130 Billion Company! I Said No to $3B From Mark Zuckerberg!

Evan Spiegel is the co-founder and CEO of Snapchat, now Snap. Inc. He founded Snapchat while he was a student at Stanford University and became the youngest billionaire in the world at the age of 25. If you enjoyed this conversation, we think you'll also like our episode with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman - https://youtu.be/eTkFItOG3Kk 00:00 Intro 02:12 The Dots That Got You Here 03:16 Did You Feel Like You Fitted In? 03:29 When Did Computers First Come Into the Picture? 04:45 Things Aren’t as Complicated as They Seem 05:11 You Got Bullied 05:52 What Were You Like as a Kid 07:16 Why CEOs Don’t Do Many Podcasts 08:38 Why Did You Choose Product Design? 10:13 Your Class in Entrepreneurship 10:43 Most Important Lesson From Entrepreneurship Class 11:45 Big Ambitions 13:09 Entrepreneurship Challenges in Europe 15:42 Your First Failure 17:42 How to Know When to Quit 18:32 Why Love and Passion Matter 19:01 Launching Early & Getting Feedback Fast 20:22 How Your Initial Ideas Can Be Wrong 21:20 How You Got Started With Snapchat 26:46 How to Know What Customer Feedback to Implement 28:19 How You Raised Capital 29:29 Investor Feedback 30:00 Building a Social Network Sounds Delusional 31:34 Did You Ever Doubt Snapchat Would Work? 36:02 Quitting University to Build Snapchat 37:16 Most Important Entrepreneurial Advice for Young People 39:10 Could Job Titles Be Limiting Creativity? 40:17 The Hierarchy Problem in Companies 42:06 How Do You Innovate at Snapchat? 47:44 How Important Is Hiring? 48:45 Hiring Mistakes to Avoid 50:51 Three Leadership Traits of a Perfect Hire 52:10 Being Nice vs. Being Kind 53:37 T-Shaped Leadership 56:29 Advice to Younger Evan on Leadership 59:24 Embedding Company Culture Early 01:01:36 What Founders Should Do When Culture Dilutes 01:03:19 Company Incentives 01:04:10 Worst Advice You Got Early On 01:05:32 How Mark Zuckerberg Approached You 01:09:50 Did You Doubt Saying No to That Offer? 01:12:59 Becoming the Youngest Billionaire at 25 01:14:05 Managing a Romantic Relationship 01:19:09 Ads 01:20:07 Your LinkedIn Bio Joke 01:22:31 Did You Message Mark Zuckerberg When They Copied Features? 01:26:43 Should Big Tech Monopolies Be Stopped? 01:29:11 Hardest Day When Competitors Copied You 01:30:16 How Managers Lead in Tough Times 01:31:34 Content Moderation Challenges 01:36:14 Why Meta Rolled Back Moderation Policies 01:39:06 Are You Optimistic About America? 01:39:54 Social Media Usage With Your Kids 01:42:37 Is TikTok’s Ban Good for Your Business? 01:45:53 Snapchat Going Public 01:48:14 When You Had to Kill Projects You Loved 01:50:01 How Do You Know What to Prioritize? 01:52:09 How You Reacted to Ray-Ban Spectacles Launch 01:53:23 Will Kids Learn From AI in the Future? 01:56:20 What's the Tradeoff With AI? 01:58:08 Ads 02:00:21 What Phase Is Snapchat in for 2025? 02:02:00 Importance of Having Counsels at Work 02:05:20 Knowing When to Listen to Your Team 02:06:08 Work-From-Home Policies 02:08:28 Principles to Become a Successful Entrepreneur 02:10:04 How Do You Manage Stress? 02:12:56 The Worst Days of Snapchat 02:13:36 Do You Have Imposter Syndrome? 02:14:54 Would You Start Another Tech Company? 02:17:09 Hardest Thing You’ve Ever Overcome 02:18:03 Self-Awareness 02:20:31 Do You Feel Impatient as a Leader? 02:21:21 What Would Your Team Say About You? 02:21:58 What Are You Really Good At? 02:26:41 The Biggest Question Every Entrepreneur Should Ask Are you ready to think like a CEO? Gain access to the 100 CEOs newsletter here: ⁠https://bit.ly/100-ceos-newsletter Follow Evan: Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/hnvyN8X8SRb You can find out more about the launch of Snap’s new glasses, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/GDzqC6XeTRb Get access to exclusive Diary of a CEO content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGq-a57w-aPwyi3pW7XLiHw/join You can purchase the The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards: Second Edition, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb Sign up to receive email updates about Diary Of A CEO here: https://bit.ly/diary-of-a-ceo-yt Follow me: https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors: Linkedin Ads - https://www.linkedin.com/DIARY GoodNotes - http://goodnotes.com/DOAC Perfect Ted - https://www.perfectted.com with code STEVEN40 for 40% off