Snapchat CEO: Why distribution has become the most important moat | Evan Spiegel
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You guys have a billion monthly active users. Why is it so freaking hard to build a durable, lasting social consumer product?
Why is distribution the biggest challenge for consumer technology?
So much of consumer technology focuses on product market fit. People don't spend nearly enough time thinking about distribution and figuring out distribution.
I feel like Snap has always been punching above its weight in terms of just how much new stuff comes out of your team. Stories, AR glasses, swipe-based navigation.
We have a very, very small design team that is constantly innovating and creating new things. Your first day that you join the design team, you present work. You're making things. If you want to have a good idea, you have to have lots of ideas. People copy you. As a human, how does it feel just to see this consistently happen? 15 years ago, we essentially learned that software is not a moat, which is something that everyone is discovering today with AI. You describe this coming year as the crucible moment. It's a real turning point. We're in an industry where so much of the conversation is focused on technology. Humanity is far more important. because humanity dictates how technology is adopted. Technology leaders think that folks will just blindly adopt new technology as it comes out.
There's going to be a huge amount of societal pushback on a lot of the changes that are coming with AI.
Today, my guest is Evan Spiegel, CEO and co-founder of Snap. Evan is one of the very few humans in the world who has successfully built and scaled a lasting consumer social app. In the 15 years since Snapchat launched, there are essentially zero social consumer apps that have launched and stuck around. Snapchat has over 1 billion monthly active users, is generating over $6 billion a year in revenue.
How did Snapchat innovate with a small design team?
People post over 8 billion AR lens photos a day on Snapchat. And over the years, Evan and his team have invented the concept of stories.
What is the origin story behind Snapchat's Stories feature?
They had the first AR glasses product in the market. They invented swipe-based navigation, the camera being primary. And also back in the day, face swapping, making people look older, and so many of the things that are just copied throughout the entire industry. If this is truly the golden age of consumer products, like many people say AI is going to enable, there's a lot that we can learn about how Evan and his team think and operate and are able to continue innovating. This is a rare podcast interview with Evan, and we cover a lot of ground.
How does Evan Spiegel view the role of product managers at Snap?
Before we get into it, don't forget to check out lenny'sproductpass.com for a year free of the hottest and most well-crafted AI products in the world, available exclusively to Lenny's newsletter subscribers. With that, I bring you Evan Spiegel. Evan, thank you so much for being here.
How is AI transforming the designer-PM-engineer relationship?
Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
Why is software no longer considered a competitive moat?
I want to start with just trying to understand and help people understand why is it so freaking hard to build a durable, lasting consumer product, and in particular, a social consumer product. And just to give people this context, I don't think people realize this, but Since you launched 15 years ago, there's basically TikTok, which is not really social. It's more of like a media platform, I'd say. And then maybe Threads, which I think is cheating because it just sits on top of Instagram. Basically, nothing else has worked other than Snapchat 15 years ago. And in spite of everyone just like everyone innately just wants to build a consumer product, social app. It's just like where everyone first goes.
Everybody fails. Nothing works. Why is it so hard? What do you think people don't get?
Well, I think it's really interesting, you know, in terms of the examples that you just shared, right, of TikTok and threads, because you just shared two examples of people who figured out distribution. And I think that that's actually one of the hardest things to figure out in consumer technology today. We were so fortunate when we created Snapchat, the mobile phone, you know, in the app store were just getting started. So people were downloading lots of new apps all the time.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:08
2
Why is distribution the biggest challenge for consumer technology?
0:08–1:35
3
How did Snapchat innovate with a small design team?
1:35–1:45
4
What is the origin story behind Snapchat's Stories feature?
1:45–2:14
5
How does Evan Spiegel view the role of product managers at Snap?
2:14–2:34
6
How is AI transforming the designer-PM-engineer relationship?
2:34–2:38
7
Why is software no longer considered a competitive moat?
2:38–3:44
8
What is the significance of this year for Snapchat?
3:44–1:10:22
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