This CEO turned down .5 BILLION from Mark Zuckerberg.
Everyone called him insane.
Zuckerberg was furious - and tried to destroy his company.
Today? It’s worth B.
Here’s how ONE rejection changed tech history forever:🧵
November 2013:
23yo Evan Spiegel flies to Los Angeles for a secret meeting with 26yo Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook is worth 4B.
Snapchat? A 2-year-old app run by college dropouts with ZERO revenue.
Yet Zuckerberg is worried enough to offer .5B cash.
Spiegel doesn't even let Zuckerberg finish his pitch and rejected instantly.
Zuckerberg switched to 'War Mode'.
And Wall Street analysts were BRUTAL:
"The height of tech arrogance"
"A decision he'll regret forever"
But Spiegel saw something others missed…
Behind the scenes, Spiegel had data few knew about:
- 350M snaps sent daily (2013)
- 71% of users under 25
- Average user opening the app 18+ times daily
The key metric?
Facebook was LOSING teen users precisely when Snapchat was gaining them.
Zuckerberg's response was swift and brutal:
Within weeks, Facebook launched "Poke” - an exact Snapchat clone.
Zuckerberg's message was clear: "Sell to us, or we'll copy you out of existence."
It was the first shot in what would become an all-out war.
2014:
After Poke failed, Facebook tried again - this time offering B.
Spiegel refuses again.
Internally, Snapchat's board is panicking.
Everyone tries to convince him to sell.
Yet Spiegel wouldn't budge.
Facebook's next move? Total warfare.
- Instagram Stories ( Snapchat clone)
- WhatsApp Status (another clone)
- Messenger Day (another clone)
- Facebook Stories (yes, another one)
Zuckerberg's strategy: clone Snapchat's features across all Facebook apps to suffocate the upstart.
The pressure was immense:
- Facebook's user base: 1.3B
- Snapchat's user base: 50M
- Facebook's resources: Unlimited
- Snapchat's runway: Limited
When Snapchat's growth stalled in 2017, tech media declared Spiegel had made "the biggest mistake in tech history."
But behind the scenes, Spiegel was executing a different vision:
- Rebranding as a "camera company"
- Launching Spectacles hardware
- Developing AR technology
- Creating original content
His bet?
Social media was just the beginning of visual communication.
2018:
The real test of Spiegel's vision. Snapchat redesigns its app.
The result? DISASTER.
- 1.2M users sign petition to revert changes
- Kylie Jenner tweets she's done with the app
- Stock drops 7% (.3B) in a single day
Spiegel stands firm: "The risk will pay off later.”
Meanwhile, the competition intensifies.
2019: Instagram hits 500M daily users
2020: TikTok explodes globally
2021: YouTube launches Shorts
Many predict Snapchat's imminent death.
But something unexpected happens...
Snapchat doesn't die. It thrives.
By focusing on what Zuckerberg overlooked:
- Real friendships over broadcasting
- Privacy when others pursued virality
- AR while others chased VR
- Young users while others aged up
April 2023:
Snapchat: 750M monthly users
Stock price: 10x since IPO low
Market cap: B
Annual revenue: .6B
And Spiegel's personal stake? Worth WAY more than Zuckerberg's original .5B offer.
It might have lost some momentum - but it's still going strong even today.
The key lessons?
1) Sometimes refusing acquisition is the right move
2) Your biggest competitor will likely try to copy you
3) Growth at all costs isn't always the answer
4) The crowd is often wrong about long-term vision
Today, with a B market cap, Spiegel's "mistake" looks like genius.
Not because he predicted everything correctly. Not because the path was smooth.
But because he understood something profound:
Some visions are worth fighting for, even when everyone tells you you're wrong.
While Facebook (now Meta) spent years trying to crush Snapchat, they missed the rise of TikTok.
The obsession with killing their rival blinded them to new threats.
Meanwhile, Spiegel built Snap into what it is today:
A cornerstone of youth culture and AR innovation.
My most important takeaway?
The billion-dollar decision often isn't about money.
It's about conviction in your vision when everyone else thinks you're wrong.
And the courage to walk away from life-changing money because you believe something greater lies ahead.
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A bit about me:
I'm Riccardo.
Business owner who loves to talk about exciting and inspirational stories.
My goal?
Work with great founders and inspire others to become one.
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Great things ahead.
