Evan Spiegel (Snap) on AR Glasses, Getting Copied by Big Tech and the Social Media Age-Gating Debate
Social Currency with Sammi CohenShow Notes
Nearly a billion people open Snapchat every month, and almost half a billion use it every single day. Fifteen years after Evan Spiegel and his co-founders launched the app, formerly known as Peekaboo, out of a Stanford dorm room, Snap is betting its next decade on something you wear on your face.
This week, Sammi sits down with Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel to talk through the evolution of the company, how he thinks about being one of the most copied products in social media, and Specs, the $2,195 AR glasses more than a decade in the making. He explains why he sees the copying as a compliment to great design, why hardware is a much harder bet for competitors to follow than software, and what convinced him a decade ago that computing needed to move off screens and into the world.
Evan also breaks down the viral meme that introduced Specs to a mainstream audience, how the company thinks about privacy on a device built to record, and why Spotlight, Snap's video feed, has become one of its fastest growing products by rewarding authenticity over AI generated content. He shares his prediction for what Snap looks like in 2036 and his take on the ongoing debate over minimum ages for kids on social media.
Toward the end, Evan gets personal, talking about parenting four kids in a world full of screens, what his wife Miranda Kerr has taught him about skincare, and the story behind his family's donation to an organization that relieves medical debt.
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Here's What Sammi Covers with Evan:
00:00 Evan Spiegel's Social Currency
03:42 How Snapchat Started as "Peekaboo"
05:57 The Insight That Turned It Into a Messaging App
08:47 Being Social Media's Most Copied Product
11:06 What Evan Still Signs Off On at Snap
12:32 The Decade-Long Bet on AR Glasses
16:05 The Timeline for Mass Adoption of Specs
17:05 Evan's Live Reaction to Sammi Trying Specs
20:47 Why Specs Are Priced Like a Computer
22:29 The Viral Meme That Introduced Specs to the World
23:58 How Specs Are Designed Around Privacy
27:35 Why Spotlight Is One of Snap's Fastest-Growing Products
33:00 Evan's Prediction for Snap in 2036
37:42 Evan's Take on the Social Media Age-Gating Debate
41:22 Parenting Four Kids in a World Full of Screens
41:29 What Miranda Kerr Taught Him About Skincare
43:31 The Story Behind the Undo Medical Debt Donation
46:03 Lightning Round
49:37 Listener Question: Staying Motivated Building Hardware
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