Evan Spiegel is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat – one of today‘s most popular social media apps. Over 300 million people around the world use Snapchat every day to communicate visually with friends through ephemeral pictures and videos enhanced by creative tools like lenses and filters.
Though still in his early 30s, Spiegel‘s innovative thinking has already disrupted the social media landscape by realizing a product vision focused on authentic, in-the-moment connections. His story offers valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to identify unmet needs and building empathetic products that meaningfully impacts people‘s lives.
The Life and Education Shaping An Innovator
Born on June 4th 1990 in Los Angeles, California, Evan grew up in Pacific Palisades surrounded by prosperity thanks to his two successful attorney parents. He attended the prestigious Crossroads private school nearby, developing passions for art and design aided by the school‘s creative philosophy.
Spiegel‘s Early Life
| Birthday | June 4, 1990 (Age 32) |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Los Angeles, California |
| Parents | Melissa Thomas & John W. Spiegel (lawyers) |
| Siblings | 1 younger sister, Caroline |
| Early Education | Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences (Pacific Palisades) |
Despite his parents splitting up when he was young, Evan excelled academically and interpersonally. He briefly studied design at Art Center College of Design before heading to Stanford University in 2008 to pursue product design. This fateful move would put Spiegel on a path towards billionaire tech glory…and love (more on that later!)
Turning a Conversation into a Revolution: The Snapchat Origin Story
Snapchat’s lightbulb moment traces back to a late-night conversation in 2011 between Evan Spiegel and two of his Stanford classmates, Reggie Brown and Bobby Murphy. They realized no app offered the ability to share temporary pictures that would disappear – ostensibly for sexting by how the media would come to caricaturize Snapchat initially.
Sensing more profound possibilities around promoting authenticity and privacy in photo/video sharing though, the trio built a prototype app called Picaboo. It allowed users to send images to friends that would vanish after being viewed once. Their hunch proved accurate – Snapchat spread like wildfire among Stanford students upon launch.
Staying true to his design training, Spiegel focused intently on creating an emotional connection between friends via Snapchat. Ephemerality and playful creative tools would facilitate more authentic, meaningful engagement. By 2012 Snapchat had rocketed to one million users sending 20+ million snaps daily. Feeling the momentum, Spiegel began concentrating on Snapchat full-time after just one more semester at Stanford.
Snapchat‘s Trajectory
| Launch | July 2011 (as Picaboo prototype) |
|---|---|
| 1 million users | February 2012 |
| Launch on iOS | October 2012 |
| Launch on Android | May 2013 |
| Stories feature introduced | October 2013 |
| Acquired Vergence Labs for Camera & Memories features | February 2014 |
| 10 billion daily video views | May 2016 |
Over its first five years, Snapchat rapidly evolved from a niche mobile app to a full-fledged platform by relentlessly shippings sexy new capabilities. Evan guided the product team towards fun ways to creatively enhance photos — then brought ephemerality to public storytelling. Snapchat cemented itself as the way bored teens and young adults amused themselves amongst friends – a hangout pocket universe filled with obscure in-jokes accumulated in memories and moments.
The numbers behind Snapchat‘s relentless growth
Since first grappling with massive scalability challenges during its viral dorm-room days at Stanford, Snapchat has blossomed into a social media giant under Evan‘s product leadership. Let‘s crunch some numbers highlighting the multiplying success Spiegel kickstarted by merging creativity and ephemerality so masterfully:
300 million daily active users as of Q4 2021. Grew users 13% that year.
Users under 25 spend over 30 minutes per day on Snapchat
Currently captures 90% of all the photos/videos created by 13-24 year olds in the US
Over 5 billion Snaps created every day
40% of Gen Z respondents named Snapchat as their favorite social app
Clearly Spiegel knew how to build an engaging, culturally relevant app that inserts itself into youth‘s lives and daily habits. But while personal growth fueled professional success, there were still some missing pieces needed to feel truly fulfilled…
From Stanford Standout to Miranda Kerr‘s Heart
In 2014 mutual friends set up an intrepid Evan Spiegel on a date with one of the biggest supermodels on earth – Miranda Kerr. Though seeming an unlikely match, Spiegel won over the dimpled Australian beauty during a disarming visit to NYC‘s Museum of Modern Art. They walked and talked for hours, bonding over their creative passions despite the virtually non-existent overlap between being a globetrotting Victoria‘s Secret angel and geeky app developer.
Kerr revealed years later that she was immediately smitten by Spiegel‘s good heart and their shared values. Though media speculation abounded, in typical iconoclastic fashion Spiegel didn‘t let their contrasting fame levels overwhelm the foundations of their private relationship.
After two years cultivating love and trust while splitting time between LA and international adventures, Spiegel proposed to Miranda in mid-2016. They wed in May 2017 at a small, intimate wedding at his home, capping off Spiegel‘s journey towards his lifelong dream of having a loving family.
Evan and Miranda have since welcomed two sons – Hart, born 2018, and Myles, born 2019. Miranda also has a son, Flynn, with actor Orlando Bloom from their previous high-profile relationship.
Spiegel‘s Family
| Wife | Miranda Kerr (m. 2017-present) |
|---|---|
| Children | Hart (b. 2018), Myles (b. 2019), Step-son Flynn w/ Orlando Bloom (b. 2011) |
And they lived happily ever financially, with Spiegel‘s net worth estimated at $5.2 billion. After visiting France while planning their wedding, the power couple recently bought a stunning modern vacation villa there. And what billionaire entrepreneur‘s family would be complete without a custom $250 million superyacht currently circumnavigating the globe?
Evan Spiegel‘s Quotes Capture His Creative Vision
"It seems odd that at the beginning of the Internet, everyone decided everything should stick around forever."
Since Snapchat‘s genesis in that legendary Stanford dorm chat, Evan held conviction that the incumbent social giants missed out on replicating rich, fleeting real-world interactions online. Snapchat returned emotion and intimacy to messaging through thoughtful design and restrictions promoting authenticity.
"I don’t want to disrupt anything. We never conceive of our products as disruptive – we don’t look at something and say, ‘Let’s disrupt that.‘ It’s always about how we can evolve this and make this better."
Spiegel resisted pigeonholing Snapchat as merely stupid selfies for sexting teens – he saw universal appeal in using creativity, context and ephemerality to facilitate connection and self-expression. Snapchat empowered people to reveal their genuine selves without worrying about judgement on curated social feeds.
By committing to a compassionate design process grounded in understanding diverse human motivations and needs, Evan made Snapchat into a beloved fixture cementing itself as a cultural touchstone.
The Future Remains Unwritten…in Ink
Having recently entered his 30s, Evan Spiegel seems destined for decades more visionary technology breakthroughs – perhaps even eclipsing the profound impact Snapchat itself has already left.
