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Embarrassing Ex-Employee Complaint Against Snapchat Unsealed (variety.com)
"Saying it had 'nothing to hide,' the company behind Snapchat released an unredacted version of a lawsuit filed against it by a former employee that claims investors and advertisers were misled about usage data." And one allegation -- about a meeting with the company's 25-year-old CEO about flawed user metrics and low adoption in India in Spain -- is particularly embarrassing.
Pompliano, who had just been hired away from Facebook, contends that he presented methods to address the issue, but that Evan Spiegel, the company's CEO, abruptly cut him off. "This app is only for rich people," Spiegel said, according to Pompliano. "I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain"... Pompliano claims that Spiegel then met with two other executives and determined that "Mr. Pompliano presented a risk to Snapchat's IPO."
It may have been a flip remark, but the lawsuit also alleges two data analysts confided to Pompliano that Snapchat had "an institutional aversion to looking at user data," where its efforts showed "utter incompetence". The former employee -- who was fired after three weeks -- alleges that Snapchat inflated the rate of completed registrations and the number of users who stayed longer than seven days.
Snap originally said the lawsuit should remain redacted because it contained damaging trade secrets that would help its competitors, but now Snap attorneys are accusing Pompliano and his attorneys of "just making things up... The simple fact is that he knows exactly nothing about Snap's current metrics." Variety reports that Pompliano's attorney "said that Snap withdrew its effort to seal the complaint because the company knew it would lose."
It may have been a flip remark, but the lawsuit also alleges two data analysts confided to Pompliano that Snapchat had "an institutional aversion to looking at user data," where its efforts showed "utter incompetence". The former employee -- who was fired after three weeks -- alleges that Snapchat inflated the rate of completed registrations and the number of users who stayed longer than seven days.
Snap originally said the lawsuit should remain redacted because it contained damaging trade secrets that would help its competitors, but now Snap attorneys are accusing Pompliano and his attorneys of "just making things up... The simple fact is that he knows exactly nothing about Snap's current metrics." Variety reports that Pompliano's attorney "said that Snap withdrew its effort to seal the complaint because the company knew it would lose."
The CEO is a 25 year old, ignorant, narcissistic millennial. What did you expect?
Stopped reading there. Odds are any company with young people running it will be gone in a decade. Not worth anyone's time.
Also, once people finally bore themselves of social media fad, these companies will be ruined. Next generation won't care because social media will be their parent's and they won't want to be part of it.
We don't know what the CEO said. Only what one person claims he said.
Should he bother expanding into, say, the United States? Because the average American is "poorer" than the average Spaniard, or any EU citizen for that matter. (don't invoke your GDP per capita, the wealth of the 1% has no bearing on the life of the 99%)
You realize that there are millions of Americans who are literally dirt poor, right? Or are you just as ignorant as this "fuck you I got mine" American we're laughing about right now?
Pro tip: everyone already knew that your CEO was an idiot, it wasn't exactly a secret. ;)
Ezekiel 23:20
There's nothing embarrassing about not wanting to go into certain places. Chances are very good any company you can think of actively excludes themselves where things don't fit their business model.
Decisions based on where to offer services are based on demographics, target market, legal landscape, logistics, potential profits and so on. Chances are senior leadership is already going to be aware of their target market and probably doesn't need to do in-depth market analysis to realize certain countries don't make sense. In other words they can dismiss a country with half a second in thought - and be right.
Now if you want something that actually is embarrassing - we can talk about their data analytics.
Hello, I live in Spain and I can confirm that we are not poor. Please don't forget to visit and spend your ignorantely earned funds. Thanks! P.S. Spain is in Europe not America (the continent not the country).
Ever heard of the Streisand Effect? I imagine that Snap hasn't until now.
If they just had admitted that they had a flaw and then fixed it most people would just have shrugged and gone on with their lives. Now Snap are in the headlines as screwups instead.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Also higher than more than the bottom half of US states.
USA is around $43K median income, Spain around $21K. There's a reason people worry about the PIIGS of the EU: Portugal,Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain. They are the countries that are most in danger of failing economically. High debt, high unemployment (Spain 18%, US 4.9%), or both.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
It is sad that you have to spell that out for everybody here. but i guess it will stop a bunch of ignorant people trying to call you stupid for it lol. well done.
The CEO is a 25 year old, ignorant, narcissistic millennial. What did you expect?
It's Snapchat. That's why the prospectus site was designed to briefly show the usage data, then have it disappear forever.
Sure it is, its right there in the summary! jeez read much?>
Ever heard of Inditex? Ortega is the richest person in Europe.
The Wikipedia entry uses PPP - Purchasing Parity Power - and accounts for those variables you mention. Disclaimer: American born, having lived and worked in Belgium, Spain, Chile, China, Thailand and the US.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Wiki link I included was in PPP - Purchasing Power Parity. That equalizes most of the differences you want to talk about. And as far as consumer debt goes, the US is about on-par with Spain. So twice the median income, and about the same levels of debt.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Apparently, you're wrong. It's about on-par in terms of consumer debt. But the US has twice the median income in terms of purchasing power parity (equalizing for externalities in the cost of living).
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
I generally expect CEOs to bring something of value to offset their ignorance and narcissism. Most people that head companies that do not bring such end up as little more than small-businessmen, through admittedly the occasional puppet-CEO that's really little more than the Board's strawman-writ-live have been known to exist.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Which part is supposed to be "embarrassing"? That they wish to focus on wealthy customers? Should Porsche be embarrassed too?
This part is outright praise-worthy...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Is that data-driven programming isn't a thing at Snapchat.
The CEO is a 25 year old, ignorant, narcissistic millennial.
Does anyone have his number? I'm asking for a friend, who definitely isn't looking to appoint a new White House Chief of Staff, believe me.
John Miller
Spaniard here, maybe I shouldn't bother replying to an AC but...
Economy has been recovering for a few years now and unemployment rate steadily decreasing. We don't have a huge GDP per capita but we have a good standard of living, a high life expectancy and we've been within the top 30 in HDI for many years.
Yes, we're not super rich but if you've lived in Spain you surely have seen we aren't third-world poor.
Of course, I can't say if it'd be worthwhile for Spanchat to invest in Spain.
[...] his product is for folks who can cough up hundreds of dollars for smart phones. Marketing his service to folks who struggle to get food is a complete waste of resources.
But, you see, those people don't have smartphones. So you're marketing to people who do.
Also, keep in mind the sheer number of people. Even if 90% of India is struggling to get food (which is a percentage I pulled out of my ass--I have no idea about income in India), that's still 120 million people who aren't--about 1/3 the total population of the US. Last I saw, smartphone sales in India numbered in the area of 30 million units. So somebody over there is rich enough to buy them.
Oh, I fully agree! There's a huge world of difference between India and Spain! But there's also a pretty big economic gulf between Spain and the US, or Spain and Germany. Spain is a first world nation, but it's also about in the bottom 1/3rd of the OECD (source). The US is way ahead, in terms of GDP per capita. Spain isn't as bad as Portugal, but I don't think the average Spaniard would claim their country is anywhere near an economic powerhouse.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Average student loan debt in the US is about $37,000, not too far off what the average US car loan of $30,000. And I see a lot of new cars being purchased by relatively new graduates, especially when it's their "first car" at their first post-collegiate job.
It is also well below the median income of people with a college degree, and the difference between the median high school graduate and the median college graduate is large enough that less than two years of income differential covers for the median college debt - meaning it is still a good investment.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
wtf? An AC post and a lame gin-up of the gen gap? And getting mods, too? Come on, "O wise elders", this is a juvenile statement and not worth reading twice, let alone modding.
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
Unless its about Trump, then we immediately know we can take any person's claims as 100% truth.
At least, that's what I've learned from Slashdot. People we know are the bad guys, always did the thing people claim they did.
Agreed
Hard to deny Trump's comments considering he puts them on Twitter or they're recorded.
On the other hand, GDP per capita is not the most important metric in this context. None of these messaging apps make their money by charging $100 per user: they work by making small amounts of money from millions of people. Spain is in the top third of the OECD by population, and the l10n has quite a lot of overlap with some other large markets.
is how ugly and badly designed their user interface is.
and short SNAP stock?
India has a very high income disparity - and enormous population. Taken as average it appears very poor, but if you just look at the sheer number of people with considerable disposable income, you'll spot a market comparable in size to Western Europe.
Spain is a pretty rich country, about on par with France.
But if you're an arrogant millenial idiot, you think "Spain = latin america" and "India = only poor, dirty people."
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
From: http://www.gartner.com/newsroo... Smartphones are expensive for users in India, but with the average selling prices (ASPs) of low-end models falling, Gartner estimates that 139 million smartphones will be sold in India in 2016, growing 29.5 percent year over year
Every time I think I've hit the bottom, someone lends me a shovel.
Bloomberg, Buffett, Slim, Bezos, Ellison, the Koch brothers - that's 7 of the top 10, all with degrees. Looks like the richest tend to go to university, and tend towards top-notch institutions as well.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!