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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?
We don't know what the CEO said. Only what one person claims he said.
Pro tip: everyone already knew that your CEO was an idiot, it wasn't exactly a secret. ;)
Ezekiel 23:20
Odds are any company with young people running it will be gone in a decade. Not worth anyone's time.
Like Facebook (Mark was 19), Google (Larry was 25), and Microsoft (Bill was 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).
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.
"Only old people use Snapchat!", S. Korean 14 year old a few years from now.
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!
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.
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!