Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel allegedly stated that Snapchat is an app “only for rich people.” This is part of the allegations made by Anthony Pompliano in a lawsuit filed against Snap Inc. in January. According to Pompliano, this statement was made after he made the proposal of increasing users in international markets that already heavily use social media in an attempt to improve its daily active users metric. At the time, it was already obvious to Pompliano that the social network was not increasing its user base overseas. Spiegel then replied to his former head of user growth team in response to the proposals that the social media application is for rich people only, adding that he has no intention of expanding Snapchat into poor countries like India and Spain.
As a social media network, having a sufficiently large and active user base is important to win advertisers. However, Snapchat seemingly focused first on markets with higher average revenue per user. An example is Snapchat’s focus on iOS over Android which stems from the better monetization of iOS users even in developing countries. In addition, Snapchat’s decision to focus on the US is also based on the higher average revenue per user of the US market compared to its Asian counterparts. This ultimately reared an ugly head though, as Snapchat is now rushing to increase its user base among Android users and in international markets, in the face of competition from its biggest rival Facebook. Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel has promised to improve performance and user experience of its Android app by hiring more Android developers to work on the app and offering Android smartphones to its employees.
The rather controversial comments that allegedly came from Snapchat’s CEO are just some of the numerous allegations made by Pompliano in his lawsuit against Snap Inc. In the lawsuit, Pompliano claims that Snapchat was intentionally inflating its user metrics to make the social network more palatable to advertisers and private investors. Also, the former head of Snap’s user growth team alleges that a senior Snap executive asked him to violate a non-solicitation and non-compete agreement he signed with Facebook, his former employer, by making a detailed organizational chart of Facebook complete with the names of its executives. Pompliano adds that Snapchat asked for the chart in order to search for people who can be poached from Facebook. Pompliano’s refusal to make the organizational chart, along with his refusal to be involved in the inflation of user metrics, led to what he claims is unlawful dismissal three weeks after he started working for Snap Inc.