01 / evaluation
Humanity is far more important because humanity dictates how technology is adopted.
“Humanity is far more important because humanity dictates how technology is adopted.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
Lenny's Podcast / episode intelligence
Snapchat CEO: Why distribution has become the most important moat | Evan Spiegel
Speakers in the public record
Claim mix
belief 7evaluation 6recommendation 3preference 2prediction 1uncertainty 1
Evidence policy
Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.
Claim ledger
The useful parts, with receipts.
20 published records
02 / prediction
It's going up, I don't know, the funnel or the timeline of building a product. And I feel like distribution is where it ends up being, what ends up being the new moat and the new biggest challenge because AI is not going to really help you there.
“It's going up, I don't know, the funnel or the timeline of building a product. And I feel like distribution is where it ends up being, what ends up being the new moat and the new biggest challenge because AI is not going to really help you there.”
- Speaker
- Lenny Rachitsky
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
03 / belief
Obviously, I think there's a lot of concern about the way that artificial intelligence is going to change our society, but I think there's so much to be optimistic about in terms of the way that computing can become more human, and that's really what we're focused on.
“Obviously, I think there's a lot of concern about the way that artificial intelligence is going to change our society, but I think there's so much to be optimistic about in terms of the way that computing can become more human, and that's really what we're focused on.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
04 / belief
I don't think receiving phone notifications on your face is a valuable proposition for most folks. So I don't think we necessarily have to worry about that because I think most people don't want that.
“I don't think receiving phone notifications on your face is a valuable proposition for most folks. So I don't think we necessarily have to worry about that because I think most people don't want that.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
05 / belief
I would say you have to talk to customers, you have to share your idea, you should share your idea as quickly as possible, as frequently as possible.
“I would say you have to talk to customers, you have to share your idea, you should share your idea as quickly as possible, as frequently as possible.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
06 / uncertainty
I have a friend who works at a big tech company and you just said all the design team, they're required to ship like, I don't know, 10 PRs a month or something like that or a quarter, which is such a new world.
“I have a friend who works at a big tech company and you just said all the design team, they're required to ship like, I don't know, 10 PRs a month or something like that or a quarter, which is such a new world.”
- Speaker
- Lenny Rachitsky
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
07 / belief
You think about a lot of the big consumer technology companies today, they were really born out of mobile, whether it's Uber, Snapchat, some of those early generation companies that really got distribution and built themselves on mobile. And so I think as we look forward to these next generation form factors, things like glasses, there's going to be a whole new set of opportunities and a whole new surface for people to build generational consumer companies.
“You think about a lot of the big consumer technology companies today, they were really born out of mobile, whether it's Uber, Snapchat, some of those early generation companies that really got distribution and built themselves on mobile. And so I think as we look forward to these next generation form factors, things like glasses, there's going to be a whole new set of opportunities and a whole new surface for people to build generational consumer companies.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
08 / belief
We're working now on actually building the visuals as well, but doing that in one shot is really wild. So I think there's all sorts of examples like that across the company in terms of the way that agents can play a really massive role in changing the way that we work.
“We're working now on actually building the visuals as well, but doing that in one shot is really wild. So I think there's all sorts of examples like that across the company in terms of the way that agents can play a really massive role in changing the way that we work.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
09 / belief
I mean, all time favorite is probably the vomiting rainbow. I think that just brought so much joy to so many people, which is great.
“I mean, all time favorite is probably the vomiting rainbow. I think that just brought so much joy to so many people, which is great.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
10 / belief
I put plants all over my house drawing all over the place and there's multiplayer features, which is very cool, which I think is part of the idea, is you're connecting with people versus sitting in a VR environment on your own.
“I put plants all over my house drawing all over the place and there's multiplayer features, which is very cool, which I think is part of the idea, is you're connecting with people versus sitting in a VR environment on your own.”
- Speaker
- Lenny Rachitsky
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
11 / recommendation
I would recommend the first half because he interviews like 150 early Apple team members and the stories are just great and there's a lot of learnings in there.
“I would recommend the first half because he interviews like 150 early Apple team members and the stories are just great and there's a lot of learnings in there.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
12 / preference
I mean, new work every week, hundreds of ideas, I would guess, on a weekly basis that to me, if I think about where I learned how to design and build things, I have sort of an interesting combination because I went to Stanford for the product design program, which is really focused on empathy and this iterative process of understanding what people want and building prototypes and iterating, but really centered on empathy, human centered design.
“I mean, new work every week, hundreds of ideas, I would guess, on a weekly basis that to me, if I think about where I learned how to design and build things, I have sort of an interesting combination because I went to Stanford for the product design program, which is really focused on empathy and this iterative process of understanding what people want and building prototypes and iterating, but really centered on empathy, human centered design.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
13 / evaluation
It's more of like a media platform might say. And then maybe threads, which I think is cheating because it just sits on top of Instagram.
“It's more of like a media platform might say. And then maybe threads, which I think is cheating because it just sits on top of Instagram.”
- Speaker
- Lenny Rachitsky
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
14 / evaluation
One of my favorite stories was around screenshot detection actually in the early days because when we first built Snapchat and we shared with people, "Oh, you could send photos that disappear.
“One of my favorite stories was around screenshot detection actually in the early days because when we first built Snapchat and we shared with people, "Oh, you could send photos that disappear.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
15 / evaluation
Yeah. And just so we don't need to go too down this path, but it's so hard for the AI labs, I think, to on the one hand be like, okay, this is really dangerous if it gets much smarter and we need people to know this because this is happening and moving quickly.
“Yeah. And just so we don't need to go too down this path, but it's so hard for the AI labs, I think, to on the one hand be like, okay, this is really dangerous if it gets much smarter and we need people to know this because this is happening and moving quickly.”
- Speaker
- Lenny Rachitsky
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
16 / evaluation
It's all about the innovation process. And actually when I read it, I was like, "Oh my gosh, that kind of explains a lot of how we think about innovation at Snap.
“It's all about the innovation process. And actually when I read it, I was like, "Oh my gosh, that kind of explains a lot of how we think about innovation at Snap.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
17 / evaluation
It sort of oscillates between like nine and 12 people design team that is constantly innovating and creating new things. And I think the beauty of what I love about Snap is that the dialogue between those two teams is where a lot of that innovation happens because a lot of our engineers working to serve our customers or working on reliability have a bunch of great ideas and so do our designers.
“It sort of oscillates between like nine and 12 people design team that is constantly innovating and creating new things. And I think the beauty of what I love about Snap is that the dialogue between those two teams is where a lot of that innovation happens because a lot of our engineers working to serve our customers or working on reliability have a bunch of great ideas and so do our designers.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
18 / recommendation
Just doing it is really the only way. And I remember that was really the advice one of our board members gave to me because I was so reluctant.
“Just doing it is really the only way. And I remember that was really the advice one of our board members gave to me because I was so reluctant.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
19 / recommendation
Any idea, it doesn't matter how good people think it is, how bad it is, you can bring it to that design meeting, get it on the list and share your work and your idea. And that is so important because I think to your point, sometimes people over-rely on this critique process and great ideas get filtered out.
“Any idea, it doesn't matter how good people think it is, how bad it is, you can bring it to that design meeting, get it on the list and share your work and your idea. And that is so important because I think to your point, sometimes people over-rely on this critique process and great ideas get filtered out.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast
20 / preference
It's something that I really just love doing and love doing together with our team. And so I think for me, in addition to all the great people I get to work with here at Snap, the thing that wakes me up with a smile on my face every morning, the reason why I'm skipping to work is because I am in the weeds on what we're building and shipping to our community.
“It's something that I really just love doing and love doing together with our team. And so I think for me, in addition to all the great people I get to work with here at Snap, the thing that wakes me up with a smile on my face every morning, the reason why I'm skipping to work is because I am in the weeds on what we're building and shipping to our community.”
- Speaker
- Evan Spiegel
- Publisher
- Lenny's Podcast