Facebook的克星是怎样炼成的？|Snapchat简史

上周四，爆款应用Snapchat的母公司Snap Incorporated提交了上市申请。

公司在申请上市的文件中称：“我们的产品帮人们表现自己，活好当下，了解世界，一起开心玩耍。”在提到其流行的眼镜设备Spectacles时，文件中还明确表示“Snap Inc.是一家相机公司”。

但Snapchat并非刚成立就是现在这样。如今在纽交所首次公开上市只是这家成立于2011年的公司的最新发展，26岁的首席执行官埃文·斯皮格尔也希望上市时按公司250亿美元的估值尽可能多地融资。以下是该公司的简史。

三人相逢斯坦福

Snap Incorporated, the parent company of the wildly popular messaging app Snapchat, on Thursday filed to go public.

"Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together," the company's S-1 filing reads. It also stated, plainly: "Snap Inc. is a camera company"—a reference to its popular Spectacles eyewear.

But it wasn't always that way. An IPO on the New York Stock Exchange—in which 26-year-old CEO Evan Spiegel will likely hope to raise money near Snap's eye-popping $25 billion valuation—is only the latest milestone for a company that first appeared in 2011. Here's a brief look at how it got here.

Three Classmates Meet at Stanford University

埃文·斯皮格尔、罗伯特·“鲍比”·墨菲和弗兰克·雷金纳德·“雷吉”·布朗四世2010年左右在斯坦福大学相识。斯皮格尔（当时没毕业）学的是产品设计，墨菲学的数学和计算机科学，布朗专业是英语。三人都是该校兄弟会成员，斯皮格尔负责外联部。斯皮格尔和墨菲研发了“未来新生”，一款用来帮助学生、家长和辅导员指导入学过程的工具。那年夏天这款产品还红火了一阵。

不可不提的Picaboo

Evan Spiegel, Robert "Bobby" Murphy, and Frank Reginald "Reggie" Brown IV meet at Stanford University around 2010. Spiegel (who didn't graduate) studied product design, Murphy studied mathematical and computational science, and Brown studied English. All were members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, for which Spiegel served as social chair. Spiegel and Murphy begin work on "Future Freshman," a tool to aid students, parents, and counselors in the college admissions process. It launches with little fanfare that summer.

Meet 'Picaboo'

新创意，新产品。三人组里斯皮格尔和布朗都是大三学生；墨菲已经毕业，所以着手开发后来起名为“Picaboo”的短消息应用。（2013年布朗曾起诉斯皮格尔和墨菲，称创意是他最早提出的；后来诉讼以1.575亿美元和解。）三人在洛杉矶斯皮格尔父亲家中做出了产品原型，给每人安排了头衔（斯皮格尔是首席执行官；墨菲是首席技术官；布朗是首席营销官），并于2011年7月发布了新闻稿。稿中宣布，“扔掉之前过时的照片信息应用吧，新的Picaboo可以让你和女朋友互发照片偷偷看一下，不会保存下来！”“大胆分享性感新发型，让他帮你挑选火热新装备，不用担心紧张照片会永远存在相册里。”虽然这款应用主要针对女性用户，但价值定位已经明确。“谁会想把每张照片永远存在相册里呢？”新闻稿里问道。“反正我们不想？”确实如此。

再见，Picaboo。你好，Snapchat

New idea, new product. The trio—Spiegel and Brown are juniors; Murphy has graduated—begin work on an ephemeral messaging app they soon dub "Picaboo." (A 2013 lawsuit Brown files against Spiegel and Murphy claims he thought of the idea; the parties later settle for $157.5 million.) The co-founders build a prototype at the Los Angeles home of Spiegel's father, obtain titles (Spiegel, CEO; Murphy, CTO; Brown, CMO) and issue a press release in July 2011. "Toss out those old, last-season photo messaging apps because now Picaboo let's [sic] you and your girlfriends send photos for peeks and not keeps!" proclaims the release. "Show off your sexy new hairstyle or let him choose that hot new outfit, without the hassle and stress of knowing that these images will be saved into your camera gallery forever." Though the app is solely targeting female users, its value proposition is already clear. "Who actually wants every photo of themselves to last forever in the record books?" the release asks. "Umm, not us?" Exactly.

So Long, Picaboo. Hello, 'Snapchat'

他们发现，“Picaboo”这个名字已经被新罕布什尔州一家出版和印刷图片的公司占用。为避免市场混淆，三位创始人重新起了名字，叫“Snapchat”，不过保留了黑白色“鬼脸杀手”的标志。

Snapchat在谷歌安卓上发布

The name "Picaboo," it turns out, is a name already in use by an older New Hampshire-based company that published and printed images. To avoid market confusion, the co-founders rechristen their invention "Snapchat." It retains its familiar black-and-yellow colors and "Ghostface Chillah" logo.

Snapchat Launches on Google Android

当时Snapchat还只有苹果iOS版本，但已经显示强劲增长势头。2011年末，每天活跃用户才1000人，到2012年初已达10万人。2012年10月发布了适配谷歌安卓移动系统的版本，到了年末……

里程碑：日活跃用户一百万

By now Snapchat—still exclusively on Apple's iOS mobile operating system—is beginning to show growth. The app counts 1,000 daily active users by late 2011, then 100,000 by early 2012. It expands to Google's Android mobile operating system in October 2012 and finishes the year with...

Milestone: 1 Million Daily Active Users

随着2012年社交巨头Facebook在纳斯达克上市——虽然小有波折，还是成为史上最大规模的科技股上市案之一。彼时Snapchat正在庆祝日活跃量达到100万用户。这个用户量已经不小了，尤其是在年轻的千禧一代中间，所以《纽约时报》也开始关注。“问题是Snapchat应用本身是否值得信任，”2012年《纽约时报》编辑尼克·比尔顿写道，也引发了人们对这款应用昙花一现的担心。“Snapchat的隐私政策称，照片会迅速从服务器上抹掉，但并不能保证每次都能删掉信息数据。”

Snapchat融到了钱，也遇到了对手

As social networking giant Facebook prepares for its 2012 IPO on the Nasdaq exchange—despite hiccups, it will end up being one of the largest tech-industry offerings in history—Snapchat celebrates reaching one million daily active users. It's enough critical mass, particularly among younger Millennials, to be noticed by the New York Times. "There is also the issue of whether Snapchat itself is trustworthy," writes Nick Bilton in May 2012, raising concerns about the popular app's ephemerality. "Snapchat’s privacy policy says that while it tries to quickly erase photos from its servers, it 'cannot guarantee that the message data will be deleted in every case.'"

Snapchat Raises Money and Meets Its Match

顶着对隐私保护的质疑，Snapchat继续增长。借助智能手机硬件升级的东风，又获得风投公司光速创投2012年4月的资金援助（48.5万美元），Snapchat添加了视频功能，用户除了静态图片还能互发视频信息。公司受到的关注越来越多，据称Facebook首席执行官马克·扎克伯格2012年12月跟斯皮格尔和墨菲面谈，随后Facebook上线了Poke功能，几乎是Snapchat的翻版。2013年初，光速创投注资不到一年，Snapchat完成了1350万美元融资，由基准投资公司领投，有报道称当时该公司估值超过7000万美元。

故事功能、智能滤镜上线，无视Facebook

Snapchat keeps growing despite ongoing privacy concerns. Thanks to improving smartphone hardware and an April 2012 cash infusion ($485,000) by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Snapchat adds video support, allowing its users to exchange video messages in addition to still photos. As the company continues to attract attention, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly meets with Spiegel and Murphy in December 2012—then launches Poke, a near-clone of Snapchat. In early 2013, less than a year after the LVP investment, Snapchat closes a $13.5 million funding round led by Benchmark Capital, reportedly valuing the startup upwards of $70 million.

Stories, Smart Filters, and Spurning Facebook

2013年Snapchat上线了“我的故事”功能，后来改名为“故事”，用户可以按时间线展示图片或视频收藏。同时添加了智能滤镜（用户可以在照片上加入实际时间，外部温度或时速等），还可以重播之前的瞬时消息。当年晚些时候，《华尔街日报》称斯皮格尔和墨菲拒绝了Facebook以30亿美元收购提议，当时公司一分钱收入都没有。

在Snapchat中加入“聊天”功能

In 2013 Snapchat launches the feature "My Story"—later just "Stories"—allowing users to broadcast a linear collection of photos or videos. It also adds Smart Filters (allowing users to layer on their images the actual time, outside temperature, or speed) and the ability to replay ephemeral messages. Later that year, the Wall Street Journal reports that Spiegel and Murphy rejected a $3 billion cash offer from Facebook to acquire the startup, which had yet to generate a single penny of revenue.

Putting the 'Chat' in Snapchat

信不信由你，Snapchat自从2011年获得融资后，花三年才上线了“聊天”功能。之前用户只能向另一个人（或一群人）发送照片或视频，聊天功能上线后，两位用户可以在交谈中互传瞬时信息，包括简单文本。几个月后，日活跃用户量达到5000万。

现状：地理位置滤镜，付费广告

If you can believe it, it took Snapchat three years from its 2011 founding to actually launch a feature called "Chat." Instead of transmitting single images or videos from one person to another (or one person to many), Chat allows two users to exchange ephemeral media, including simple text, in a threaded conversation. A few months later, the company celebrates reaching 50 million daily active users.

Now Showing: Geofilters, Paid Advertisements

新功能纷纷上线。2014年Snapchat推出了基于地理位置的筛选功能（例如在照片筛选框里可以输入“纽约布鲁克林”），还上线了第一款付费广告，内容电影Ouija的品牌故事。投资者当然很喜欢。（实际上，2014年底Snapchat融到了惊人的4.856亿美元，领投方为凯鹏华盈，公司估值达到100亿美元。）另一方面，Facebook悄悄下线了Poke。

Snapchat推出媒体内容聚合功能Discover和镜头功能

The features just keep coming. In 2014 Snapchat introduces location-specific Geofilters (e.g. a photo filter saying "Brooklyn") as well as its first-ever paid advertisement, a Brand Story for the film Ouija. Investors rejoice. (Indeed, Snapchat ends the year by closing a whopping $485.6 million funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, valuing the startup north of $10 billion.) Elsewhere, Facebook quietly shutters Poke.

Snapchat Debuts Discover, Lenses

到2015年，Snapchat已成为最热门的社交媒体平台。但市场上其他媒体品牌，例如《人物》、《时尚 Cosmopolitan》，甚至《华尔街日报》如何参与？别急，Snapchat有Discover功能，专门从精选媒体选取优质内容，《财富》杂志编辑艾琳·格里菲斯称之为“热门内容俱乐部”。好像还嫌不够热闹，Snapchat又推出了镜头功能，通过图像识别技术提供新的虚拟功能（例如口吐彩虹或是长出卡通狗耳朵等）。

里程碑：日活跃用户1亿人

By 2015 it's clear that Snapchat is one of the hottest social media platforms around. But how do established brands—e.g. People, Cosmopolitan, and even the Wall Street Journal—get involved? Behold Discover, an exclusive new area for Stories from select publishers and what Fortune's own Erin Griffith calls "the hottest club around." As if that's not enough, Snapchat also debuts Lenses, which use image-recognition technology to give users new virtual abilities (like vomiting rainbows or gaining cartoon dog ears).

Milestone: 100 Million Daily Active Users

三年时间里，Snapchat从百万用户增长到1亿用户，换句话说三分之一美国人或所有越南人都是其用户，有些用户恨不得24小时都开着Snapchat。

聊天2.0，地理位置滤镜2.0，记忆功能，自制表情功能

In three years' time, Snapchat manages to go from its first million daily active users to 100 million. In other words, the equivalent of one-third of the United States—or the entire population of Vietnam and then some—open Snapchat in the span of 24 hours.

Chat 2.0, Geofilters 2.0, Memories, Bitmoji

2016年Snapchat又推出了几项新功能。聊天升级了，加入了表情、语音和视频通话以及笔记功能。地理筛选功能可以自行定制或是购买。保存快照和故事的功能也上线了，还起了个华丽的名字叫“记忆”。自制表情，即卡通头像服务也加入应用。（与此同时，Facebook旗下的Instagram也推出了模仿版“故事”功能。）很快Snapchat日活跃用户达到1.5亿，完成了18亿美元的天价融资，估值达到约200亿美元。为了庆祝跃升巨富，首席执行官斯皮格尔向超模女友求婚，当然也是在Snapchat上宣布的。

新名字，新产品

Snapchat splashes into 2016 with several new features waiting in the wings. Chat gets an upgrade, adding stickers, voice and video calling, and notes. Geofilters now have the ability to be designed or bought. Memories, a fancy name for the ability to save Snaps and Stories, appears. And Bitmoji—the cartoon avatar service—is integrated into the app. (Elsewhere, Facebook-owned Instagram rolls out Stories, a carbon copy of Snapchat's feature.) Soon Snapchat counts 150 million daily active users and closes a monster $1.8 billion funding round that values the company around $20 billion. To celebrate his great fortune, CEO Spiegel proposes to his supermodel girlfriend—via Snapchat, of course.

New Name, New Product

如果Snapchat推出短信息应用以外的产品，公司还能叫Snapchat么？首席执行官斯皮格尔表示，不一定。如今其已经改名为Snap公司，重新定位为“相机公司”，同时推出了Spectacles眼镜，一款内置视频相机，帮用户保存记忆的太阳眼镜。这也是该公司第一次脱离智能手机，业界和用户都是一片欢腾。

申请上市

If Snapchat introduces a product beyond its eponymous mobile app, is it still Snapchat? According to CEO Spiegel, not quite. The company renames itself Snap Inc., repositions itself as a "camera company," and introduces Spectacles, sunglasses with an integrated video camera that allow the wearer to create Memories. It's the first time the company breaks free from the smartphone, and buzz is at a fever pitch.

Snap Inc. Files For IPO

科技业众人皆知的大秘密终于成真了，Snap向纽交所提交了首次上市申请。上市后斯皮格尔的身家会超过《财富》500强里很多位首席执行官。正如斯皮格尔2011年7月说过的：“做自己热爱的事情同时赚大钱没什么错。尽！情！摇！摆！”（财富中文网）

作者：Andrew Nusca

译者：夏林

The technology industry's worst-kept secret finally comes true as Snap Inc. files for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. The move could make Spiegel worth more than many Fortune 500 CEOs. In the words of Spiegel in July 2011: "Nothing wrong with doing what you love and making $$$. Swag. It. Out."