Snapchat IPO Follows the Facebook Playbook

As Snapchat parent company paves the way for its initial public offering, they are mimicking the playbook from Facebook. They have beefed up their daily active users 158 million daily active users^[1] versus Facebook had 438 daily active users at its launch^[2] Therefore, Snapchat is learning to strike while the iron is hot, just as Facebook did during their public offering.  Facebook at the time was concerned with slower user growth of users, hence the acquisition of Instagram to expedite their user base.

Here’s what you need to know about Snapchat

Since Snapchat has grown to a strong user base, it makes perfect sense to cash in on their success versus raising even more funds for an acquisition. The IPO is rumored to launch at $25 billion dollars.  According to documents filed by Snap Inc. (Snapchat’s parent company), Snap Inc. lost $514 million in 2016 on $404 million in revenue.^[3] So the time is now for their IPO, so they cash in their positive trajectory.

Snapchat also has been increasing their revenue per user to $1.05 in the 4^th quarter of 2016 (according to company filings) versus $2.41 for Facebook at the time of their launch.^[4] Although it’s less per user than Facebook, it’s impressive for Snapchat to begin monetizing their users so quickly versus just focusing on user growth – another Facebook-like move. In terms of employees, Facebook had 3,200 headcount at launch, while Snap had 1,859 employees at the time of its filing.^[5]

Facebook mimics back

Meanwhile, Facebook reciprocated Snapchat’s mimicking. Two years ago, Facebook was struggling to get its users to post more, so it copied Snap’s model of short video “stories,” adding in filters and writing on the screen. At the time, it took nearly twice the time to post on Facebook then Snapchat, as they felt it was alienating its younger user base. Currently Instagram, (owned by Facebook), looks a lot more like Snapchat than Twitter with the use of rich media: graphics, videos and emojis versus words.

Is Snapchat the winner?

At this point, Snapchat is in the driver’s seat: revenue is growing, daily active users are increasing and the environment is ripe for the next hot IPO. It was the game plan that Facebook laid out in 2011, which Snapchat is following and will reap the rewards.

Baby boomers also play a part

Another key area for growth is the baby boomers, who are becoming more active on social mediums, as they might not posting selfies, they are posting from their iPads at home. With high disposable income and an aging population, they are shopping for items that are becoming necessary such as real estate for their retirement years or even electric wheelchairs, such as KD Smart Chair.

Social media is now the norm

Social media has now become the norm and is no longer a “millennial” thing. It also is not social, but is becoming an essential promotion tool^[6] for businesses. It appears that Snapchat learned from  Facebook’s as it seems to be launching a successful IPO and will lead the charge for all social mediums in 2017 and beyond.

Featured photo credit: Redd Angelo via unsplash.com