Evan Spiegel

Evan Spiegel
cellanr · CC BY-SA 2.0 · source
Name	Evan Spiegel
Birth date	1990-06-04
Birth place	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Stanford University
Occupation	Entrepreneur, businessman
Known for	Co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc.
Spouse	Miranda Kerr (m. 2017)

Evan Spiegel is an American entrepreneur and billionaire best known as a co-founder and the chief executive officer of Snap Inc., the company behind the multimedia messaging app Snapchat. Spiegel rose to prominence in the technology and venture capital communities during the early 2010s as a college entrepreneur who scaled a social media startup into a publicly traded company. His career intersects with Silicon Valley investors, media companies, fashion figures, and philanthropic foundations.

Early life and education

Spiegel was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the posh neighborhood near Pacific Palisades, attending Crossroads School and later Toro Canyon School before enrolling at Stanford University. At Stanford he studied product design in the Product Design Program and was involved with campus organizations tied to entrepreneurship and design, interacting with students from Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford d.school, and the broader Silicon Valley community. During his undergraduate years he collaborated with fellow students who later became co-founders and early employees at technology startups, and he attracted attention from venture investors connected to firms like Benchmark and SV Angel. His early education included exposure to design thinking influences from figures associated with IDEO and coursework reflecting methods promoted by Don Norman and John Maeda.

Career

Spiegel began his career by prototyping consumer apps and services, working with teammates who had ties to startups incubated at Y Combinator and early-stage teams funded by Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital. After launching initial products that experimented with ephemeral messaging, Spiegel navigated legal and investor relations that involved entrepreneurs and lawyers from firms connected to Cooley LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. As Snap Inc. scaled, Spiegel engaged with executives and boards containing members with backgrounds at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and media companies such as Warner Bros. and NBCUniversal. His leadership style and strategic decisions were covered by business titles including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, and Bloomberg LP.

Snapchat and Snap Inc.

Spiegel co-founded Snapchat with collaborators who had ties to Stanford University and the Los Angeles startup scene, developing a photo- and video-sharing app that emphasized disappearing messages and augmented reality features. Snapchat launched features and corporate initiatives that intersected with technologies from Apple Inc., Google LLC, Facebook, Inc., Twitter, Inc., and augmented reality labs linked to Magic Leap and Niantic. Snap Inc. expanded its product lineup to include hardware with the release of Spectacles, which drew attention from consumer electronics outlets and retailers such as Best Buy and Target Corporation. The company's IPO placed it alongside other public technology firms like Meta Platforms, Inc. and Pinterest, Inc., and its performance was tracked by indices and exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Snap's revenue model involved partnerships with advertising platforms and media companies including ViacomCBS, Comcast, and advertising tech vendors such as The Trade Desk.

Business ventures and investments

Beyond Snap Inc., Spiegel has made or been associated with investments and partnerships that touched fashion, real estate, and venture capital. He has engaged with designers and brands linked to Saint Laurent, Prada, Chanel, and figures from the fashion industry such as Miranda Kerr before their marriage, and participated in property transactions in markets like Beverly Hills, Malibu, and Pacific Palisades. His personal and corporate dealings have intersected with investment vehicles and funds related to firms such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and private wealth managers that advise families connected to Kardashian family business ventures and entertainment holdings. Spiegel's board-level engagements and advisory roles have put him in contact with executives from Snap Spectacles suppliers and manufacturers in supply chains linked to Foxconn and component vendors used by Samsung Electronics and Sony Corporation.

Personal life

Spiegel's private life has been reported in outlets covering celebrities and entrepreneurs, with public attention on his marriage to the model and businessperson Miranda Kerr and associations with public figures in fashion and entertainment, including appearances at events tied to Paris Fashion Week, Met Gala, and charity galas hosted by organizations like UNICEF and The Art of Elysium. He has residences in Los Angeles-area neighborhoods and owns properties that have been profiled in real estate coverage alongside properties owned by figures such as Ellen DeGeneres and Leonardo DiCaprio. Media reporting about Spiegel has included biographies and profiles in Forbes, TIME, and Vanity Fair.

Philanthropy and public image

Spiegel and his family have contributed to philanthropic initiatives and participated in philanthropic networks that connect to foundations and nonprofits such as The Getty Foundation, LACMA, The Rockefeller Foundation, and education-focused charities affiliated with Stanford University. His public image has been shaped by coverage in technology journalism and lifestyle media, sparking discussions in outlets including Wired, TechCrunch, Recode, and The Verge about leadership in consumer technology, privacy, and augmented reality. Spiegel's public engagements have included speaking appearances at conferences and summits organized by entities like South by Southwest, TechCrunch Disrupt, World Economic Forum, and university forums at institutions such as Harvard University and Yale University.

Category:Living people Category:American businesspeople Category:Stanford University alumni