Snapchat, now one of the most popular social media platforms, was founded by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown while they were students at Stanford University. Here's a more detailed look at each of them and their roles in Snapchat's development:
1. Evan Spiegel (CEO of Snap Inc.)
- Born: June 4, 1990
- Role: Evan Spiegel is the co-founder and current CEO of Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat. He is responsible for overseeing the company's overall vision, product development, and business operations.
- Background: Evan came from a wealthy family in Los Angeles, California. He studied product design at Stanford University, where he met Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. He dropped out of Stanford to focus on Snapchat full-time.
- Involvement: Evan is the public face of the company and has been instrumental in Snapchat's growth from a small app into a global social media platform. He is known for his innovative vision, particularly in transforming Snapchat into a platform with augmented reality features, Snap Map, and more.
2. Bobby Murphy (CTO of Snap Inc.)
- Born: July 19, 1988
- Role: Bobby Murphy is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Snap Inc. He handles the technical side of the company, overseeing the development and maintenance of Snapchat's infrastructure.
- Background: Bobby grew up in Berkeley, California, and was a math and computational science major at Stanford. He met Evan Spiegel during their time at the university, and the two quickly formed a partnership. While Spiegel handled the business side, Murphy was the coding genius behind the app.
- Involvement: Bobby was crucial in building Snapchat’s technology from scratch. His skills in coding and app development were instrumental in turning the idea into a functional product. To this day, he continues to lead the technical side of Snap Inc.
3. Reggie Brown (Former Co-Founder)
- Born: 1991
- Role: Reggie Brown is credited with coming up with the original idea for Snapchat – particularly the concept of disappearing photos. He was originally a co-founder but later had a legal dispute with Spiegel and Murphy over his role in the company.
- Background: Reggie studied at Stanford and was friends with Evan Spiegel. He had the idea of sending photos that would disappear after a few seconds, and Spiegel and Murphy helped turn that concept into an app.
- Involvement: Reggie’s contribution was foundational to Snapchat’s key feature of temporary, self-destructing messages. However, after a fallout with Spiegel and Murphy, he was ousted from the company. In 2013, Brown filed a lawsuit claiming he was unfairly pushed out. The lawsuit was eventually settled in 2014, and he was reportedly paid $157.5 million as part of the settlement.