The show is told in a creative and light-hearted way that leaves much open to interpretation and doesn't outright follow the story of how Snapchat came to be. He leaned back on the couch in his Kimball Hall dorm room at Stanford University as he discussed the weekend’s social events with two of his former fraternity brothers, David and Zach. And since coming up with the multi-million dollar idea of Snapchat, he hasn't yet re-emerged with a similarly successful company. Now, Quibi’s Frat Boy Genius aims to dive deeper into the origin of another social media platform, Snapchat, by pointing out how its own founders may have left out a key person, Reggie Brown, after its quick rise in popularity. Success doesn’t always happen quickly. Evan was enrolled in a mechanical engineering class called “Design and Business Factors” that encouraged upperclassmen product design majors to create a prototype and business plan for an app or other product. SEO Services While most of the other students worked in groups of three to five, Evan worked on his idea alone. It was almost a shame to smoke such a work of art. Reggie Brown carefully ran his fingers over the blunt, admiring its tightly rolled perfection. Why would anyone use this app? But Bobby wasn’t convinced. Photo courtesy of Easyturn/istock. Each group sent a presenter to sell the judges on their project and receive feedback. The first two fraternity brothers he invited to join them said no. But they came up with a couple names and headed off to the fraternity to recruit them. Like a school science fair, everyone put together a visual presentation to display on tables in the back. Most of us had barely moved past flip phones and BlackBerrys to iPhones at this point. The fraternity brothers who downloaded the app that first week had fun with it, sending each other silly photos of themselves bored in class or pics of themselves partying. Unique. He had told a lot of the guys about the idea before but not in such a broad, public way. SEM/PPC It was almost a shame to smoke such a work of art. If most startups fail, most of these class projects don’t even reach a stage where they can accurately be called a startup. There’s little chance of Reggie speaking out publicly about his role in Snapchat’s infancy after the release of the Quibi series and his subsequent dispute with his former friends, but it may be for the best. They had learned a lot from their past two projects, and this was the most unique idea yet. While most of the other students worked in groups of three to five, Evan worked on his idea alone. SERVICES Bobby, at last convinced, agreed to write the code, hoping the third time would be the charm for him and Evan. Would people really want to use this? Even though Future Freshman had failed, Evan hadn’t given up his dream of starting the next transcendent tech company. The scene was reminiscent of another Stanford student’s class presentation half a century earlier. Fortunately, Evan was not so easily deterred. There are dozens of entrepreneurship classes like this at Stanford, and while there is the allure of a team making it big, the vast majority of the students are just playing startup. He was thinking. The VCs sitting in Evan’s classroom that day likely passed up at least a billion-dollar investment return. Finally, it was Evan’s turn. They quickly realized it would be much easier and more private for users, and thus more widely used, if they built a mobile app instead of a website; to this day, Snapchat still does not offer a web product. The trio agreed to move south for the summer, to Evan’s dad’s house in Pacific Palisades. Monday Night Owls: Nearly 80% Most of us had barely moved past flip phones and BlackBerrys to iPhones at this point. They ran the usual gamut from overpolished presentations by excited students seeking approval to underprepared undergrads just running out the clock until their turn was over. Having both recently returned from studying abroad, and with their Kappa Sig lives now over, Evan and Reggie had moved into Kimball Hall, a dorm not far from Donner, where they had lived freshman year. Facebook had launched a mere seven years earlier and ripped through Harvard like wildfire before spreading to other campuses, and then the world. Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, former students at Stanford University. Evan decided to approach his former fraternity brothers; despite having been kicked out, he was still friendly with most of the guys from his year, and they were still some of the most social people on campus. When The Social Network came out in 2010, viewers in movie theaters across the world wondered, "Winklevoss who?" He called Bobby and explained Reggie’s idea. One of the venture capitalists suggested that Evan make the photos permanent and work with Best Buy for photos of inventory. As long as he had Evan, nothing could go wrong. The thought turned into an idea that he quickly shared with Evan Spiegel who agreed, according to TechCrunch, that it was "a million-dollar idea." For the first time, Evan worried what other people would think about his app. Reggie’s idea was much more intriguing than the ones Evan had been considering, so he adopted it for his class. That’s not quite what happened between Evan and Reggie, but what did go down was enough to lead Reggie to a life totally out of the spotlight. At the end of the class, everyone presented their prototypes to a panel of venture capitalists. Evan quickly typed out a few lines about the app. Evan, Reggie, and Bobby’s first crack at the idea was dreadful: they created a clunky website where users uploaded a photo then set a timer for when the picture would disappear. He approached the front of the room like the entrance to a party, strutting confidently to show the crowd what he, Reggie, and Bobby had been working on tirelessly for the past six weeks. It wasn’t like Future Freshman where they would run into an army of competitors. Reggie Brown carefully ran his fingers over the blunt, admiring its tightly rolled perfection. Reggie initially thought up the idea for Snapchat when he was in his dorm room at Stanford University and told his friends, while nice and stoned, that he wished he could find a way to send photos to his peers that would later disappear. Even more so, it was cool because it was one of the first times they could hold something in their palms, on their phones, that one of their friends had built. They had learned a lot from their past two projects, and this was the most unique idea yet. In spite of this third failure to successfully pitch people on the idea, Evan remained undaunted. Application has been deleted. They sat around in their dorm room, debating how users should interact with their friends and what features would make people tell their friends to download it. Snapchat is an image messaging and multimedia app originally created by three students from Stanford university. Evotik is a digital marketing agency that believes in helping clients achieve exceptional profitable results. It was too early to call Picaboo a failure—the thing had just launched and barely worked. But it wasn’t at all obvious watching Evan’s pitch in 2011 that this was a natural rebellion against Facebook or that it would grow beyond our small Stanford social circle. In that regard, it is more loosely based on the real-life story than anything. Reggie came up with a name for the app: Picaboo, a riff on the childhood game Peek-a-boo. There, they would develop the app, gain users, and take their shot at becoming the next big Stanford startup. Mulling his disappearing photos idea — how would he best explain it to Evan — Reggie’s topsiders barely touched the worn dark blue carpet as he surged down the hall in a half run/half walk. “This is the dumbest thing ever,” seemed to be the sentiment underlying everyone’s tones. The trio agreed to move south for the summer, to Evan’s dad’s house in Pacific Palisades. “That’s a million-dollar idea!” Evan finally exclaimed. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that Facebook developed the conditions that allowed Snapchat to flourish. A few dozen people had downloaded it and were toying around with it because their friends had created it. And they really believed that people would want to send pictures that deleted themselves, whether for sexting or otherwise. Evan designed the app’s interface, digitally mocking up what it would look like and how users would interact with it, so that Bobby could turn his visions into reality. The passwords were then changed on the company’s accounts and servers. And now they had an idea that actually seemed fresh and new. Reggie Brown Photo courtesy of Easyturn/istock. Even though Future Freshman had failed, Evan hadn’t given up his dream of starting the next transcendent tech company. We also have an active freelance community forum, there you can meet other freelancers that share your common interest, socialize and chat about freelance trending news as the occurred. They finished a working prototype of Picaboo just days before final exams. Their app would solve this problem! He passionately argued that people would have fun messaging via pictures. Facebook had launched a mere seven years earlier and ripped through Harvard like wildfire before spreading to other campuses, and then the world. “I wish I could send disappearing photos,” he mused, almost absentmindedly. But it’s very easy to look at brilliant ideas with the benefit of hindsight and see that they were destined to succeed. Web Analytics How Reggie Brown invented Snapchat How Reggie Brown invented Snapchat newsdepo.com Why sexting and a Stanford class led a group of former fraternity brothers to create Snapchat. Evan quickly typed out a few lines about the app. “This is the dumbest thing ever,” seemed to be the sentiment underlying everyone’s tones. One of the venture capitalists suggested that Evan make the photos permanent and work with Best Buy for photos of inventory. Evan sat in the back of the classroom and watched his peers pitch their ideas. Evan, Reggie, and Bobby’s first crack at the idea was dreadful: they created a clunky website where users uploaded a photo then set a timer for when the picture would disappear. That paper was the driving idea behind a company Knight founded called Nike. A few dozen people had downloaded it and were toying around with it because their friends had created it. Since Evan had more experience from running Future Freshman and other projects, he would be the CEO. Bobby put in eighteen-hour coding days for the next week to get them to a working prototype. Did Trisha Paytas Start Dating Moses as a Prank? While primitive, it was fun to use. He was the best operator Reggie knew, capable of taking this stroke of inspiration and making it a reality. The fraternity brothers enjoyed playing with it –surely Evan’s peers and these venture capitalists would understand the value of what he had been working so hard to build. The fraternity brothers who downloaded the app that first week had fun with it, sending each other silly photos of themselves bored in class or pics of themselves partying. But it wasn’t serious; it was just Evan’s little toy. But Evan and Bobby were used to ignoring the norms to chase their startup ideas. Evan claimed in his deposition that Reggie’s contribution to Snapchat wasn't comparable to his or their third partner Bobby Murphy’s. With this early photo-sharing idea, Reggie and Evan imagined a walled garden for couples to share intimate photos. At the end of the class, everyone presented their prototypes to a panel of venture capitalists. Evan gesticulated quickly and animatedly as he explained to Reggie how he could see people sending disappearing pictures back and forth. It was too early to call Picaboo a failure—the thing had just launched and barely worked. Bobby put in eighteen-hour coding days for the next week to get them to a working prototype. The course’s teaching assistant, horrified, pulled Evan aside and asked him if he’d built a sexting app. Reggie would be the chief marketing officer. And just as we moved from talking to texting to apps for everything else, people were starting to make the app transition for sex. If anyone was searching for the next Facebook killer, they were hopefully looking at a little photo-sharing app called Instagram that had just raised Series A funding valuing the company at $25 million; it’s much more likely that they were looking at any number of apps or websites that have since died without your ever hearing of them.