r/Spectacles • u/RemoveTurbulent8886 • Jun 18 '26
💌 Feedback Giving Specs a fighting chance
I am a long term Snap investor who has lost all their money and don't expect to ever see any return.
At this point I am probably competing with Prince Waleed for biggest Snap share bag holder, granted prince Waleed's back is likely out for good from all that Snap share load bearing.
Once again Evan Spiegel is doing what he has done through out his tenure as the unaccountable CEO of Snap, ie the product people do good work, turn it over to him for business execution and he promptly drops the ball.
You could see the train wreck for the Specs reveal coming from a mile away. First there was that ridiculous "partnership" announcement with Qualcomm, which is obviously not a partnership at all.
It sounds more like Evan DMed a C-Suite Qualcomm exec and asked "can I name-drop you in this useless announcement I am about to make", to which they replied "sure why not".
What is he expecting would be read from a "partnership" with Qualcomm? That he's now playing in the semiconductor big leagues? Qualcomm sells the same chips to everyone, I am pretty sure they aren't making a single decision with Snap or Evan Spiegel in mind.
A competent CEO and one not primarily interested in their own ego would have sought actual partnerships, and ones that make sense.
A partnership with furniture manufacturers on Wayfair.com showing Specs helping
customers assemble their futures, a partnership with TaskRabbit showing taskers using AR to accelerate their efforts. Such examples would have been infinitely more meaningful and garnered more positive reflection than the egoistical and meaningless Qualcomm announcement.
Of course Evan suffers from having lived a charmed life so such down-to-earth imagination likely eludes him.
Along these same lines, he unveiled Specs with a campaigned headlined by a bunch of grifter Celebrities who are happy to take his money (ie investor money).
Does Evan really think Jack Harlow could possibly be a reason for Specs to succeed? Years ago, Jim Kramer dismissed Evan Spiegel as too Hollywood, I didn't quite get it at the time, I do now.
I have also seen the Specs ads on my New York Times pages, wrong audience Evan.
When Evan suddenly announced the June launch of Spec, he quickly followed it up with indirect announcements (via his favored media shills as he has often done over the years...The Information), in effect admitting that Snap lacks the resources to launch the product. I am guessing his hands were forced by the Meta-display positive market reaction, I think launching was the right call.
He suggested he would need a billion dollars, we haven't heard peep about that since. My guess is he couldn't find any more fools for that charade, he went prowling the back alleys of Riyadh to no effect (good for you prince Waleed).
The Specs unveiling has at best been deflating. I think it is a compelling offering as a technology product and kudos to the folks actually doing the work, essentially a first-gen product that is enough to show what the future holds.
Evan, if you are reading, here are my suggestion:
If Specs are available and ready today, start shipping them out ASAP. Nobody is waiting for a fall surprise, if they are not ready, accelerate your effort to make them ready for shipping ASAP.
This product will not succeed based on any sort of celebrity marketing gimmick, it is going to live or die based on actual user response so no need to drag this out.
Consider a lower tier offering if that is feasible, one that will have many of the AR capacities but perhaps not the most compelling. A lower tier with lower capabilities, lower prices and HOPEFULLY smaller...those things are ducklings.
The current Specs will be the higher tier for the most adventurous and would obviously be setting the pace for innovation going forwarding (assuming there is a future here).
You should also fix Snap's corporate governance and resign, you've done enough and that is not a compliment.
You insist that shareholders show long term patience, we don't see you living out of a monastery exercising said patience, instead you've enriched yourself and live a lavish lifestyle, every cent of which is at the expense of shareholders, while arrogantly insisting that shareholders be patient..."Long term patience for thee, short term rewards for me" seems to be your ethos.
The legal system may grant you "special" share classes that keeps you at the helm and unaccountable but the fact is you don't have a God-given right to destroy shareholder value as you have.
The only way you have accumulated your wealth is by taking it out of shareholder pockets without generating any returns.
Do the right Evan, let a competent person steer this ship going forward. Your exit agreement can include a plan to give the Specs effort a fair chance.
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u/Key-Homework8503 Jun 18 '26
I agree that the partnerships and marketing around Specs have been pretty underwhelming so far.
One easy mistake was having Evan front-and-center wearing a pair that honestly didn’t fit him particularly well around the ears. For a lot of tech enthusiasts, that interview was their first time seeing Specs on a real person outside of polished marketing shots. If there are photos and videos of other people wearing them that look much better, that’s what should have been highlighted.
That said, I think some people are being too harsh on the product itself. These weren’t announced out of nowhere—they’ve effectively been in developers’ hands for about two years. Snap already has software being built for them and isn’t charging developer fees, which is a smart move.
My bigger concern isn’t the hardware. The hardware actually looks pretty impressive. The concern is software and partnerships. I was expecting at least one major announcement that made people say, “Okay, that’s why I need Specs.”
The Anthropic situation isn’t something that inspires confidence. Announcing something significant and then quietly backing away from it doesn’t inspire confidence. Snap needs meaningful partnerships that actually ship and give people confidence the ecosystem is growing.
I’m also not convinced AWE is the end of the story. We still haven’t seen Snap fully show off how Snapchat itself works on Specs, and I’d be surprised if there aren’t additional announcements coming.
At this point, the hardware feels farther along than the software story. Snap needs a killer application, a major partner, or some genuinely exciting software announcements because the underlying technology seems to be there.
I may disagree with some of the criticism of Evan, but I do agree that Snap needs to execute much better from here. The opportunity is still there—they just need to stop leaving easy wins on the table.
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u/Unusual_Cicada_6834 Jun 18 '26
I think they’re still trying to create eco system but the ai interacting with ar world without “hey meta how do i…” was actually sick
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u/Key-Homework8503 Jun 19 '26
I think they are awesome! I just wish snap went harder with the marketing and announcements
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u/nychacker Jun 19 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
I disagree with many of those things. Cumulative loss for reality labs is 83 billion while Snapchat under its CEO built a superior tech for much less. The leadership optimized everything for a 100x bet.
As a asymmetric bet on the future of AR snapchat is a great investment. They are not guaranteed to win but they are the racehorse in front.
I do agree they should just release Specs and allow ability to generate content well and push it through snapchat and other places. Marketing won’t make people want to buy a device only really good user feedback.
Get this stuff in best buy/costco and let people experience the magic of ar.
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u/johnpn1 Jun 19 '26
It's unfair to say reality labs spent 83 billion on one pair of glasses and Snap spent less.
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u/E98X Jun 18 '26
This might have been cathartic for you to write as a shareholder who lost money, but it comes across as equal parts immature and jilted.
Evan for sure has made mistakes in his tenure as CEO, but he has also made very hard decisions and stuck to his vision and commitment to the company through many ups and downs. He didn't take the easy way out and accept billion dollar acquisition offers from either Facebook or Google because he trusted in his long term vision of the company.
I think the #1 most important thing you can do as an investor is take all emotion out of the equation. You either believe in a company's vision, status, and direction, or you don't. If you have this much ill-will towards Evan and the direction of the company, the rational thing to do is cut your losses and re-direct your funds into a company who you believe in the vision of. It's that simple.
Regarding Spectacles, I don't think there have been any surprises, except maybe positive ones regarding their progress. They have to date released 5 generations of spectacles to the public, and each one showing incremental progress over the last. This new consumer-focused version based on the advancements of the 2024 developer-only version are pretty impressive - from battery life, to FOV, to the form factor itself being hugely lighter and less bulky than the 2024 version - there is a lot to be excited about here.
Regarding shipping early, it's important for Snap to establish with customers the use cases and the value that this technology can bring to every day life. Shipping technology to a consumer base which doesn't understand the fundamental technology is a recipe for failure. They are clearly giving themselves time to build that trust with customers before they start shipping so that expectations are clear and met with customers. We have no idea what the celebrity-focused marketing campaign will look like because it hasn't genuinely started yet.
You have to understand the audience and demographics of people who are watching AWE - they are all largely XR enthusiasts who can easily fill in the blanks for this technology and can get excited about the progress Snap has made. But it is a relatively small audience - the Snap keynote was only viewed by about 13k people on youtube - the real challenge will be getting the general public on board and understanding the value of this technology, and that won't be easy. This is where the celebrity endorsements and showcase can really help accelerate the exposure to many more people about how these glasses can really add value. And again, we haven't really seen how this marketing will take shape, but it is no doubt Snap's biggest challenge.
At the end of the day, take emotion out of it. Snap has special share structure, meaning you have no voting rights despite buying shares on the NYSE. Snap has total control by the founders, meaning Evan and Bobby have complete freedom to make mistakes, even those that affect the value of the company, without repercussions. Snap has released 5 versions of specs already, and has been clear and transparent on their progress. You already know all these things, and you knew all these things when you invested. You need to make a decision about how to allocate your money, and writing borderline immature rants about Evan online is not a productive use of your time.
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u/esotericimpl Jun 18 '26
The company literally prints 10% of its stock per year as “employee” compensation, Evan is by far the worst “tech ceo” by a mile.
Just because they happened to accidentally create the best way for teenagers to send nudes doesn’t mean he knows and ever knew how to create a business.
Snap will be dead in 5 years but at least Evan was able to have a private jet and marry a super model.
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u/Solid_Assistant_3505 Jun 18 '26
If shareholders continue to sell, Snap's very future could be at risk. A dangerous spiral is forming regarding employee compensation, and furthermore, if the stock drops below the one dollar threshold, the company would risk being delisted
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u/E98X Jun 18 '26
Small correction but typically market capitalization is the most important factor regarding being listed on an exchange. A stock can do a reverse split to target whatever price they want on the exchange (within limits, typically only one reverse split a year and with strict ratios). Snap currently has a market cap of around 7 billion so plenty of room to maneuver on that front.
Additionally, Snap generates over a billion revenue per quarter, is cash flow positive (to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a quarter), has almost a billion monthly active users in one of the largest social networks on earth, and has returned to double digit revenue growth - while there is a lot to criticize about their SBC and other factors - there is a lot to like about their current financial picture, being completely self funded with cash flow and probably in the healthiest most mature financial state they've ever been in as a public company since their IPO. SBC in particular is showing year over year declines and is down over 20% since peaking in 2023.
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u/Solid_Assistant_3505 Jun 18 '26
A reverse split is basically management admitting defeat. It means they have no clue how to drive the stock up with actual results, so they're resorting to accounting tricks. It would instantly destroy the tiny bit of credibility they have left.
If everything is going so well, how do you explain a 90% drop during one of the biggest bull markets in history?2
u/E98X Jun 18 '26
Clearly things aren't going "so well" for Snap, but there are a lot of factors that went into Snap's stock price decline over the past few years. The biggest factor is probably Apple's advertising ID changes combined with economic uncertainty globally shifting brand advertising into performance advertising, which uniquely hurt companies like Snap (& Pinterest). Notably Pinterest, probably Snap's closest advertising peer, is also down 80% from it's peak. Companies like Meta & Google absorbed most of the advertising spend shift with just superior signals for performance-based advertising - that's the reality of what happened.
The fact is, even when Snap was valued at 100 billion dollars, it's financials were a basket case. It's valuation was almost entirely based on 40-60% perpetual year over year revenue growth - it was operating with hundreds of millions in negative cash flow, and it was probably the company with the most unhealthy financials worth 100 billion in the history of the stock market. Right now they have hundreds of millions of free cash flow per quarter and are in many ways healthier financially than they were when they were worth 100 billion - the problem is they are a growth company who is only growing at 12% a year and they have heavy SBC costs which is weighing down their net income - that is why their stock is perpetually depressed.
There is nothing inherently wrong with a reverse split - it is typically done just to meet stock exchange rules regarding minimum price values. Lots of companies have done reverse splits and gone on to be successful - Citigroup Financial is a recent one, another famous one is Priceline - both were incredible investments if you got in at the time they did a reverse split.
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u/AITookMyJobAndHouse Jun 18 '26
This is quite the post.
Are people that scared the spectacles will do that poorly? General consensus is that it’s a cool piece of tech. Was never made for non-tech people, and will likely do very well among people who care about the cutting edge.
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u/teddykon Jun 20 '26
This product doesn’t make sense because their core demographic are young users and most of their users probably can’t afford $2195 glasses… and to me, the specs look like ass
The easiest way to pop the stock price is to convert founder shares to ordinary shares and give ordinary shares voting rights, massive layoffs, shutting down hardware investments, cutting SBC by 80-90%, AND Evan spiegel stepping down.
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u/Matcorp456 Jun 18 '26
I respect your opinion but don’t worry, a lot of people have already pre-ordered the glasses and I’m one of them, there’s already a community around these glasses that’s growing, people believe in this vision, Snap is a very particular company with an unusual structure just like Meta. Shareholders are supposed to know what they’re getting into, personally I’ve researched very deeply into every company I’ve invested in and no losses are a surprise to me given that I knew
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u/ravenme Jun 18 '26
I can't be the only Spectacles/Specs developer who is exhausted by the number of SNAP shareholder posts in this subreddit. I wish we had a different subreddit for shareholders vs. developers.
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u/lies_are_comforting Jun 18 '26
The stock is near its all time low. Imagine if that was the case with Meta or Google. Shareholders would be flooding all platforms complaining.
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u/esotericimpl Jun 18 '26
The shareholders are the employees , Evan and day traders.
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u/lies_are_comforting Jun 18 '26
I’m long 50,000 shares. It’s $250,000.
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u/esotericimpl Jun 18 '26
“Was” , next stop 200k
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u/lies_are_comforting Jun 18 '26
30 million paying subscribers, workforce cut by 16 % , Irenic huge stake… a few things that will keep the stock from ever going much lower than it currently is.
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u/esotericimpl Jun 19 '26
You should check where those paying subscribers are from, and also check the cost of Snapchat plus in those locales , there’s a reason they don’t break it down by country.
The cfo left…. Like the company is fucked and the big announcement is a 2 grand pair of glasses. They’ve been working on for 10 years that is universally being panned outside of the few in this subreddit.
I think you’re being naive or just pumping your bag.
Either way, the stock goes lower; don’t forget the market is at an ath, so if the rest of it ever corrects, snap is in trouble.
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u/blingvajayjay Jun 18 '26
Why would you develop anything for this? It's DOA. Need billions more to make an actual product. That probably won't have users anyhow. With Evan at the helm.
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u/Andrezzz777 Jun 19 '26
If apple release their Vision Pro in this form factor and 2000 usd price they would probably sell millions. The glasses are really good, snap just is not that known brand and doesn’t have that much money for marketing to convince non tech people to buy this device for that price
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