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Spiegel: Entrepreneurial success relies heavily on family safety nets and luck

Evan Spiegel · Snap: Evan Spiegel · Apr 21, 2025 · at 1:04:42

Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel discusses the balance between personal skill, privilege, and luck in building Snap.

0:00 / 0:19exact quote · 19.4s
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“Life isn't fair. And it's been extraordinary to have these gifts of, you know, growing up in the Palisades, being able to attend a great school, having the opportunity, the safety net to go pursue a business. I mean, but I think beyond luck, there are so many generations of my family that did so much work to enable me to do this.”

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