Evan Spiegel, Snap CEO, argues that the modern consumer-tech industry has a fixation problem. So much of consumer technology focuses on product-market fit. People don't spend nearly enough time thinking about distribution and figuring out distribution. Since Snapchat launched 15 years ago, only TikTok and Threads have reached durable consumer scale — and both, he points out, figured out distribution (TikTok with billion-dollar two-sided subsidies, Threads with Meta's existing user base). PMF was table stakes. Distribution was the differentiator.
The distribution insight that built Snapchat: when everyone else believed bigger networks were stickier, Snap noticed something different. What really mattered was connecting you to the right people. Not all your friends — your best friend, your partner, the small handful you cared about most. That reframe gave Snap a way to grow when conventional wisdom said it was impossible to beat existing networks.
On AI specifically: 15 years ago, we essentially learned that software is not a moat — which is something everyone is discovering today with AI. The implication is sharp. AI products have weaker software moats than founders assume; the durable position will come from distribution channels and human-side product judgment, not model capability.
Spiegel also frames the next year as a crucible moment and warns that humanity dictates how technology is adopted — technology leaders consistently underestimate societal pushback to AI. The combined message for PMs: spend less time perfecting features, more time mapping how the product actually reaches the people you want to serve and how those people emotionally accept it.