Co-founder of Stanford startup Snapchat alleges he was shut out by other founders in lawsuit.
Stanford graduate Reggie Brown, who allegedly came up with the idea of disappearing picture messages whilst at the university, has filed a lawsuit against the founders of Stanford startup Snapchat.
Brown’s lawsuit claims that Brown originally came up with the idea upon which Snapchat is based (an app which sends picture messages that disappear after 1 to 10 seconds) and mentioned it to Snapchat chief executive and fellow Kappa Sigma fraternity brother Evan Spiegel. The two then began work on the project, and recruited another fraternity brother and Snapchat chief operating officer Bobby Murphy to assist them.
Brown’s suit also claims that Spiegel referenced Brown as a member of the startup in several emails to the press, and also indicates that Spiegel’s father acknowledged the three were working together in a text to Brown’s mother. Additional evidence submitted to the court indicates that Spiegel had credited Brown with the idea of disappearing messages.
However, after an argument in mid-2011, Spiegel and Murphy locked Brown out of accounts linked to the startup and cut off ties with him. The two also began modifying communications to remove Brown from the company picture, notably changing messages to press mentioning three members of the startup down to two.
In addition to Spiegel and Murphy, Brown is also suing investors Institutional Venture Partners, Silicon Valley Angel, General Catalyst Partners, and Lightspeed ventures as the all supported a $60m venture round into the company in June after the lawsuit had been picked by the press.
Snapchat now has 26 million users, and is estimated to be worth $3.6bn.
