One of the biggest questions that Snap has faced from potential investors is why its two founders, Evan Spiegel<br />and Bobby Murphy, have retained such a hold on voting power in the company — power that public shareholders will not gain.<br />Lightspeed, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, was the first institution to invest in Snap, the company<br />that popularized disappearing messages, and it is now set to reap more than $1 billion from what began as a mere $485,000 investment.<br />Snapchat Founders’ Grip Tightened After a Spat With an Early Investor -<br />When Snap goes public next month, one of the biggest winners will be Lightspeed Venture Partners.<br />A few months after Lightspeed completed its investment in Snapchat, another Silicon Valley<br />venture firm, General Catalyst, became interested in investing in the company.<br />But the big money for Lightspeed masks a complicated tale between the venture firm and Snap, the parent company of Snapchat.<br />At the heart of that is a Lightspeed venture capitalist, Jeremy Liew,<br />and the terms he embedded in his 2012 investment in what was then known as Snapchat.<br />It also made Snap an unattractive investment for other investors — who would not be able to take as large a stake as they would like in the company.<br />“When someone says something is standard, just ask why,<br />and why and why and why, until you really understand intricately, I think, how the deal is structured.”<br />Mr. Spiegel embarked on a way to work around Lightspeed and Mr. Liew so that he could get the investors he wanted in the future.
