Why be the next Instagram when you can be the next GroupOn?
Who knows what would happen to WhatsApp if Google bought it? Could it become one of Google's current chat apps that no one uses?
The last that I can remember was YouTube, and that turned out very well for youtube and google.
http://www.businessinsider.com/groupon-google-deal-turn-down...
That's an unfair comparison imo.
Snapchat have bought an AI company in Eastern Europe that does those cat and dog filter on people.
Groupon was very easy to emulate, I don't think Snapchat is as easy as Groupon. The infrastructures to set up Snapchat and those AI filters and such is a bit harder.
They have enough tough-to-emulate problems to continue to be ahead of copy cats while continue to keep innovating and keep that rift.
Snap problem is making money now but that's the same with Twitter, Facebook (initially), Foursquare, etc...
I'm optimistic that they'll start making profit not sure if it'll be enough to satisfy their investor (e.g. twitter) but they will.