Maceda, Kismith Aile F.

CBET-01-601A
ECO3: Macroeconomics

Reaction on the Effects on the Filipino Community of with regards to Bobby Murphys
Snapchat IPO Success

One of the latest news in the business and technology world today is Snapchats
filing of IPO. Snapchat is a popular photo-sharing application that gained its popularity
in 2013. This resulted to a spike on the net worth of its shareholders and of course, its
founders. One of Snapchats co-founders is Robert Cornelius Bobby Murphy. He is the
current Chief Technical Operations and has a net worth of $5.6 billion after the company
went public. He is also listed by Forbes Magazine as one of Americas Richest
Entrepreneurs. So, what makes this guy interesting in the eyes of the Filipino
Community aside from the fact that he is a smart, self-made billionaire?

Bobby Murphy is, apparently, a Filipino-American citizen. His mother is a Filipino-

Chinese while his father is an American. From the Philippines, they migrated to America
and worked as government employees. In addition, he is also a Stanford University
graduate, where the idea of Snapchat was born.

With his numerous achievements, we might say that he will serve as an

inspiration for the Filipinos who want to pursue their dreams in the tech industry. We
might say the he is interesting to the Filipino community because he is a young, self-
made billionaire. But lets not deny the fact that our reaction will consist of being ecstatic
and posting comments like, Proud to be Pinoy!, because someone with a Filipino
blood became successful abroad.

We, Filipinos tend to enjoy the triumph and celebrate the success of other
Filipinos. I dont think that is a bad thing. We have the right to celebrate the
achievements of our men because it is for our country, but finding or digging deep of a
foreigners roots to see if theres a bit of Filipino blood rushing to it? That is stupid. We
are so proud of being a Filipino when someone with .00001% of Filipino blood is
recognized in foreign countries. We search for something in an entirely different person
just to feel good about ourselves. We feed off on the success of others and turn a blind
side whenever something bad happens to our co-Filipinos. Yes, we can take someone
like Bobby Murphy as an inspiration to the Filipino community, as someone who made
himself successful because of his efforts not because he is a Filipino. He didnt even
acknowledge his Filipino Identity during his interviews because it is not relevant.
Murphy worked hard in order to achieve his position right now, regardless of his
ethnicity or nationality. In addition, the mindset of the majority of the Filipinos is to be
loud and proud because of Murphys success and not to immediately search what in the
world is IPO and find ways on how to invest on businesses like these. In addition,
majority of our community tend to ignore the start-ups like this in our own homeland. We
dont want to hear about what they do, we only care if theyve already succeeded.

Bobby Murphys success in America may leave a note that Filipinos can find
success in other countries. This may also leave a positive impression that Filipino
people also work hard like him. This can serve as an inspiration to all of the young
entrepreneurs out there because of his hard work, not because there is a Filipino blood
running in his body. It is hypocritical for us to say that ethnicity attributes to success, just
like what the Filipino community believe.