But its lack of revenue is about to change after co-founder Evan Spiegel revealed plans to show adverts on the app.
Hackers on Sunday posted photos and videos of Snapchat users, some of them underage, following through with a threat issued on Friday.
If Brown's team can prove a verbal partnership was formed, then he may have a strong case.
Earlier this week, an anonymous 4chan user claimed to have obtained images on Snapchat - the ephemeral messaging service that allows users to send pictures that should disappear after a few seconds.
The transcripts and video clips indicate that Brown did indeed have an early role in Snapchat.
How many of these photos might have been explicit and how many were of underage users is unclear.