[1] It was founded by David Byttow, the former lead for Square Wallet, and Chrys Bader-Wechseler, a former Google product manager at Google+, Photovine and YouTube.

[4][5][6][7] In December 2013, TechCrunch reported the existence of Secret (then in stealth, so its purpose was unclear), and also that it was raising $1.2 million, based on a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

It started receiving press coverage in early February 2014, where it was revealed that the company had raised $1.4 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures, Alexis Ohanian and Garry Tan through their Initialized Capital vehicle, Index Ventures, Matrix Partners, SV Angel, and Fuel Capital.

After the Brazilian courts hearing, the developers included new features for both the Android and iOS versions of the app aimed at safeguarding user privacy.

[30] On April 29, 2015, Secret's founder and CEO David Byttow announced his decision to shut the company down, claiming that the way people were using the app, including the spreading of malicious rumors, was not in line with what he had originally envisioned.

[4] Of the decision to shut down the company and return the money to investors rather than attempt to pivot, he wrote: "Innovation requires failure, and I believe in failing fast in order to go on and make only new and different mistakes."

He also promised to eventually publish postmortems "so that others can learn from the unique mistakes and challenges we faced and the wisdom gained from such an incredible 16 months.

She also suggested that there was a reasonable chance that the app would lead to teen suicides due to bullying and lies being spread about people.

Paul Carr responded on PandoDaily,[37] and Secret's PR representative expressed disappointment saying she didn't like it when people wrote bad things about others without talking to them first.

[5] The article also noted that the co-founders had cashed out to the tune of $3 million each during an earlier round of fundraising, raising questions of their commitment to and confidence in the long-term vision and success of the company.

[4] After Secret shut down, Byttow began working on a project called Bold designed to "help teams and companies foster ideas.

"[42] In 2017, after a few years working to establish this company, Byttow terminated the idea and joined Postmates to lead Product and Engineering for their apps.

[44] Byttow had previously taken an interest in Snapchat since 2014 when he met Evan Spiegel and tried to take Secret in a similar direction as the platform.