4 ms·

Justin doesn't just work with the media. Justin IS the media. I think it's worth pointing out that Justin.tv led to the two largest YC exits to date, Twitch (J

by paul 11y ago

Justin doesn't just work with the media. Justin IS the media. I think it's worth pointing out that Justin.tv led to the two largest YC exits to date, Twitch (Justin.tv pivot), and Cruise (founded by Justin.tv cofounder Kyle Vogt and Justin's brother Dan). In 2008, Justin.tv co-founder Michael Seibel found Brian Chesky crashed on the floor of a hotel in Austin, offered him space in his room, began coaching him on how to build a startup, introduced him to the rest of the Justin.tv team, and ultimately brought them into YC! (and look where he is now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP6TH3pBPi8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP6TH3pBPi8) I look forward to more of the same :)

55555 11y ago
Another cruise co-founder was Justin's younger brother.
- paul 11y ago
  Yes! Fixed.
opendomain 11y ago
Did Justin.TV succeed for the original investors? I know that Twitch was sold, but I heard that it was completely separate from Justin.TV
- paul 11y ago
  Yes. I was one of the first Justin.tv investors. I think my final return was about 97x, so that's pretty good. From my perspective at least, Twitch was essentially a re-branding. Basically, they saw that gaming content was popular on Justin.tv, so Emmett decided to move that on to a dedicated site. Ultimately Twitch far eclipsed the justin.tv site, so they shut that down to focus entirely on the Twitch side.
  - seizethecheese 11y ago
    Based on the Startup School podcast episode I heard with Emmett, it sounded like it was less that gaming was popular (I think he said it was 2% of traffic) and more that it was the only content that Emmett actually liked watching. (Not trying to disagree with you, given that you were there, more trying to give another perspective.)
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- DanBlake 11y ago
  I dont see how it couldn't have. Twitch was almost undoubtedly built on the JTV tech stack and staff. Also consider that Amazon owns the justin.tv domain.
- justin 11y ago
  same company
ptaffs 11y ago
regarding the Obama clip, i'm impressed Obama can talk so clearly about how airBnB works, for someone who lives in a bubble of security and probably never thinks about where he's going to stay when he goes on holiday, he can describe very well the social reputation components of airBnB.
- paul 11y ago
  Yeah, I was super impressed as well. Obama understands AirBnb better than many people in tech do.
- ntumlin 11y ago
  Presidents are extremely smart and can quickly pick up on topics. Combine this with advisers giving you a detailed run down and you get this.
  - iamcurious 11y ago
    >Presidents are extremely smart Interesting. Is there a part of the democatic process that guarantees electing extremely smart people?
    - knd775 11y ago
      IMO doing well in debates requires the ability to think very quickly.
      - bhaumik 11y ago
        Not necessarily. https://twitter.com/patel0phone/status/705587706517184515 https://twitter.com/patel0phone/status/705587706517184515
    - ntumlin 11y ago
      Is there a president you can think of that wasn't a genius? Being president requires you to manage so many different things; it couldn't be done by someone who wasn't smart.
daniel_levine 11y ago
Kyle also introduced the founders of Dropbox!

by paul 11y ago

55555 11y ago

Another cruise co-founder was Justin's younger brother.

paul 11y ago
Yes! Fixed.

opendomain 11y ago

Did Justin.TV succeed for the original investors? I know that Twitch was sold, but I heard that it was completely separate from Justin.TV

paul 11y ago
Yes. I was one of the first Justin.tv investors. I think my final return was about 97x, so that's pretty good. From my perspective at least, Twitch was essentially a re-branding. Basically, they saw that gaming content was popular on Justin.tv, so Emmett decided to move that on to a dedicated site. Ultimately Twitch far eclipsed the justin.tv site, so they shut that down to focus entirely on the Twitch side.
- seizethecheese 11y ago
  Based on the Startup School podcast episode I heard with Emmett, it sounded like it was less that gaming was popular (I think he said it was 2% of traffic) and more that it was the only content that Emmett actually liked watching. (Not trying to disagree with you, given that you were there, more trying to give another perspective.)
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
DanBlake 11y ago
I dont see how it couldn't have. Twitch was almost undoubtedly built on the JTV tech stack and staff. Also consider that Amazon owns the justin.tv domain.
justin 11y ago
same company

ptaffs 11y ago

regarding the Obama clip, i'm impressed Obama can talk so clearly about how airBnB works, for someone who lives in a bubble of security and probably never thinks about where he's going to stay when he goes on holiday, he can describe very well the social reputation components of airBnB.

paul 11y ago
Yeah, I was super impressed as well. Obama understands AirBnb better than many people in tech do.
ntumlin 11y ago
Presidents are extremely smart and can quickly pick up on topics. Combine this with advisers giving you a detailed run down and you get this.
- iamcurious 11y ago
  >Presidents are extremely smart Interesting. Is there a part of the democatic process that guarantees electing extremely smart people?
  - knd775 11y ago
    IMO doing well in debates requires the ability to think very quickly.
    - bhaumik 11y ago
      Not necessarily. https://twitter.com/patel0phone/status/705587706517184515 https://twitter.com/patel0phone/status/705587706517184515
  - ntumlin 11y ago
    Is there a president you can think of that wasn't a genius? Being president requires you to manage so many different things; it couldn't be done by someone who wasn't smart.

daniel_levine 11y ago

Kyle also introduced the founders of Dropbox!