Welcome to the world of Justin Kan, where innovation meets entrepreneurship and creativity knows no bounds. Justin Kan is a name synonymous with pioneering endeavors, bold ventures, and insightful wisdom. As a serial entrepreneur, investor, and influential figure in the tech industry, Kan has left an indelible mark on the landscape of modern business. From co-founding the live-streaming platform Twitch to launching the on-demand mobile video service Justin.tv, his journey is a testament to the power of vision, perseverance, and relentless innovation.
Through his experiences and ventures, Justin Kan has amassed a wealth of knowledge and insights that resonate with aspiring entrepreneurs, seasoned professionals, and enthusiasts alike. His quotes encapsulate the essence of his entrepreneurial spirit, offering valuable lessons, motivation, and guidance for those navigating the complexities of the business world. Whether you’re seeking inspiration to embark on your own entrepreneurial journey or looking for actionable advice to propel your startup to new heights, Justin Kan’s quotes serve as a beacon of wisdom and inspiration.
If you burn out you aren’t doing your customers or your investors or your employees any favors. You need to create a situation inside your company where you are going to be retained for a long time. I think that’s your obligation if you’re good. Justin Kan
Snapchat is the platform I should have built at Justin.tv, so I’m jumping on the bandwagon and going hard on Snapchat. Justin Kan
I’m kind of a life coach for thousands of people. Justin Kan
I went to Yale and I was a physics and philosophy undergrad, graduated in 2005. Justin Kan
For gamers, I think it’s very easy for people to produce content that’s pretty engaging. Justin Kan
One of the ideas for Justin.tv was that it would force me to go out and be sociable and talk to people. Justin Kan
Eventually my ego is going to be the size of the planet Earth. Justin Kan
I think it’s very cathartic to have someone to talk to. Justin Kan
We do think founders should be treated like athletes, going for gold really hard. Justin Kan
I joined YC to recover from the brain damage of starting companies. Justin Kan
I like to have meetings in the early afternoon. Justin Kan
Electronic music is the first genre to realize how to use the music for marketing something else, which is playing festivals and club nights where they really make money. Justin Kan
I’m very passionate about mental health and wellness as part of the journey. Justin Kan
Behavior is a virus. We spread our behavior to those around us, whether passively or on purpose. Justin Kan
I usually float between the tech and the business sides of the office. Justin Kan
As a founder, you are a very active component of your company. Justin Kan
As a young founder in high-stress situations, I often used alcohol to escape facing things. I’ve struggled with this for a long time, and while I think I’ve gotten better over time, I believe that this is the last thing preventing me from actualizing my 100 percent conscious self. Justin Kan
Early-stage startups are all about the founders and team. Justin Kan
I grew up in Seattle. Justin Kan
I’m looking for a girl who’s an exhibitionist. Justin Kan
To me, e-sports is like poker. Twenty years ago, if someone told you that poker was going to be a massive spectator sport, you’d be like, ‘What are you talking about,’ right? Justin Kan
Imagine what you could do if you had the ability to broadcast live video from anywhere, anytime. It changes the way news is gathered. Justin Kan
The best way to sell your company for a lot of money is to have a good company. Justin Kan
With Justin.TV, infinite people told us that it wouldn’t work, and to some extent they were right. But it was still a good investment. Justin Kan
No matter what I’ve wanted to accomplish, whether it was raising capital, investing in a startup, or selling a company, legal has always been a cost and a roadblock to the ultimate goal. Justin Kan
During the pandemic, obviously gaming has become almost like a primary activity. People are at home all the time, they need to entertain themselves, gaming has seen huge growth in all the gaming companies and so Twitch is no exception. Justin Kan
I deleted all the apps. You can actually turn off the App Store. And I gave the passcode to my wife so I didn’t have the passcode to reinstall the App Store. And I deleted all social media apps and e-commerce apps. Justin Kan
I feel like a lot of the technology that happens in gaming, starts in gaming and it goes broader than gaming. Justin Kan
I think when you start talking about selling a company or a company wants to buy you, then you start thinking about how much money you’re going to have. That’s insidious because it saps your will to continue. Justin Kan
After selling Twitch, I worked at Y Combinator, investing as a partner there for a couple of years. Justin Kan
A lot of people on the business side are really serious. But I like being able to mix content that’s me having fun. Justin Kan
At TwitchTV, we think of ourselves as a technology product company, so when we set out to innovate, most often we’re trying to improve or build better features for the platform that will improve things for the ecosystem. Justin Kan
I think streaming works a lot better from an app. Justin Kan
I’ve been an entrepreneur for the past 12 years, since I graduated from Yale undergrad with a degree in Physics and Philosophy, and realized I had no actual marketable job skills. Justin Kan
Snapchat built an elegant, incredibly well-thought-out tool to make it fun, simple, and frictionless for normal people to share snippets of their lives in an interesting way. Justin Kan
Our goal has always been to make broadcasters on TwitchTV feel like they own their channel pages, and we’re continuing to make incremental improvements there. Justin Kan
The Internet is a place that fosters creativity. Justin Kan
When you’re a startup, your edge is that you don’t have that many customers. So you can build a really strong relationship with them. Justin Kan
I want money to replace mental energy and physical effort. Justin Kan
The hardest part about growing has been making sure we can support the community in the same ways that we were able to when TwitchTV was just starting out. Justin Kan
We see ourselves as part of a larger gaming ecosystem: You’ve got broadcasters, game developers, sponsors, and of course the video platforms like TwitchTV. Justin Kan
After learning about Snapchat Stories, I’ve become obsessed with Snapchat. Justin Kan
I can’t promise you will succeed if you stick with your start-up. What I can promise is that if you give up, you won’t possibly succeed. Justin Kan
It used to be that games were more like movies where a game would come out and then people play it for two months and then it’s over. Justin Kan
When we started Twitch I didn’t start off as a huge eSports fan, but I am now. Justin Kan
You can be burned out no matter how successful you are, and you can be unhappy no matter how successful you are. Justin Kan
Companies are bought not sold, an investment banker told me that once and it is very true. Basically what it means is you can’t control selling your company, you can only sell it if somebody wants to buy it, and you need someone to want to buy it. Justin Kan
Inspirational content really resonates, like how to raise venture capital. Justin Kan
Having a start-up is all about being able to see what works and change your idea. Justin Kan
I try to work the hardest I can without burning myself out. It’s not that I think working all the time is the key to success. It’s just the way I was raised. Justin Kan
The idea was called Justin.tv. The idea behind it was, basically, to create our own live-video streaming show, like ‘Big Brother,’ about ourselves, these entrepreneurs trying to make a reality show. It was a little bit meta and we launched this show. Justin Kan
What I learned: if you’ve done something you think the public is going to react badly to, you can’t delay it, hide from it, or ignore it. You have to address it head on and take your beating. Always take your beating. Justin Kan
A lot of tech people are afraid to get on the phone and talk to their customers, or get on Zoom, or whatever. But I think a great place to start is just be calling your customers all the time. Justin Kan
There was no real plan B. It was like, I’m gonna move back to Seattle and move in with my parents. Justin Kan
Today, I have an understanding of the world, and of the entertainment and media industries, of how people consume content. Justin Kan
I think people have called Twitch a niche for a long time but it’s not, gaming is bigger than Hollywood. Justin Kan
People like the feeling of access that is very raw, unedited, and inspirational. Justin Kan
Smart founders are going anywhere to find talent. Justin Kan
I was always so engrossed with being successful that that was my worth and my identity. And then when things weren’t going well, I felt like I was worthless. Justin Kan
The human experience contains ups and downs no matter who you are. Justin Kan
The unifying factor in my career across investing and entrepreneurship was that the whole time I’ve basically been an involuntary power user of legal services. Justin Kan
The original idea for Justin.tv was a terrible idea. So if something like that can eventually become successful, then anyone can be successful. Justin Kan
That constant need to do better and better is what drove me to start more and more companies – but it wasn’t enough. Justin Kan
I don’t feel productive if I’m not working a lot. Justin Kan
Nothing is better received by a founder than reading about someone being passionate for his or her project. Justin Kan
Most people aren’t good at creating generally interesting video. Justin Kan
Because our site was live video, and because our backend was extremely unstable, we were always in a PTSD-inducing constant state of stress. Justin Kan
I want to inspire the youth to become entrepreneurs. Justin Kan
I’m biased, but I see people who have great ideas and are working on things that could be successful, but they give up. Justin Kan
There’s something very satisfying about making anything with your hands. Justin Kan
I first started in tech when one of my friends and I decided it was a good opportunity to start a company while we were in school because we had almost no opportunity cost. Our opportunity cost was playing ‘World of Warcraft’ and drinking beer. We thought it was a good time to try something. Justin Kan
If justin.tv can succeed, then nobody has an excuse. It was a terrible idea. Justin Kan
I don’t think the music business is a very good business to be in. Justin Kan
For most people, startups are a risky endeavor and something to be avoided. Many are hesitant to quit their secure jobs and try to start a company from scratch. Justin Kan
People want to use products where they feel like the people who deliver those products are invested in making it better for them. Justin Kan
Broadcasting something live from a remote site has always been the sole domain of large media corporations with access to satellite trucks. Justin Kan
Twitter is a competition to write the most retweeted witticisms. Justin Kan
In fact, I’ve had many lawyers who I felt provided excellent advice and service during important decisions or difficult times. That being said, I always wondered why the law firms that serve the most innovative technology companies in the world rarely adopt innovative software or try to improve their business operations. Justin Kan
It’s nice to watch someone else perform instead of me. Justin Kan
One of the things big law partners say when they talk about Atrium is that we get people who wouldn’t make partner. And I say, they’re the people who are doing the work for you anyway, but they transition out because they hate the lifestyle. Justin Kan
With Whale, I’m like the first user. My feedback is around my experience as a content creator. Justin Kan
If you look at our original business model with the verticalized law firm, a lot of these companies that have this kind of full stack model are not going to survive. A lot of these companies, Atrium included, did not figure out how to make a dent in operational efficiency. Justin Kan
When we started, the Internet was America. If you weren’t there, you weren’t a company. Justin Kan
I’ve always been someone who’s, like, more of an exhibitionist. Justin Kan
Even though I had accomplished something astronomical, I looked to my friends who had founded Dropbox and Airbnb, and thought, ‘I could’ve done better.’ Justin Kan
I like the idea that I can make a big difference to a startup in a short period of time. Justin Kan
Extrinsic motivations are like, ‘I wanna get rich, I wanna be famous.’… Even missionary ones like, ‘I wanna change the world with this idea.’… That’s an extrinsic motivation. And when things are hard, you’re going to be like, oh why am I doing this? Justin Kan
Ironically, the pursuit of happiness can lead us into the eternal trap of chasing unhappiness. Justin Kan
Surround yourself with people who do what you want to do, and eventually you’ll wake up to find yourself doing the same. Justin Kan
Why don’t law firms use project management software to track where they are in the process of completing a deal and let customers see that? Justin Kan
One of the reasons I think Y Combinator is so powerful is because it creates a new social norm, especially for those who come from outside Silicon Valley. Justin Kan
If you look at things that are popular apps, it doesn’t mean it’s going to stick around. Justin Kan
The big thing was realizing for myself that I had tied my ego to the outcomes and to startups. Justin Kan
I actually want to go out and try to date girls. I mean, ones who want to be on camera. Justin Kan
The original concept for JTV was that we would give people a window into other people’s lives. The problem is that if that window is 24/7, when you look in at any random moment, odds are you are going to be bored. Justin Kan
If you think about corporate legal work that’s done today, some part of it is art and then some of it is repeatable processes. Justin Kan
I’ve always had the theory that people like watching people. Justin Kan
When I was 31, we sold Twitch for a billion dollars. I achieved everything I ever dreamed of. When I was 35, I realized I was just as unhappy as I’d ever been. Justin Kan
It helps tremendously to have operating startup experience when advising startups. It is much easier to tell people how to talk to customers, build product, manage an engineering team, raise money from investors, and talk to press when you’ve done it before yourself. Justin Kan
Alcohol was this crutch for me, to be able to be confident or go do those things I was scared to do. Eventually, I was like ‘Oh, this isn’t serving me anymore.’ Justin Kan