Justin Kan

Justin Kan
簡彥豪
Kan in 2019
Kan in 2019
Born (1983-07-16) July 16, 1983 (age 41)
Seattle, Washington, US
Alma materYale University
OccupationInvestor
Known forCo-founding Twitch
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers166,000[1]
100,000 subscribers2021
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese簡彥豪
Simplified Chinese简彦豪
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJiǎn Yànháo
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingGaan2 Jin6hou4
Last updated: June 18, 2021
Websitejustinkan.com

Justin Kan (born July 16, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of live video platforms Justin.tv and Twitch, as well as the mobile social video application Socialcam.[2] He was also the co-founder and former CEO of law-tech company Atrium before it was shut down in March 2020.[3][4] In 2021, he launched NFT marketplace Fractal, which was renamed to Stash in 2024.[5]

He was a partner at Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator.[6] He gained widespread attention for his "lifecasting" experiment on Justin.tv, where he attempted to broadcast his entire life. Kan also started a Reddit-style electronic music discovery platform, The Drop.[citation needed]

Career

Justin.tv

Main article: Justin.tv

In 2007, Justin Kan and partners Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt started Justin.tv, a 24–7 live video feed of Kan's life, broadcast via a webcam attached to his head.[7] Kan was 23 years old at the time.

Justin Kan at Web 2.0 Expo 2007 in San Francisco
Justin Kan at Web 2.0 Expo 2007 in San Francisco. Photo: Anders Frick

Kan's "lifecasting" lasted about eight months. Kan's concept attracted media attention, and resulting interviews with him included one by Ann Curry on the Today Show. Viewers accompanied Kan as he walked the streets of San Francisco, sometimes involved in both pre-planned events (trapeze lesson, dance lesson) and spontaneous situations (being invited into the local Scientology center by a sidewalk recruiter).

Afterward, the company transitioned to providing a live video platform so anyone could publish a live video stream. Justin.tv, the platform, launched in 2007[8][9] and was one of the largest live video platforms globally with more than 30 million unique users every month.

Justin.tv was shut down on August 5, 2014, in an effort to focus further on Justin.tv's parent company, Twitch.[10][11][12]

Twitch

Main article: Twitch (service)

After Justin.tv launched in 2007, the site added subject-specific content categories like Social, Tech, Sports, Entertainment, News & Events, Gaming and others. Gaming quickly grew to become the most popular content on the site.[13]

The company then decided to spin off the gaming content under a separate brand at a separate website. They named it TwitchTV, inspired by the term twitch gameplay. It launched officially in public beta on June 6, 2011.

Twitch was acquired by Amazon.com in August 2014 for $970 million.[14][15]

Socialcam

Main article: Socialcam

In March 2011, Kan launched Socialcam, a smartphone application that allowed users to capture and share videos. Socialcam was bought by Autodesk in July 2012 for $60 million and was eventually shut down in October 2015.[16][17] The application reached 16 million downloads before its acquisition.[18]

Exec

Main article: Exec (errand service)

Kan launched Exec on February 29, 2012 with the goal of allowing anyone to outsource miscellaneous tasks for $25/hour. Exec was co-founded with his brother Daniel Kan, former head business development at UserVoice, and Amir Ghazvinian.[19]

In January 2014, Exec was purchased by Handybook, in an all-stock transaction.[20]

Y Combinator

Kan was a member of the first batch of YC-funded startups in 2005 for Kiko Calendar, and was funded by YC again for Justin.tv[6] and Exec.[21] Kan became a partner at Y Combinator in March 2014, where he offered advice to the new startups.[22] In March 2017, Kan left Y Combinator to start his own incubator, Zero-F.[23]

The Drop

The Drop is a Reddit-style electronic music discovery platform that launched in early 2015. Users can post and up-vote community-curated and sourced tracks. It was founded by Kan and his college friend Ranidu Lankage.[24]

Atrium

In 2017, Kan launched technology-enabled law firm, Atrium.[25] Kan raised $10.5 million in an initial "party" round of investment led by General Catalyst.[26] In September 2018, Kan raised an additional $65 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. At that time, Andrew Chen, Marc Andreessen and Michael Seibel joined the Atrium board of directors.[27] Atrium closed operations in March 2020.[28]

YouTube

Justin Kan started a YouTube channel in 2021.[29] In February 2021 he announced that fans could collect his YouTube videos as non-fungible tokens on OpenSea.[30][31]

Fractal

Kan started Fractal.is in December 2021 as a marketplace for Solana-based NFTs. Players could buy NFTs directly from game companies or through peer-to-peer trading. In April 2022, Fractal raised $35 million in a seed round led by Paradigm and Multicoin Capital. Other investors include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Solana Labs, Animoca Brands, Coinbase Ventures and Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon, and others.

In 2024, Fractal was renamed to Stash, and pivoted to include a suite of products which allow game developers to interface directly with their customers.[5]

Kan speaking at a Solana event in Los Angeles in February 2022

References

  1. ^ "About Justin Kan". YouTube.
  2. ^ "Socialcam: A Look At Justin.tv's Upcoming 'Instagram for Video'". TechCrunch. February 18, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  3. ^ "Atrium". Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  4. ^ Hutcheon, Stephen (June 15, 2009). "One man and a cam – web – Technology". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Justin Kan's Stash gives game devs a platform for alternative web shops". January 18, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Y Combinator's latest partners are also alums". VentureBeat. June 13, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  7. ^ Guynn, Jessica (March 30, 2007). "IT'S JUSTIN, LIVE! ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT! / S.F. startup puts camera on founder's head for real-time feed, and a star is born". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  8. ^ RSS Feed for Liz Gannes Email Liz Gannes Liz Gannes (October 2, 2007). "Justin.tv Wins Funding, Opens Platform – Online Video News". Gigaom.com. Archived from the original on June 17, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2012. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  9. ^ Chris Pirillo (April 30, 2009). "Grab a webcam and give lifecasting a try". CNN. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  10. ^ "Goodbye from Justin.tv". Justin.TV. August 5, 2014. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  11. ^ Machovech, Sam (August 5, 2014). "Streaming video site Justin.tv announces closure effective immediately". Arstechnica.
  12. ^ Popper, Ben (August 5, 2014). "Justin.tv, the live video pioneer that birthed Twitch, officially shuts down". The Verge.
  13. ^ "Live-streaming site Justin.tv buffing up for e-sports channels". VentureBeat. March 10, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  14. ^ "Letter from the CEO". Twitch. August 25, 2014. Archived from the original on August 25, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  15. ^ Lanxon, Nate (August 25, 2014). "Amazon buys Twitch streaming service". Wired. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  16. ^ "TwitchTV: Justin.tv's killer new esports project". The Next Web. June 6, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  17. ^ Tam, Donna (July 17, 2012). "Autodesk to buy Facebook favorite Socialcam for $60M". CNET. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  18. ^ "Autodesk Signs Agreement to Acquire Socialcam". BusinessWire. July 17, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  19. ^ "Justin Kan Launches Exec For Real-Time Mobile Jobs". Forbes. February 29, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  20. ^ "Handybook Buys Exec in a Deal for the On-Demand World". The New York Times. January 15, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  21. ^ "Justin Kan Launches Exec For Real-Time Mobile Jobs". Forbes. February 29, 2012.
  22. ^ Graham, Paul (June 13, 2011). "Welcome Sam, Garry, Emmett, and Justin". Y Combinator Posterous. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
  23. ^ Stangel, Luke (March 7, 2017). "Twitch founder Justin Kan quits Y Combinator to start his own incubator". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  24. ^ Lankage, Ranidu (June 20, 2018). "Why My Acqui-hire Failed (And What You Can Learn)". atrium.co. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  25. ^ Tashea, Jason (September 14, 2017). "Venture-backed, technology-focused law firm launches". abajournal.com. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  26. ^ Tashea, Jason (June 15, 2017). "Venture-backed, technology-focused law firm launches". abajournal.com. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  27. ^ Constine, Josh (June 15, 2017). "Atrium raises $65M from a16z to replace lawyers with machine learning". techcrunch.com. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  28. ^ "$75M legal startup Atrium shuts down, lays off 100". TechCrunch. March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  29. ^ "Justin Kan - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  30. ^ You can COLLECT my YouTube videos as an NFT?!, February 22, 2021, archived from the original on December 15, 2021, retrieved August 18, 2021
  31. ^ "Startup Stories from Justin Kan, co-founder of Twitch". OpenSea Blog. February 24, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
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