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Twitch Founder: We Turned A 'Terrible Idea' Into A $970 Million Company
Business Insider/James Cook Twitch founder Justin Kan, left, at TechCrunch Disrupt on Monday.
The founder of the video game streaming site Twitch, Justin Kan, explained on stage Monday at TechCrunch Disrupt London exactly how the site grew. Acquired by Amazon for $970 million in August, the site grew from humble beginnings to dominate the online-game-streaming industry.
Kan explained that Twitch had its start as justin.tv, a startup founded in 2005 when he was studying for a physics and psychology degree at Yale. His first company, Kiko Software, was an online calendar. That project failed, but the team behind it went on to create justin.tv. Kan said they wanted to create a "Big Brother-style" site that would stream their lives.
The initial response to justin.tv was mixed. People hated the reality show concept, but they kept asking how they could use the site to create their own online video streams. And so, justin.tv eventually pivoted to allow users to stream their own video online.
Back in 2005 when justin.tv was started, streaming video games was tough, Kan said, adding that it was "technically complex" for people to create a streaming setup, as they needed webcams, microphones, and specialist software. And so one of the first hires justin.tv made was a specialist video game streamer who helped people set up video game streaming.
Since Twitch started as an online platform for videogame streaming, the industry has grown immensely in size. Games are now the No. 1 category on YouTube, Kan says. More than 55 million people watch video game streamers on Twitch every month.
Kan ended his talk with a relatively uplifting message: "If justin.tv can succeed, then nobody has an excuse. It was a terrible idea."
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