Day 56 of 100 · Media

Twitch (Justin.tv)

Yale friends livestreamed one person's entire life. Then they noticed people preferred watching gamers.

Started atYale University
Founded2007
FoundersJustin Kan, Emmett Shear, Michael Seibel & Kyle Vogt
CountryUSA

How it started

The original idea failed. The feature people actually used became Twitch, sold to Amazon for ~$970m.

The lesson for your campus Watch what your users do, not what you built.

Why every campus needs an Innovation-Hub

Why we are telling this story

The next company on a list like this one has not been founded yet. Right now it is a student in a lecture hall with an idea nobody has asked about, and no room to build it in. Innovation-Hub is that room: a permanent space inside your institution where students from every department explore, experiment, collaborate and prototype.

See how to start one on your campus →

Ask the Founder

Pick a question — or write your own — and get a grounded answer about how Twitch (Justin.tv) was actually built.

Opens ChatGPT in a new tab with your question ready. Answers are generated by AI from publicly reported information — they are not statements by the founders. Always check anything important against an original source.

← Day 55: Postman Day 57: Zoho →

The next one comes from your campus

Innovation should not be an annual event. It should be a permanent room where students are allowed to build. Bring an Innovation-Hub to your institution.

Start an Innovation-Hub Explore Green-Campus