Co-founder of Twitch predicts "Twitch in virtual reality"
From the translator: this interview Justin Kahn - one of the founders of the streaming service Twitch and the creator of Justin.tv, gave Fortune magazine on March 8th. Cybersport and streaming are two separate uptrends that are in symbiosis in the Twitch platform.
Who, if not Mr. Kahn, can judge the future of this industry and make predictions?
Justin Kahn, an entrepreneur specializing in start-ups, continues to invest in such projects. A companion in the venture fund Y Combinator knows first-hand how to create a successful startup, being a co-founder of the Justin.tv project, which was originally a 24-hour live video stream of his own life. This startup in 2007 gave anyone the opportunity to bring their lives to public viewing, using unique channels. By 2011, gaming became the most popular destination for this live streaming (live streaming), and the Twitch.tv platform was born. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for nearly $ 1 billion.
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A graduate of Yale University had success with other start-ups, including Kiko (AJAX-based web calendar), Socialcam (mobile video sharing application) and customized service Exec project. He also continues to operate in the field of eSports, where he invested funds from the successful Twitch project when he ran this company. Kahn, in his exclusive interview for Fortune, explains what Snapchat can do for his new vision for the Justin.tv project, and sets out his point of view why the next project - “Twitch for Virtual Reality” - will enter everyday life in the next few years.
In the founders, in the founders and again in the founders. We are looking for people who we think are highly goal-oriented, hard-working, able to create some product and have a unique understanding of their industry.
Essentially, many of our top companies, including Twitch, stand on the original idea of ​​their founders. At the YC stage, it is extremely difficult to predict whether a business idea will survive a collision with reality. Therefore, we are looking for such people as founders of startups who intend to talk with users, learn and adapt to the situation.
Having your own experience of startups is extremely helpful in advising such projects. It is much easier to explain to people how to talk to users, create a product, lead a team of specialists, raise money from investors and talk to the press if it has already been through it.
I work on the new company The Artist Union, which helps musicians to promote themselves in social networks using a number of free tools. We started the company along with Ranida Lankage and James Zhang. Renidu was a famous singer and musician in Sri Lanka and had difficulties (but successfully fought) in building an independent career and monetizing online fame. We want to help other musicians do the same, using some of the lessons that I learned from Twitch.
In addition, I restart my original idea, which worked for Justin.tv (your humble servant is a reality channel star), as the “Snapchat channel”.
Snapchat solved a lot of the problems that Justin.tv and I had. The initial concept of JTV was to provide people with a window into the life of other people. The problem is that if this window is “open” 24/7 and there is an opportunity to look at any random moment, then difficulties are provided. Snapchat provides an elegant, incredibly well-thought-out tool to make it fun, simple, and trouble-free for normal people to share fragments of their lives in an interesting way. Maybe now it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I'm really impressed with the Snapchat messenger and I think it will become a huge media platform.
I'm not sure that the Snapchat platform is well suited for eSports, or rather, I do not think that eSports is more suitable for Snapchat than any other form of entertainment (traditional sports, music, etc.). I believe that eSports teams, event organizers and fans will be able to share fragments of their events and people will be able to see them.
When we launched Twitch, I was not a fan of eSports, but now - yes. I started watching StarCraft II to find out what content people want to see in our game section. Pretty soon I was hooked, and a couple of years ago I started to follow Hearthstone; Now I watch quite a lot every day.
I think that eSports will obviously remain here, and I am glad that Twitch played its part in that eSports got a wider audience, and the players and teams began to earn more money, which can only be good for this area of ​​activity.
Cybersport has become the pivotal content that brought new viewers to Twitch. Without eSports there would be no Twitch.
Ironically, investors were extremely interested in eSports only after Twitch was acquired by Amazon (AMZN -1.04%). Until then, there were investments in new video platforms, betting platforms, eSports-teams and Internet portals of eSports-news. I really think that the best investment in this industry - not considering the stakes on individual games (which today create the lion's share of income) - would be Twitch, but this is no longer a choice.
More attention to online competition. More attention to mobility. The free game is clearly a winning model.
The problem is that virtual reality devices (VR) are not yet common. However, the situation may change this year when Samsung (SSNLF -2.44%) will release Gear VRs with S7. It is likely that “YouTube / Twitch of VR” will appear in the next couple of years. It may happen that this will actually be YouTube or Twitch, although I think this is unlikely for the same reason that YouTube failed to cope with Twitch in the gaming streaming market - it’s difficult for platforms to remain innovative.
The difficulty is that there are almost no 360-degree cameras, and the existing ones are still quite expensive. The widespread use of digital cameras (and not the lack of a place to put content) was a triggering factor for the emergence of YouTube in its time. As the cost of 360-degree cameras decreases, a virtual reality video platform becomes more and more likely.
It is not fundamentally different from the noise around mobility as a platform. New platform means new applications and new distribution channels, which gives new opportunities for companies. With regard to virtual reality, the difficulty lies in the fact that we still do not know which applications will be adopted by a completely new paradigm UX / UI (user experience / user interface). Perhaps some will be really exciting.
Who, if not Mr. Kahn, can judge the future of this industry and make predictions?
Justin Kahn focuses on music using his newest project The Artist Union
Justin Kahn, an entrepreneur specializing in start-ups, continues to invest in such projects. A companion in the venture fund Y Combinator knows first-hand how to create a successful startup, being a co-founder of the Justin.tv project, which was originally a 24-hour live video stream of his own life. This startup in 2007 gave anyone the opportunity to bring their lives to public viewing, using unique channels. By 2011, gaming became the most popular destination for this live streaming (live streaming), and the Twitch.tv platform was born. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for nearly $ 1 billion.
')
A graduate of Yale University had success with other start-ups, including Kiko (AJAX-based web calendar), Socialcam (mobile video sharing application) and customized service Exec project. He also continues to operate in the field of eSports, where he invested funds from the successful Twitch project when he ran this company. Kahn, in his exclusive interview for Fortune, explains what Snapchat can do for his new vision for the Justin.tv project, and sets out his point of view why the next project - “Twitch for Virtual Reality” - will enter everyday life in the next few years.
What are you looking at especially closely when it comes to investing in startups in Y Combinator?
In the founders, in the founders and again in the founders. We are looking for people who we think are highly goal-oriented, hard-working, able to create some product and have a unique understanding of their industry.
Essentially, many of our top companies, including Twitch, stand on the original idea of ​​their founders. At the YC stage, it is extremely difficult to predict whether a business idea will survive a collision with reality. Therefore, we are looking for such people as founders of startups who intend to talk with users, learn and adapt to the situation.
How does your own longstanding experience with startups like Justin.tv, Kiko and Socialcam help you - now a venture investor?
Having your own experience of startups is extremely helpful in advising such projects. It is much easier to explain to people how to talk to users, create a product, lead a team of specialists, raise money from investors and talk to the press if it has already been through it.
What companies are you focused on now?
I work on the new company The Artist Union, which helps musicians to promote themselves in social networks using a number of free tools. We started the company along with Ranida Lankage and James Zhang. Renidu was a famous singer and musician in Sri Lanka and had difficulties (but successfully fought) in building an independent career and monetizing online fame. We want to help other musicians do the same, using some of the lessons that I learned from Twitch.
In addition, I restart my original idea, which worked for Justin.tv (your humble servant is a reality channel star), as the “Snapchat channel”.
Why do you think Snapchat could be the next platform for Justin.tv?
Snapchat solved a lot of the problems that Justin.tv and I had. The initial concept of JTV was to provide people with a window into the life of other people. The problem is that if this window is “open” 24/7 and there is an opportunity to look at any random moment, then difficulties are provided. Snapchat provides an elegant, incredibly well-thought-out tool to make it fun, simple, and trouble-free for normal people to share fragments of their lives in an interesting way. Maybe now it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I'm really impressed with the Snapchat messenger and I think it will become a huge media platform.
How do you feel what role Snapchat can play for eSports?
I'm not sure that the Snapchat platform is well suited for eSports, or rather, I do not think that eSports is more suitable for Snapchat than any other form of entertainment (traditional sports, music, etc.). I believe that eSports teams, event organizers and fans will be able to share fragments of their events and people will be able to see them.
What do you think about how eSports could fly with lightstreaming platforms such as Twitch?
When we launched Twitch, I was not a fan of eSports, but now - yes. I started watching StarCraft II to find out what content people want to see in our game section. Pretty soon I was hooked, and a couple of years ago I started to follow Hearthstone; Now I watch quite a lot every day.
I think that eSports will obviously remain here, and I am glad that Twitch played its part in that eSports got a wider audience, and the players and teams began to earn more money, which can only be good for this area of ​​activity.
What role do you think eSports played in the success of Twitch?
Cybersport has become the pivotal content that brought new viewers to Twitch. Without eSports there would be no Twitch.
What opportunities are there in the eSports business today for investors?
Ironically, investors were extremely interested in eSports only after Twitch was acquired by Amazon (AMZN -1.04%). Until then, there were investments in new video platforms, betting platforms, eSports-teams and Internet portals of eSports-news. I really think that the best investment in this industry - not considering the stakes on individual games (which today create the lion's share of income) - would be Twitch, but this is no longer a choice.
How do you see where the game industry is moving, in general?
More attention to online competition. More attention to mobility. The free game is clearly a winning model.
The focus is now focused on augmented and virtual reality. What do you think, what opportunities open up these platforms for the video / YouTube / live streaming audience?
The problem is that virtual reality devices (VR) are not yet common. However, the situation may change this year when Samsung (SSNLF -2.44%) will release Gear VRs with S7. It is likely that “YouTube / Twitch of VR” will appear in the next couple of years. It may happen that this will actually be YouTube or Twitch, although I think this is unlikely for the same reason that YouTube failed to cope with Twitch in the gaming streaming market - it’s difficult for platforms to remain innovative.
The difficulty is that there are almost no 360-degree cameras, and the existing ones are still quite expensive. The widespread use of digital cameras (and not the lack of a place to put content) was a triggering factor for the emergence of YouTube in its time. As the cost of 360-degree cameras decreases, a virtual reality video platform becomes more and more likely.
Why should people think that the current rush about virtual reality is different from what we have seen before?
It is not fundamentally different from the noise around mobility as a platform. New platform means new applications and new distribution channels, which gives new opportunities for companies. With regard to virtual reality, the difficulty lies in the fact that we still do not know which applications will be adopted by a completely new paradigm UX / UI (user experience / user interface). Perhaps some will be really exciting.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/299206/
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