The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Twitch Founder & CEO Emmett Shear on When To Persist vs When To Give Up For Entrepreneurs, The Fundamental Tension When Scaling Orgs and How To Optimise Them & How The Role of CEO Fundamentally Changes with Scale

Feb 21, 2020

Emmett Shear, co-founder and CEO of Twitch, shares his journey from Kiko to creating a gaming empire. He intriguingly compares starting a startup to the myth of Sisyphus, discussing when to persist or pivot. Shear dives into the complexities of scaling organizations, emphasizing the balance between centralization and decentralization and the challenges of restructurings. He also reflects on the evolving role of a CEO, highlighting the importance of communication and authentic leadership as companies expand.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Kiko Calendar's Journey

Emmett and Justin started Kiko Calendar, inspired by Gmail and Outlook.
They joined Y Combinator and sold Kiko on eBay for a six-figure sum.

ANECDOTE

Selling Kiko on eBay

Kiko was listed on eBay as a stunt for news coverage, initially with a $50,000 reserve.
eBay removed the listing due to having two links, but it was relisted and eventually sold for around $258,000.

INSIGHT

Startup as Sisyphus

Starting a startup is like Sisyphus's burden; it's initially hard work with setbacks.
Product-market fit is like cresting the hill, but it's still intense work, just different.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Emmett Shear is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Twitch, the world's leading live streaming platform for gamers and the things we love. Prior to Twitch's exit to Amazon for a reported $970M, Emmett raised over $42M in funding from some of the best including Thrive Capital, Bessemer, Mike Maples, Aydin Senkut, Paul Graham and Y Combinator. Emmett is also a part-time Partner @ Y Combinator, advising YC companies on everything from fundraising strategy to product decisions to hiring and firing. Before Twitch, Emmett co-founded Kiko, a company he later sold on eBay for 6 figures.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Emmett made his way into the world of startups with Kiko? How he ended up selling that for 6 figures on eBay? How that led to the creation of Justin.TV & Twitch?

2.) Why does Emmett believe starting a startup is like "deciding to take on the burden of Sisyphus?" At what point in the journey does is start to get easier? Does Emmett agree with many on the show who say, "it does not get easier, it just gets different"? How does one know when to give up vs when to persist and follow the vision?

3.) How does Emmett think about structuring an org at 1,500 people? Why does Emmett believe there is a fundamental tension when scaling teams between centralisation and decentralisation? How does one structure a reorg without causing instability? How does one communicate the reorg to the team? Where does Emmett see many go wrong here?

4.) Does Emmett agree the best CEOs are the best resource allocators? How does Emmett approach internal resource allocation today between both functions and projects? What does he find most challenging here? What does the decision-making process look like? What are his taekaways from Apple, Amazon and Microsoft in how they determine and process resource allocation internally?

5.) How does Emmett believe he has changed and evolved as a leader over the last 10 years with Twitch? What elements has he found the most challenging to master? What has he done to combat those weaknesses? Where has he always been naturally strong? What makes him so good at those particular functions?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Emmett’s Fave Book: Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Emmett on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.