WEBVTT - Twitch Mashup: featuring Pokimane, Kevin Lin and Anele. 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.520 Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:07.040 Radio and t DC Media. Hey, guys, welcome back to 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.960 Behind the Influence. I'm Tatiana, and as you guys know, 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.520 our entire series is all about talking to pioneers within 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:20.000 their respective industries, whether it's gaming, streaming, YouTube, music, food, fashion, dance. 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:22.279 I mean, I could go on if you have not 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.200 had a chance to listen to every single episode, which 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.360 I don't know what your excuses, but I thought it'd 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.000 be a fun time in the middle of the season 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.400 to kind of do a recap in the form of 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:36.280 a mash up. What I'm thinking is, and if we 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.360 don't like this, we don't ever have to do this again. 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.279 But I was thinking, we go within each industry and 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.040 we kind of highlight to you guys, the listeners, the 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.840 big takeaways, the things that I thought were interesting within 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.879 each episode. In the event that, again you didn't have 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.240 the time to listen to the entire thing, We're going 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.200 to start off with a topic in a world that 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.120 is very near and dear to my heart, live streaming 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.400 and also twitch and it's kind of the same world 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:05.760 twitches near and dear in my heart because my husband 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.480 was a CSO of the company for a very long time, 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:11.480 and live streaming is something that I've been doing for 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.800 a very long time, and I really love that whole world. 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:16.800 I love how ron real it is, and I love 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.120 the connectivity with people who are listening or watching. Those 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.160 were actually some of the very first interviews I even 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.320 started off with. I thought it'd be a cool way 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:26.440 to kick off this little mash up series. And if 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.160 you guys don't like it, I'm listening to your feedback. 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:31.440 We don't have to do it ever again. I just 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.200 thought it'd be a cool way for you guys to 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:37.640 hear from different aspects within each world within one episode. 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:39.919 For this first episode, we're going to cover the world 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.280 of Twitch. Kevin Lynn is a co founder of Twitch, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:45.800 and so that's how really the idea started to come 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:48.600 to be. And then we launched the brand in June 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.760 two thousand eleven and Poke Maine is the number one 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.560 most followed female streamer on Twitch. So I think the 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.160 first step is just trying it out. Is something that's enjoyable, 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.120 interacting with people, showcasing a gameplay. That's really how I 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.440 did it. And then there's a Neil who is the 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.240 director of partnerships at Twitch. It is a dream job 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.520 and to be perfectly awesome at you like I'm I'm 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:12.959 humbled to be in the every day doing what I'm doing. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.600 I hope you guys enjoy this mash up. Let us 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.600 know what you think without further ado the world of Twitch. Baby, 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:22.280 if you haven't caught on by now, we're talking to 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.160 Kevin Lynn. You guys may know him as one of 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.600 the founders a small streaming company called Twitch. Without you, 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.600 there'd be no doctor disrespect, there'd be no Ninja. I 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.240 mean they're there'd be, but what would they be doing 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:38.240 playing video games by themselves? Exactly? She has three point 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.639 four million followers on Twitch. She has over eight one 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.480 million views on Twitch. You have is this accurate? Almost 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:49.320 twenty streamed on Twitch? I have no idea. Okay, I 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.560 don't know. It's actually a stat I always wish I 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.920 knew a Neil is the head of strategic Partnerships at Twitch, 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.800 a small, tiny, little company you may have heard of. 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.440 You've seen Twitch evolved over the last five six years, 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:04.280 Like God knows what's going to happen in the next 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:13.120 five to six after this. Then on June eleven, June eleven, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.359 we launched Twitch TV. It was this old like heavy 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.920 metal space theme logo with a little TV with a 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:22.799 ghost in it that Jacob design Twitch a variety of stories, 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:24.800 that's how we got there. But we were combing the 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:29.720 Internet for pronounceable, single syllable domain names that were available 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.440 for sale. So Bill who built chat and among many 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:36.480 other things that at the company, Bill Morier, so he 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.920 built this like domain crawler where he crawled all available 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:42.960 domains that were like theoretically single syllable so roughly a 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.120 vowel in the middle that seemed pronounceable, that were available 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.520 for sale. And one of the first that popped on 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:51.600 the list for all of us was art and it 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:54.280 was available. We looked up on Urban Dictionary. It means 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.960 like the supreme state of being awesome or something like that. 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.600 So that seems okay right Then one day m it's like, 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:01.240 all right, guys, if no one comes up with anything better, 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.440 we're going to use Zarth. And that's when we're like, okay, scramble. 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.920 So we're like figuring out all these other brands, and 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.720 then the word Twitch comes up for like to me, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:11.560 when it popped into my head when we were talking 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:13.800 about like, what do things gamers need to be good? 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.640 And so it's like fast twitch muscles blah blah blah, 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:18.680 but really that we're just kind of stuck in all 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:20.880 of ourselves. Perfect. It was perfect. It was an empty 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.440 vessel you could tell. You know, there's a story there 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:25.440 about games, but it's just a word we liked. We 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:27.200 bought Twitch dot tv. That's how it came to be. 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:29.000 That's how it started, and we designed and Jacob designed 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.599 the logo, and then one year later two launched the 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:33.640 new logo that you see today. That that that that 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:37.240 that more retro homage logo. It looks like Amazon has 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.359 purchased game streaming company Twitch dot tv for close to 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:43.560 one billion dollars. You have a lot of fans, you 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.200 have all these people watching you. You are doing this 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:52.320 five days a week as your career. How does one 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:57.640 get here? Well, interestingly enough, when I first started, I 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.280 never ever thought it would be this, And I feel 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.440 like everyone says that, and I kind of think that 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.440 that's a key aspect to becoming a good streamer is 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:08.919 when you start, it's genuinely just something that you enjoy, 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:10.760 that you would be happy to do as a hobby. 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.400 I think I sometimes see people get into it and 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.320 they're like, I want to make money, I want to 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.880 hit these mothstones, I want to hit these goals. And 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.360 if you're doing it with that in mind, as opposed 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.360 to this is an activity that I like. For example, 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.599 you're probably not going to find like an Olympian runner 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.880 that just hates running out right right. So I think 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:31.880 the first step is just trying it out as something 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.640 that's enjoyable, in tracting with people showcasing your gameplay. That's 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.520 really how I did it. Twitch is hands down one 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.320 of the most successful companies out there. When you think 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.919 back to how you landed the role, what were the 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.520 steps that you took in your own Because you got 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.400 the job when you were fairly young, So did you 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:56.080 have a background in streaming or were you just a 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.000 gamer who found out about this platform because you were 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:00.719 using it and you're like, I'm going to apply for 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:02.800 a job there. How did you land there? And I 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:04.680 don't even know where to begin. I'll give you the 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:07.000 condensed versional, at least what I would as seem to 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.080 be the most condensed version. When I was younger, I 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.679 actually competed in gaming when I was like fifteen sixteen, 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:13.920 I played a game called Counterstrike. Never heard of him. 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:18.560 It's a just kidding. Colin plays it all the time. 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.760 Oh my god. It almost caused multiple divorces. But let's 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.800 this isn't about me. We could talk about that off 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:27.480 the record. But I played a ship ton of counter 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.000 Strike when I was in high school. Actually funny story. 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:31.640 So my mom and I give me an option. They're like, Okay, 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.160 we could either build your brand new computer, or we'll 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:35.920 get you a car. And if I got a car, 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:37.440 I can go get a job and go make some 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:39.840 money and then buy a computer. But I was like, no, 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.120 funk that I want a computer. I want it right now. 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.560 So I got a computer. Ended up dropping like three 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:47.480 racks in two thousand and five, which was like a 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.359 ship ton of money for computer. Also, let's just a 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:53.760 lot of teenagers would have chosen a car. Yeah I'm 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.840 an idiot, but looking but it worked out. It did. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:57.480 It was the best decision I made. But your parents 0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.599 were probably like thinking they scored because they're like, we 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.760 don't have to get this kid a car, right, Yeah, 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.039 let's go get a three thousand dollar computer. That's fine, 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.080 He's not going out anymore. So I got into programing, 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.280 and I was doing for about a year. It really sucked. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.559 That wasn't good. Why did you get into programing because 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.960 back then I don't even think it was It was 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:17.560 like it was like a cool thing. It was like 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.960 an underground community, you know, like there's websites. I got fragged. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:25.200 You can go into that like shared scores and tournaments 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:26.800 from like all around the world. And back then it 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.160 was like a little underground society, like you only heard 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:31.920 about these tournaments happening in like Sweden, and you would 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:33.680 hear about like the World Cyber Games, and that was 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.640 like the pinnacle of like events. You know. Nowadays we 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.360 got a ton of events going on on like on 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.200 a monthly basis. Back then you only had one or 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:42.320 two worldwide. I did it for about a year and 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:44.760 I realized, look, my grades are failing. I'm not doing well. 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:46.640 I need to grow up. I need to like focus 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.080 on what teenagers care about, which is like going to 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.400 school and getting a job and meeting a girl and 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.000 all this other teenage ship. I end up going into 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.280 school for premed I did that for like three years, 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.760 and my mom and dad had to sit down with 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:00.240 me with my brothers, and we're like, would you really 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:01.400 want to do? And I'm like, I want to go 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.560 become a doctor. And they're like, no, you don't. We 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:04.720 know you don't want to be a doctor, we know 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:06.400 you hate it. What do you really want to do? 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.160 And that was like my breakthrough moment of like being 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.480 very honest with myself. What good parents? I feel like 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.280 the majority would be doing the polar opposite, especially in 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.120 a space that your parents probably were not familiar with 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.640 and did not understand. They didn't and they totally had 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.800 to read on me, like they knew me inside and out. 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:24.880 So I think it was like their own intuition. They 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.520 knew that I wasn't happy doing what I was doing 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.360 or trying to pursue what I what I thought I 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:31.040 wanted to do. Anyways, that caused me to like Dill back. 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.960 And coincidentally, at the same time, StarCraft two, which the 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.719 franchise was like everything to me, was getting announced, and 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:39.920 so I was like, you know what, I'm gonna get 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:42.080 back into playing some video games when we play StarCraft two, 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:43.760 and I really wanted to get good at the game. 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.000 So I went on YouTube and I started watching like sutorials, 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.040 and I found Justin TV, which was like the sister 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:51.959 company of Twitch back in the day, and t like 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.160 when I tell you, like I was an avid viewer, 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.880 Like I was on that ship all day. Really, I 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.560 was up until like five six am watching like the 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:01.920 Career in like Stark Half League, which was like going 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:03.679 on from like one am all way to like five 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:05.839 am every fucking night. And then I would roll into 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.080 class like half a week. But I did that, and 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:10.640 I loved it. You were a part of Social Cam 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.240 and Justin TV and all the stuff for years. Two 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.959 thousand and six, I just moved to San Francisco Justin 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.600 and Emmett after graduation. They graduate two thousand and five. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.000 They had built a calendar company. They sold it on eBay. 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.520 They saw their company on eBay, packed up their stuff, 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.760 drove across the country with Michael. Michael was working for 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.520 Quasium Fume raising money for a Senate campaign in Baltimore. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:32.520 They kept in touch, they got together, drove, drove across 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.880 the country, and I was house sitting from my old boss, 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:37.839 So invite him over for a barbecue, hanging out in 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.560 the hot tub, and and Justin's like, we got this 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:42.600 idea for a business. I was like, okay, what we're 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:47.160 gonna stream my life? Seven? And could you imagine one 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.720 of your friends being like, I have this genius idea. 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.120 You guys are gonna stream my life? Yeah? Yeah no, 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:55.720 And it's just like you know, you look, I'm just 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.720 like sitting there like, you know, I really like you guys, 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.240 And it's awesome, really happier moving to San Franci les Go. 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:02.600 And I really don't want to discourage you or offer 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:06.080 anything that might prevent you from starting your dream, but 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.320 that idea is really kind of the worst, and like 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.000 why would you do this to yourself? And they explained it, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:13.520 and I was like, okay, cool. Well, you know like 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.800 they had they raised they were raising money from angels 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.600 and a lot. They already had this idea in motion. 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:20.480 They were already starting to talk to people about it, 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.880 and and I was like, okay, cool, Like let me 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:24.720 know if I can help you know, like I I 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.599 is this a hot tub conversation? Was one of the 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.320 hot tub and barbecue conversation. Okay, so let's just let's 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.920 pretend everyone's in the hot tub. So it's justin Cohn, 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.480 emateur Michael Cibo and Kevin Lynn and they were like, 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:38.080 I think a couple of other people, but I was 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:40.800 so zoned in on this conversation, just thinking through, like 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.000 what in blaze, what could this act? So Justin's pitching 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.280 you in the hot tub? Yeah, totally, this is this 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.280 is the pitching this genius idea. He's already spoken to 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.840 angel investors, so it's not like he's like brewing the 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.199 idea and running and already tested it. He tested testing 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.959 it with many people and people are like, yeah, sure, 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.280 give you money for that. And you gotta remember, like 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.400 in in like the early two thousand's, there was all 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.520 kinds of weird experimental stuff that was happening in live video. 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:14.040 I actually had like just a laptop and really bad internet, 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.360 and I had to beg my parents to upgrade the 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.040 internet so it was like streamable Internet. And I saved 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.640 up a bunch of money to buy a secondhand, custom 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.280 built PC off of Kijigi, which is like Canadian craigslist. 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:32.040 So yeah, I bought this PC. This was my senior 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.160 year of high school, so about six years ago. Now. 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:39.040 Really didn't like Envision much for it. I just thought 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:41.040 it was really fun to have people like come into 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.320 my channel and I talked to them and they respond 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:48.200 and create this connection. I kept streaming. Two years into it, well, 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.000 I ended up going to university because in my mind 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:54.560 it was always like very ingrained in me from my parents, 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:56.920 like you go to school, you get your degree, maybe 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:00.199 you do post grad or you become a doctor. I 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.679 don't know very much one of those households. So I 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:06.640 went to study chemical engineering at McMaster University and two 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:11.320 years into that, one month I made like a substantial 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.880 amount of money. And when I say substantial, I mean 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.800 like when you're a college kid and you're like at 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:17.960 least twenty thousand dollars in debt and you make like 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.400 five to ten k in a month off of like 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:25.840 sponsorships or subscriptions or donations, you're like, holy do I 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.560 store on this? Holy shit? And so they're like, go 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.200 be an engineer, but don't do it. We did. Don't 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.199 teach after go get a job, Go get a real job, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.520 but learn engineering is really important, and ideally go be 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:37.480 a doctor. That was was pre med track, had it 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.240 all figured out. Yeah, that was that was the plan. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.400 And then I took this a class called EB one 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:44.760 oh one, which was the Diversity of Life with his 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.720 teacher named Leo Busts, who was this like awesome ecologist 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:49.920 guy and loved it, and I was like, I'm going 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.000 to switch to ecology and evolutionary apology as my major. 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:54.760 There was like the first rift I had with my 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.080 parents were like, no paying for school, you are going 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.920 to study engineering. Meanwhile, we're playing a bunch of video 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:02.480 games in the office. A street Fighter was like kind 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.520 of one of those always on games like this just 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.880 droning Street Fighter background music that was always on in 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.400 the office. Then one day StarCraft to Beta comes out. 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.480 This was in May, intent somehow we got access to 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.439 it and we were already thinking about games. But then 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.199 this game comes out, we get it and we were 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.880 playing it NonStop and we're watching We realized that we're 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.400 going home and watching videos on YouTube trying to get 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:28.160 better learning, and we're like, huh, this should be live, 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:29.800 Like why would this not be live? And sure enough 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.320 we had a We had a small community of gamers 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.400 back in the day. This was like Kaiba four player podcast. 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.480 You stream had a bunch of Lord Cat and so on, 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.400 and so there was there was a small community of 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.199 game streamers on a variety of platforms, and so we 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:45.520 started reaching out what can we build for you? And 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:46.880 a lot of people that we reached out to in 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:48.760 the beginning that we eventually like eventually worked with us 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:50.800 or became a partner were like, you guys are terrible, 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.000 we hate you. Don't TV brand sucks, like go away, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.000 and like no, no, please, like let us ask you 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.600 some questions and we promise we'll go away, but we 0:13:57.640 --> 0:13:59.280 might build some stuff for you. We'll let you know that. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:04.000 Just continue to to sort of positively spiral more conversations, 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.200 more feature development. We branched out the subdomain called JTV 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.400 gaming and that became like the home. That was one 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.160 of the big pieces of feedback we got. Was the 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:13.439 first one being we got to figure out how to 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.920 make money. Then there all these technical features like transcoding, 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.320 high quality, blah blah blah, all these important things that 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.360 we had to build very quickly. But the big thing 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:22.600 was they were like, we want a home. We want 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.320 a place where we can go and hang out with 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.040 other gamers, not all this other weird stuff, not all 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.600 this noise. We want a home for gamers. And so 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.480 that's how really the idea started to come to be. 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:35.400 We were toying with it as justin t JTV Gaming. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.760 We didn't launch as that. We just did it. We built, 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:39.920 just built up brand, but we didn't really make noise 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.720 about it. Then on June eleven, June eleven, we launched 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.560 Twitch tv. And so to me on the periphery, I 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.320 just saw Justin popping up on like Today's show on 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.200 the front page of the s F Chronicle, like doing 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.400 all this stuff, kind of doing it, like becoming this 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.080 internet celebrity by streaming himself to me for something. And 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.280 it's just like that's so wild because I tune in 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.360 and I'm like, this is the most boring shit ever, 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.120 And you're just sitting there just like looking at this laptop, 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:06.080 like why do people watch this? But it was for 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:08.360 these moments, all of a sudden something would happen and 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.000 that was enough. Like one day they bumped into Dave 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:11.920 Chappelle and that was a big deal, right, So it 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.240 was cool to start see to start to see like, Okay, 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.520 I see that people will tune in to wait for 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.000 these things. But guess what they weren't just doing that. 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:22.840 They were talking with each other. They're talking to Justin, 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.480 Justin's responding to them and chat So it's actually not 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.400 as boring as as if you diggle just one tiny 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.360 little bit layer deeper. People were just hanging out and 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.200 that was that was what I finally realized, was like this, 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.480 this power of this platform that they were building was 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:39.880 it's a way for people just to hang out with 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.560 other people when they're alone or with other people, but 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.840 mostly for when you're alone. You know, you when you're 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.440 walking around somewhere, you're doing your errands or whatever. Wouldn't 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.840 it be nice if you could just chat with somebody, 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:52.160 you know, if you don't have somebody to be there 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.240 with you. So that that's that's when we started to resonate. 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:56.320 But that was you know, it really was like it 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:58.640 was just crazy to see. Yeah. So Kevin Lynn, who 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:00.480 was one of the founders actually is one of my 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.080 good friends, and we interviewed him for this show, and 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.960 he was saying, when they initially launched Justin TV, which 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.280 was prior to Twitch, people were just in there because 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:11.960 they were lonely and they just wanted interaction with other 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:14.840 people and being and they were just watching Justin do 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:18.600 day to day things. But ironically they were alone, but 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.120 they weren't alone because they call it your community right 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.120 on Twitch, it's a community. What would you say your 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:28.320 community is made up of? So for me, interestingly enough, 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.000 I think it's highly dependent on the game that I play, 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.120 and I can tell by the way that my chat changes, 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.520 Like if I play something like Fortnite or Minecraft, I 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.000 know the audience use younger. I know if I play 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.160 like League or do Ira all content like in person 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.280 or walk around or travel, then it's really just about anybody. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.880 League is definitely like young adults. So, like you can 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.480 tell by the way your chat behaves, the kind of 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.080 stuff that people are saying, typically what the demo is like. 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.440 I like to think that I think I have more 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.040 female viewers than most people. I think that's very normal though, 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.680 because you know, when you watch content, it's a lot 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.320 easier to relate to someone who's of the same gender 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.399 as you. I think it's pretty wide because I can 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.760 kind of tap into different demos by playing different games, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.080 which is really cool. I loved every bit of it. 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.920 And what was it? What was it about that that 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:24.679 hooked you? Was it you were trying to learn? Was 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.760 it a learning experience? Was it you were just the 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.440 voyeuristic element of it, which I think a lot of 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.040 people are drawn to that. Imagine picking up a new 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.360 hobby that doesn't really have much of a culture, much 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.240 of a community around it, and you find one little outlet, 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:42.520 one little outlet, and there's like one place where we 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.760 kind of feel like a sense of belonging and something 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:46.040 that you can actually take away on a day to 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.280 day something you can learn from. And for me that 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.280 was justin TV and watching like these Korean leagues at 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.600 the time. Plus you're interacting with other people in chat, 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:55.800 so there's like this other like kind of shared experience 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.480 that you kind of experienced with other people along the way. 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.800 And for me, that was every thing I told myself, 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.560 I'm like, one way or another, I'm gonna find a 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.960 way to get a job here anyway. So a lot 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.760 of people were experimenting with like you know now, with 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:10.840 the with the with the promise of the internet, like 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.960 the ability to just do whatever you want and demonstrate 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.199 that to whoever feels like watching you was tested a 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.639 lot before that, but the technology wasn't there, the infrastructure 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.000 wasn't there. So the timing window around when they decided 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.520 to start streaming and walking around San Francisco's two thousand 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:29.560 and seven, it was still e v D. Oh you know, 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:33.560 if you're lucky bits per second, So it's still choppy video, 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.040 low quality. Um. But really they actually did this show 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:41.040 for a while. Justin streamed himself sleeping to waking up 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.800 and getting ready, going to the bathroom, sitting and working, 0:18:44.920 --> 0:18:47.520 walking around San Francis. Are you involved at this point 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.560 or I'm like on the periphery, I'm still I had 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:52.720 just you know, I moved in two thousand six in 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:54.840 San Francisco, so I didn't want to. You know, they 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.320 didn't ask me too, because I was frankly would have 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.560 been completely useless to them, questionable if I was ever 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.080 actually full to them. Um. But anyway, I was delivering 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:04.360 beverages and I was like, oh, I want to help 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.119 these guys, and so I go to there like that. 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.560 You know. Michael was originally the producer. His title was 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.640 a producer just In with CEO and Michael would cook 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.879 for everybody every day, cooking all these delicious meals. He 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.640 loves cooking. But he what he was doing was really 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.560 gathering people around what they were up to, and so 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.160 friends from dropbox, Airbnb like at the time, all would 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:25.920 just come hang out over dinners the Bay Area is 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.000 not a very big hut for gaming like l A is. 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.760 But the Bay wasn't any opportunity that there was an 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.080 event like I volunteered. I spent some time throwing my 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:34.640 own money into it, and then I got a job 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.680 at Zinga, and that was like my big break because 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:39.240 I was like my first step into the gaming industry. 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.240 And that is not necessarily the Pinnacle, like they're not 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.040 like a true like hardcore game company, but it was 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.240 in the gaming industry and I met a lot of 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.160 talented people there, made made a lot of friends, and 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.199 I used actually my salary at Zinga to bootstrap my 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.800 own StarCraft team and it was great. I loved every 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:58.480 minute of it. And anyways, over time, about a year 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:00.760 of doing that while working at single uh, the right 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:05.200 opportunity locked on my door Twitch and that interview process 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.359 took like three months. It was at this point was 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.760 it already Twitch? It was already Twitch. It was about 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:11.399 a year into it, which was already kind of like 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.200 a formed company. When you heard about Twitch for the 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.760 first time, what were your initial thoughts. I was like, 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.680 holy shit, I thought I can break in as a streamer. 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:21.840 It's actually stream for like two years. I wasn't good 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.680 at it. It really wasn't, but you know, I love 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.119 I love every bit of it. Uh And for me, 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:29.760 I would say Twitch had a really cool, like gothic, 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:33.159 like nerdy like steampunk. Looked at it back then, and 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:34.920 then like six months in or I think it was 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:36.879 about a year after, they like reframed it into this 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:40.280 whole purple company, which I absolutely loved because purposes the 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:45.320 Pemp color. You know, it's dope, Like you were saying, 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.880 back then, there weren't household names like Ninja making millions 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:51.640 of dollars where your parents not even close, where your 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.439 parents could point to a case study and say, Okay, 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:56.840 you know, it's not completely out of the question that 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.040 Pokey could make a live or your name was not 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:02.880 poke at that time, that that Iman could make that 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.280 much money and survive and make this a way of 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:10.360 life basically, so there was no case point proving that 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:12.880 this was an actual reality. You were just kind of 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.560 trying to convince some based off of nothing exactly, especially 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.000 because I mean, at least there's YouTube, and most people 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:22.040 know about YouTube, but live streaming even nowadays is still 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.600 relatively new and three or four years ago even more so, 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:27.879 like they didn't even really understand what it was, like, 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:30.400 is it a video? Is it not? Who are these 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:35.640 people texting you? You know? So I'm very very grateful 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.600 that they trusted me enough to take that chance. So yeah, okay, 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:42.080 so talk me through that first year. You have a 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:46.040 one year timeline. The pressure is on. Right at this point, 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:49.520 you open a Twitch account. I'm assuming this is was 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.560 it on Twitch you're streaming or somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah, 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.280 I've always streamed on Twitch the last six years. So 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.320 basically I started senior year of high school and then 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:01.360 two years into that, so for years ago I decided 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:03.720 to go full time got it. Yeah, and that was 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:08.400 two years into my university degree. So at that point 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.720 I was like, okay, I need to really give this 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:15.640 a full shot. And I come from Canada, that's where 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:22.160 I grew up, and I basically decided to momentarily move 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.240 to Los Angeles because that's basically where the sports hub is, 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:28.600 That's where all the sports players are, that's where a 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.119 lot of live streamers are, that's really where any event 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.160 in relation to gaming or e sports is typically held. 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:37.040 So I was like, I need to be here or 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:38.800 at least try it out and see how I feel 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:41.520 about it. It was a shifting culture. I think gaming 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:45.280 has always had the stigma from I guess pop culture 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:47.320 where it's like, you know, you're some kid that lives 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:49.800 in the basement eating hot pockets, so the whole South 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.840 Park reference, you know, the wild reference for your sit 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:55.160 at home living in a basement eting hot pockets, ship 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:57.280 like that. So for me, one of the things that 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:00.320 I've been very passionate was like moving away from that 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:04.879 stigma and really kind of unveiling the mask behind the 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:07.320 community and showing like, yo, these are just people like 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.480 everybody else. These are sucking, awesome people, are talented people, 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:12.960 they're cool people, and they're just like you and I. 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.000 They're not any different. And it's weird to say that. 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:17.400 Like gamers have always has this label of like, oh, 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:19.960 you're a gamer, so thus you're this type of person. 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:22.600 It's like, no, I'm not. Anyone's a gamer. What I 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:25.040 loved about is that a lot of people who in 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.399 the past would be quite about being a gamer, closet gamers, 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:30.920 if you may start to come out and realize like, hey, 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:32.879 it's actually cool for me to share this information with you. 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:34.760 It's like, I love fucking video games. As a matter 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:37.159 of fact, check out my entire collection. Weren't really a 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:39.479 parent or really present in social media before, and now 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:40.960 they are, and it's starting to become a more of 0:23:40.960 --> 0:23:44.240 a widespread thing amongst culture. The families that you've built 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:46.840 will open any door that you want, So you do 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:49.199 have this influence. And if you want to do a 0:23:49.240 --> 0:23:51.440 makeup line, one day, you're gonna do a makeup line 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:53.359 and it's going to do really well. And if you 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:56.520 want to sing, it's It's not just streaming. I mean, 0:23:56.720 --> 0:23:59.919 think of YouTubers and think of the Internet in general. 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:03.200 It allows you to just reach such an insane amount 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:07.560 of people and it really helps you recognize that however 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:11.320 unique or particular you may feel, there were people that 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:14.120 will love that about you, and people that will want 0:24:14.160 --> 0:24:16.199 to be part of your community. You just you know, 0:24:16.440 --> 0:24:18.760 have to reach wider and water. What were you at 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:22.600 that point thinking about just people's use of the internet. 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:24.800 It was that was that opening your mind up to 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:29.040 other possibilities and inspiring other things that you thought this 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:31.880 could be much bigger than any of us could imagine. Yeah, 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:33.840 for sure, I mean we were you know, we started 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:38.280 thinking about different ways to use the platform. YouTube was 0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:42.439 skyrocketing then and then eventually got acquired UM and became 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.880 this like level of aspiration for us right Instagram, same 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:50.520 timing UM. And around two eight that's YouTube was doing 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:53.520 partner programs. So were you guys seeing the partner programs 0:24:53.520 --> 0:24:55.680 that YouTube and thinking maybe we should be doing a 0:24:55.720 --> 0:24:59.240 partner program Yes, for sure. We didn't really do partnerships 0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:01.560 actually in the very beginning, we just we were it 0:25:01.720 --> 0:25:03.359 was moving too fast and we were too small of 0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:05.879 a team. But we in so two thousand and eight 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:07.359 the recession hits. I think that was one of those 0:25:07.400 --> 0:25:08.679 you know, it was hard, but was one of the 0:25:08.720 --> 0:25:11.119 most important things we that that could happen to the company, 0:25:11.359 --> 0:25:12.919 which was realized we had to figure out how to 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:14.879 monetize because our costs were starting to get out of 0:25:14.880 --> 0:25:17.000 control because the traffic was going so quickly and it's 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:20.200 global traffic and certain countries are just way more expensive 0:25:20.240 --> 0:25:22.840 to deliver continent too. But we're starting to spend you know, 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:25.480 in theory we could get very quickly to millions of 0:25:25.520 --> 0:25:29.000 dollars of costs per month and we hadn't raised that 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:32.280 much money. And meanwhile, our competitor, you stream, where Colin 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:33.800 was at Yes, I was going to say to you, 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:36.520 what what point does you stream enter the picture, because 0:25:36.600 --> 0:25:40.320 you guys were first. Yeah, the timing was pretty close. 0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:44.080 We so we raised some money in two thousand and eight, 0:25:44.080 --> 0:25:46.399 in two thousand and nine and two trenches, but we 0:25:46.440 --> 0:25:49.280 had only raised I think it was about twelve million total. 0:25:50.080 --> 0:25:53.520 Then you stream goes out and raises sixty million dollars 0:25:54.440 --> 0:25:58.639 and moves actually their office to a vantage point of ours, 0:25:58.680 --> 0:26:01.679 like a really nice new building that literally looked onto 0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:05.000 our shitty barn door, and we're like, okay, like what 0:26:05.040 --> 0:26:07.680 are we gonna do? So we started just reaching out, 0:26:07.680 --> 0:26:10.359 going going to events, networking in the ad world, and 0:26:10.359 --> 0:26:13.320 we figured out between thou nine how to make money 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:18.000 and we've actually became profitable. So with the streamers, because 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:21.399 you work with them so closely, I do want to 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:24.040 talk about without getting into specifics, because so many people 0:26:24.040 --> 0:26:27.560 who don't understand the world world of streaming do not 0:26:27.680 --> 0:26:32.399 understand how these people make a living. So, you know, 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:36.160 like my parents, for example, don't understand Twitch. Don't understand 0:26:36.160 --> 0:26:40.280 how kids can spend all day long gaming and live 0:26:40.320 --> 0:26:44.480 these great lives and make six seven figures. When did 0:26:44.520 --> 0:26:47.320 this become a reality, because I know when you first 0:26:47.359 --> 0:26:49.359 started in the in the streaming world, you were saying, 0:26:49.400 --> 0:26:54.240 like making five thousand dollars. When did it start to 0:26:54.280 --> 0:26:57.320 become very very real when it comes to making a 0:26:57.440 --> 0:27:01.080 legit amount of money. I think as the new vectors 0:27:01.119 --> 0:27:04.080 for monetizing started to become more apparent is when it 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:06.080 starts to become more of a reality and to kind 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:07.680 of like dive into that. You know, there's first party 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:12.040 victors like running advertisements in the stream, selling subscriptions, which 0:27:12.080 --> 0:27:14.359 is affective, like people pledging to you on a monthly basis, 0:27:14.400 --> 0:27:18.480 and exchange for stuff like custom e moticons, a cool badge. 0:27:18.920 --> 0:27:22.680 And beyond that, we we we have plenty of other vectors. 0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:25.639 We've we've launched a digital good called bits that you 0:27:25.640 --> 0:27:29.080 can earn both by purchasing and also by watching advertisements. 0:27:29.600 --> 0:27:32.280 You know, there's merchandise or sponsorships. I could go on 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:35.280 and on in terms of the first party, but what 0:27:35.960 --> 0:27:39.760 has really become a big phenomenon is the sense of acknowledgement. 0:27:39.800 --> 0:27:42.360 And you look at people who subscribe to channels. We've 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:44.600 actually built in first party tooling for people to be 0:27:44.680 --> 0:27:48.719 recognized for that for the support. So if you were 0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:51.720 to subscribe to my channel, you're paying me five bucks 0:27:51.800 --> 0:27:54.760 to to to to to support me. That gets recognized 0:27:54.800 --> 0:27:57.240 not only in my channel, but if I have overlaid 0:27:57.280 --> 0:27:59.880 on my stream, I can kind of customize that experience 0:28:00.000 --> 0:28:01.800 based on how I want. I can make it a big, 0:28:02.280 --> 0:28:04.840 you know, big party. I can make it something really well, 0:28:04.920 --> 0:28:06.320 or I can have it just be something that possible 0:28:06.320 --> 0:28:08.520 to stream, and I can technology recognize you and thank 0:28:08.520 --> 0:28:10.760 you for that personally. And for a lot of people, 0:28:10.800 --> 0:28:12.960 that's free fulfilling and that's something that they kind of 0:28:12.960 --> 0:28:16.440 get addicted to in terms of behavior. And you think 0:28:16.440 --> 0:28:18.560 about that experience and you think about stuff like tipping 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:23.080 tipping his third party. People do that through vectors like PayPal, 0:28:23.400 --> 0:28:25.840 and through that they can also added messages and usually 0:28:25.840 --> 0:28:28.640 some people will do stuff like Texas speech, so they'll 0:28:28.640 --> 0:28:30.400 put a message, it will read it out loud back 0:28:30.440 --> 0:28:32.639 to the streamer as they're streaming, and they can respond 0:28:32.680 --> 0:28:35.040 back to it live on stream. Or maybe sometimes people 0:28:35.080 --> 0:28:37.880 will be really shitty and troll and see something inappropriate, 0:28:37.880 --> 0:28:39.440 but it's still read out loud, and people do it 0:28:39.480 --> 0:28:42.720 for the ships and giggles. Going back to earlier days 0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:44.960 and even today, do you feel like in a sense 0:28:44.960 --> 0:28:48.760 that sometimes you're almost like a casting director, you know, 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:52.080 early on I felt like that. I think the scene 0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:54.920 has evolved quite a lot in the last year, UM 0:28:55.160 --> 0:28:57.920 for the better, because before they're applying and they're like 0:28:57.960 --> 0:29:00.280 telling you why they should be a partner? Is it 0:29:00.360 --> 0:29:02.760 like now, how do people now apply to be a partner? 0:29:03.080 --> 0:29:07.200 So the vector now is we have an internal system 0:29:07.200 --> 0:29:10.840 that's kind of automated half of the trouble of like applying. 0:29:11.120 --> 0:29:13.240 So what you gotta do now is actually qualify for 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:16.080 the metrics through what we have in our dashboards like 0:29:16.080 --> 0:29:19.680 Twitch achievements. So you have to attain seventy years for 0:29:19.720 --> 0:29:22.040 about two to three weeks, so that you're maintaining consistency, 0:29:22.520 --> 0:29:24.200 and has to be raw numbers, so like you can't 0:29:24.240 --> 0:29:26.040 have that from people hosting you, from people are reading. 0:29:26.040 --> 0:29:28.200 It has to be numbers that you have been able 0:29:28.240 --> 0:29:31.640 to attain and retain on your own over over the 0:29:31.680 --> 0:29:34.920 two weeks two to three week period. So for those people, 0:29:35.520 --> 0:29:37.680 once they've done that and once they've met a few 0:29:37.680 --> 0:29:40.200 other criteria, they actually get a little button that allows 0:29:40.240 --> 0:29:42.800 UM to apply the wants. They apply the same exact 0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:44.880 flow as how it is from the past, which it's 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:46.800 like they have to tell us about themselves. But now 0:29:47.280 --> 0:29:50.120 we've been able to reduce the vall with people who 0:29:50.160 --> 0:29:52.040 are getting zero viewers, are just applying for the sake 0:29:52.080 --> 0:29:54.080 of applying, and we're able to get in people who 0:29:54.080 --> 0:29:57.280 are actually qualified. And it's a guided experience, so people 0:29:57.320 --> 0:29:59.920 that aren't qualified, they'll understand why they're not qualified. They'll 0:29:59.920 --> 0:30:01.719 be let's see what metrics you really need to attain 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:04.360 to get to that point back, and they didn't have that. 0:30:04.880 --> 0:30:07.840 Sometimes it would take us weeks on end to get 0:30:07.880 --> 0:30:10.440 back to you because of the volume of applications being 0:30:10.480 --> 0:30:11.880 so high. But now we've been able to cut that 0:30:11.920 --> 0:30:14.280 back and being able to keep it focus on quality 0:30:14.320 --> 0:30:18.959 over quantity. We have had celebrities reschedule interviews on this 0:30:19.000 --> 0:30:23.360 show because they're burnt out, they just went back to 0:30:23.400 --> 0:30:25.920 back on tour, or you know, they've been shooting for 0:30:26.040 --> 0:30:29.240 thirty days straight with no break. I imagine that the 0:30:29.280 --> 0:30:33.160 world of streaming is very similar, if not more intense, 0:30:33.440 --> 0:30:35.560 because you have all this pressure to put in. Like 0:30:35.640 --> 0:30:40.000 you said, consistency is really key. How much is too much? 0:30:40.480 --> 0:30:45.400 And is streaming burnout real? And do you step in 0:30:45.480 --> 0:30:48.480 and intervene as somebody who works on the partners side, 0:30:48.760 --> 0:30:50.920 for sure, I definitely acknowledge it as a real thing. 0:30:51.560 --> 0:30:53.640 And I think burnout comes in different shapes and forms. 0:30:53.680 --> 0:30:57.360 That could be traveling too much for for for different obligations. 0:30:57.400 --> 0:30:59.440 It could be streaming too many hours. It could be 0:31:00.120 --> 0:31:03.240 getting to hyper focus on one particular game. I mean, 0:31:03.320 --> 0:31:06.720 burnard comes in different shapes and forms of different variations overall, 0:31:07.240 --> 0:31:10.440 I think to to to answer your question, yeah, we 0:31:10.520 --> 0:31:13.200 do intervene to what level I can go into specifics, 0:31:13.240 --> 0:31:16.600 but you know, we we don't want our streamers, we 0:31:16.600 --> 0:31:20.360 don't want our partners, our friends being affected by by burnout, 0:31:20.400 --> 0:31:22.120 and when they are, when they are affected by it, 0:31:22.400 --> 0:31:24.400 we try to intervene and try to help them out. 0:31:25.200 --> 0:31:29.160 I'mnderstanding where they're coming from, and try to ultimately understand 0:31:29.480 --> 0:31:31.760 what we can do proactively in the future rather than 0:31:31.760 --> 0:31:33.800 being reactive. And I think that's the biggest issue is 0:31:33.840 --> 0:31:37.000 like right now we're all learning together. You know, still 0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:39.920 a brand new industry in terms of how people are 0:31:39.960 --> 0:31:42.880 monetizing content, in terms of the community growing, and so 0:31:43.760 --> 0:31:47.040 there's a lot of work to be done. I We'll say, 0:31:47.120 --> 0:31:50.600 for from my personal standpoint, like this entire like, my 0:31:50.720 --> 0:31:52.840 entire commitment this year has been focusing on how do 0:31:52.880 --> 0:31:55.440 we minimize that burnout because it just becomeing more apparent 0:31:55.480 --> 0:31:59.480 in situations like the Drake and Ninja event. Really has 0:32:00.160 --> 0:32:02.040 evolved Twitch and it's kind of grown into like this 0:32:02.120 --> 0:32:05.040 mainstream levels becoming a household name, which I'm really proud about. 0:32:05.720 --> 0:32:08.680 But as a result, people are kind of experiencing it's 0:32:08.720 --> 0:32:11.880 like supernova explosion and growth as well, and so they're 0:32:11.960 --> 0:32:13.880 building up this anxiety of like, if I don't stream 0:32:13.920 --> 0:32:16.600 for X amount of hours or X amount of days, 0:32:16.720 --> 0:32:18.840 someone else is gonna take over. I'm gonna lose subscriptions. 0:32:18.840 --> 0:32:21.480 I'm gonna lose momentum. How true is that, though? I mean, 0:32:21.600 --> 0:32:24.080 is it? There are so many streamers on Twitch. If 0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:27.360 you decide to take a week off, does that dramatically 0:32:27.480 --> 0:32:31.120 change your viewership or your subscriptions in terms of the 0:32:31.200 --> 0:32:34.600 run numbers if you're looking at from a rosstandpoint, like inevitably, yes, 0:32:34.680 --> 0:32:37.600 it will. I think the issue is we need to 0:32:37.600 --> 0:32:39.240 do a better job on our end in terms of 0:32:39.280 --> 0:32:41.280 how we're presenting those numbers to you so you can 0:32:41.320 --> 0:32:45.200 better understand what are those changes, because naturally people do 0:32:45.280 --> 0:32:47.520 lose subscriptions on the day to day, even if they 0:32:47.520 --> 0:32:50.920 are streaming, people do churn just because their subscriptions expire. 0:32:51.320 --> 0:32:53.880 Some people said to not renew. They confuse that with 0:32:53.960 --> 0:32:56.240 the days that they take off from streaming, as people 0:32:56.320 --> 0:33:00.960 are unsubscribing to them or they're losing subscribers inevitably, Like 0:33:01.480 --> 0:33:04.640 anytime we take off, yes, you're losing traffic your channel, 0:33:05.000 --> 0:33:08.000 but we are trying to get creative with how we 0:33:08.160 --> 0:33:11.160 resurface content in your channel and also how we alive 0:33:11.200 --> 0:33:14.120 at that anxiety because ultimately that's my biggest pain point 0:33:14.200 --> 0:33:16.920 right now is like I hate seeing people. I feel 0:33:16.960 --> 0:33:18.719 like they have to be on behind a stream at 0:33:18.760 --> 0:33:21.200 all times. They have to produce content because if they don't, 0:33:21.240 --> 0:33:23.640 they lose momentum. It's a really shitty feeling because it 0:33:23.760 --> 0:33:25.880 really start saying your fear with their personal life, and 0:33:25.920 --> 0:33:27.600 how do you get out. You cannot get off the 0:33:27.600 --> 0:33:31.000 hamster wheel. There's just it's it's there's too much at stake. 0:33:31.960 --> 0:33:34.960 But I really think it's just about planning your time 0:33:35.280 --> 0:33:37.320 ahead of time so that you can say I'm blocking 0:33:37.360 --> 0:33:40.600 off these hours to stream. I can schedule this dinner 0:33:40.600 --> 0:33:42.440 and at this time if I want to do a breakfast, 0:33:42.480 --> 0:33:44.920 I'll just push my stream back and making sure that 0:33:44.920 --> 0:33:47.280 you're at least putting in the effort to fit those 0:33:47.320 --> 0:33:50.800 things in. Otherwise, if you just continue with your schedule 0:33:51.000 --> 0:33:54.840 and never plan for anything else, or really avoid being 0:33:54.880 --> 0:33:57.239 flexible in any way, you'll miss out on a lot 0:33:57.280 --> 0:34:00.520 of like really good opportunities to build relationship ups or 0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:04.040 put effort into your friendships. And that's really important. There 0:34:04.120 --> 0:34:06.840 was actually a clip recently of a live streamer talking 0:34:06.880 --> 0:34:09.600 about this, and he said something along the lines of 0:34:09.800 --> 0:34:12.319 I grinded for many, many years. I'm really glad that 0:34:12.320 --> 0:34:14.240 I kind of made it to the top of streaming, 0:34:14.640 --> 0:34:17.040 but I've had to make a lot of sacrifices. I 0:34:17.080 --> 0:34:20.799 basically don't have any friends or relationships or anything that sort. 0:34:20.840 --> 0:34:23.880 It was a very very slip. Yeah, it's always something 0:34:23.920 --> 0:34:26.960 that I wanted to kind of preach to all streamers 0:34:27.360 --> 0:34:30.080 because it's very very easy to get lost in the 0:34:30.160 --> 0:34:33.320 numbers and get stuck on like when is the optimal 0:34:33.360 --> 0:34:35.200 time to stream. I have to be consistent, I have 0:34:35.280 --> 0:34:36.759 to do this, I have to do that. But at 0:34:36.760 --> 0:34:38.480 the end of the day, you have one life, and 0:34:38.719 --> 0:34:41.680 friendships and relationships are such an essential part of that 0:34:41.880 --> 0:34:45.640 your career can't be everything, especially on Twitch, because it's 0:34:45.760 --> 0:34:48.840 very volatile and sometimes for reasons outside of your control, 0:34:48.960 --> 0:34:50.520 so you have to make sure your happiness is tied 0:34:50.560 --> 0:34:52.600 to other things. I really hope for him and for 0:34:52.640 --> 0:34:56.359 any other people that are maybe very were consensive, they 0:34:56.440 --> 0:34:59.440 learned how to fit in friendships and relationships and manage 0:34:59.480 --> 0:35:01.440 their time. The shitty thing about the Internet really is 0:35:01.480 --> 0:35:03.400 that you can you can hide behind the screen and 0:35:03.440 --> 0:35:04.839 be whoever the fun you want to be. You could 0:35:04.840 --> 0:35:07.200 be a dick, you could be an asshole, it could 0:35:07.239 --> 0:35:08.759 be a racist, and a lot of people think they 0:35:08.800 --> 0:35:10.960 can get away with it. And it's shitty because a 0:35:11.040 --> 0:35:12.920 lot of people do it for the simple fact of 0:35:13.000 --> 0:35:15.040 just like getting a reaction out of other people. They 0:35:15.080 --> 0:35:16.840 don't really have a purpose, they don't really have an intent. 0:35:16.960 --> 0:35:20.719 That's unfortunate. I hope culturally, with the entire Internet, that's 0:35:20.719 --> 0:35:22.520 something that we start to pivot away from and change. 0:35:22.719 --> 0:35:25.399 It's a pipe dream, but I really, I really think 0:35:25.400 --> 0:35:27.000 that that's something that needs to happen as a whole. 0:35:27.080 --> 0:35:29.520 It's not just within Twitch, it's not just within YouTube, 0:35:29.600 --> 0:35:32.560 Twitter or any of the other like microcossing communities like 0:35:32.600 --> 0:35:35.399 it's the entire Internet. And I think when you look 0:35:35.400 --> 0:35:37.719 at Twitch and what we're doing, we have a we 0:35:37.800 --> 0:35:41.040 have both product features that help prevent and protect streamers 0:35:41.080 --> 0:35:47.480 from malicious behavior happening and also behaviors and even activity. Again, 0:35:47.520 --> 0:35:49.880 I can't go into all the specifics in terms of what, 0:35:50.040 --> 0:35:53.000 but we do have product features that allow for you 0:35:53.080 --> 0:35:55.120 to moderate your channel automatical list. Maybe you don't have 0:35:55.160 --> 0:35:58.279 moderais your channel. We have an automoti feature, so and 0:35:58.280 --> 0:35:59.799 you can dial that from like a one to four 0:36:00.000 --> 0:36:03.040 and adjust it to based on how how you want 0:36:03.080 --> 0:36:05.600 your chat to be controlled, how you want to conduct 0:36:05.640 --> 0:36:07.960 your community. And we also do a lot of education 0:36:07.960 --> 0:36:10.640 when you become a partner. A lot of what our 0:36:10.680 --> 0:36:13.520 team focuses on is empowering these streamers on how to 0:36:13.600 --> 0:36:16.440 be more vigilant not only with the content that they're 0:36:16.440 --> 0:36:18.879 putting on stream, but with their community, with their moderators, 0:36:18.960 --> 0:36:20.839 and how they're thinking about their content on a day 0:36:20.840 --> 0:36:23.640 to day basis. Because every time you're playing a new game, 0:36:23.880 --> 0:36:25.719 you're welcoming a new opportunity for people to come in 0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:28.799 and say something toxic, say something rude about you, and 0:36:29.280 --> 0:36:31.360 it is a trained behavior. Training your community is a 0:36:31.440 --> 0:36:34.400 very difficult thing to do, and so from a general perspective, 0:36:34.400 --> 0:36:37.360 there's definitely a ton of education, there's product features, but 0:36:38.120 --> 0:36:40.160 um when it comes to working with partner streamers, there's 0:36:40.280 --> 0:36:43.239 a lot more involvement. There's a lot more proactive empowerment. 0:36:43.640 --> 0:36:45.759 We do a lot of coaching and education around it. 0:36:45.760 --> 0:36:48.360 It's a cat and mouse game, toxic people are always 0:36:48.360 --> 0:36:50.200 looking for new vectors to be able to kind of 0:36:50.239 --> 0:36:52.959 attack your stream and funk with you. And I think 0:36:53.120 --> 0:36:55.360 it's it's going to continue to be an evolving, iterating 0:36:55.360 --> 0:36:59.120 game where we have to improve upon and and basically 0:36:59.120 --> 0:37:01.319 do more to to tech, not only our streamers, about 0:37:01.320 --> 0:37:04.680 our entire community. I think that with any kind of change, 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:07.479 people are always gonna be resistant to it, and people 0:37:07.480 --> 0:37:09.200 act on different ways. It kind of goes back to 0:37:09.239 --> 0:37:11.440 what I'm saying earlier. When you're on the Internet, people 0:37:12.200 --> 0:37:14.399 people act however they feel like acting. They might want 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:15.680 to be a ship head one day, they might be 0:37:15.760 --> 0:37:18.560 cool about another day. But would change, especially in anything 0:37:18.600 --> 0:37:20.560 on the Internet, like people always react negatively to it, 0:37:20.840 --> 0:37:23.480 even if it is for the betterment of of everybody. 0:37:23.880 --> 0:37:26.160 We're not trying to change the platform. What we're looking 0:37:26.160 --> 0:37:28.840 at is adjacent content, right, it's a very gamer. You 0:37:28.920 --> 0:37:32.080 like food, you're a gamer, you like music, and so 0:37:32.160 --> 0:37:33.560 these are the things that we look at that are, 0:37:33.600 --> 0:37:37.120 like wonderree, adjacent to what is gaming content. So we're 0:37:37.120 --> 0:37:38.920 not deep anyway from what we are. We are a 0:37:38.920 --> 0:37:41.480 gaming platform. We're gonna continue to be a gaming platform. 0:37:41.520 --> 0:37:43.320 That is our community, that is our bread and butter. 0:37:43.400 --> 0:37:46.239 But we are welcoming to everybody that is has an 0:37:46.280 --> 0:37:48.920 interesting gaming content. We do have adjacent content that sels 0:37:48.920 --> 0:37:51.600 available for you to do, but our core focus is gaming. 0:37:51.760 --> 0:37:53.400 There are gonna be people who are gonna be resistant 0:37:53.400 --> 0:37:55.800 to that. That's perfectly fine. I think you're going to 0:37:55.880 --> 0:37:58.399 find that everywhere. For us, it's really just about making 0:37:58.400 --> 0:38:01.160 sure that we have the most welcoming community, most welcoming platform. 0:38:01.200 --> 0:38:02.759 People feel like it's a safe place for them to 0:38:02.800 --> 0:38:09.600 be themselves. How do you work work life balance? Because 0:38:09.640 --> 0:38:12.279 I look at your community of people, everyone's asking for 0:38:12.320 --> 0:38:14.279 a meeting with you. Everyone wants to see you. You're 0:38:14.280 --> 0:38:16.640 in l A now. I keep looking at the clock 0:38:16.640 --> 0:38:18.200 because I have anxiety, and I'm like, he's in l 0:38:18.200 --> 0:38:20.200 A for two days. I bet you he has five 0:38:20.640 --> 0:38:24.120 people to meet with. It's not easy I mean, I 0:38:24.120 --> 0:38:28.120 I think I I text a lot. Textas like a 0:38:28.200 --> 0:38:30.400 good good way to keep in touch, asked quick questions 0:38:30.400 --> 0:38:33.080 and so on, particularly for like startups that need help, 0:38:33.120 --> 0:38:35.719 like those text me stof just text me that. But 0:38:35.760 --> 0:38:37.319 I don't know, I do feel bad. I feel bad 0:38:37.360 --> 0:38:39.319 a lot. Like there's a lot of people I lost 0:38:39.320 --> 0:38:42.880 touch with, you know, in the last eleven years, like 0:38:43.000 --> 0:38:46.719 just being so focused on the on work as a 0:38:47.000 --> 0:38:49.759 mean personally, yeah, imbalance in life, Like I lost touch 0:38:49.800 --> 0:38:52.600 with a lot of really great friends from high school 0:38:52.600 --> 0:38:56.359 and college, and some of those are irreparable unfortunately. So 0:38:56.480 --> 0:38:57.839 I think these days I try to be a bit 0:38:57.880 --> 0:39:00.560 more conscious of it, try to check in to do events. 0:39:00.880 --> 0:39:02.279 Events is a great way to get a bunch of 0:39:02.280 --> 0:39:04.200 people together the same time get to know each other too, 0:39:04.280 --> 0:39:07.120 and and and and and so on. But I don't 0:39:07.160 --> 0:39:08.919 have a core group of friends I'll hang out with, 0:39:09.000 --> 0:39:11.280 you know, just whenever you feel like relaxing, doing nothing, 0:39:11.320 --> 0:39:14.359 playing video games. Maybe you know you're really good at 0:39:14.360 --> 0:39:17.279 relaxing though, Like I noticed when you when you decide that, 0:39:17.320 --> 0:39:19.279 like we are at a wedding and we're going to 0:39:19.400 --> 0:39:23.279 just have fun, You're awesome at just removing work conversation, 0:39:23.360 --> 0:39:26.200 which some people are like every conversation is like a 0:39:26.239 --> 0:39:28.799 work conversation. You're really I think you're really good at 0:39:28.880 --> 0:39:30.880 separating the two. That's the hard part of being in 0:39:30.880 --> 0:39:33.440 San Francisco these days, and it's kind of always been 0:39:33.480 --> 0:39:35.760 that way since I moved there thirteen years ago. Everyone 0:39:35.760 --> 0:39:39.759 just talks about their projects and yeah, like guys, just 0:39:39.800 --> 0:39:42.160 go chill. I don't know. For me, I don't sleep 0:39:42.200 --> 0:39:44.799 a lot, so I'm trying to. I'm trying to get 0:39:44.840 --> 0:39:47.319 seven hours. I think it's very important to roughly sleep 0:39:47.360 --> 0:39:49.239 the human average, But I don't see a lot sigend 0:39:49.320 --> 0:39:51.759 up like you know, staying up late, texting, I bond with, 0:39:52.280 --> 0:39:55.480 connect with friends over video games. I'll you know, um, 0:39:55.800 --> 0:39:58.160 go go to events and stuff like that. Instead of 0:39:58.280 --> 0:40:02.880 being bothered by things in the community. I do my 0:40:02.920 --> 0:40:06.400 best to kind of change the standard and educate people, 0:40:06.440 --> 0:40:09.200 because that's the main you know, like that's where ignorance 0:40:09.239 --> 0:40:12.840 comes from, just not understanding or lack of education. So 0:40:13.200 --> 0:40:15.880 what I'll do is I'll say, okay, well, maybe like 0:40:16.040 --> 0:40:17.799 I look this way because I'm sick or it's not 0:40:17.880 --> 0:40:20.520 really something that's nice to call out. And the more 0:40:20.600 --> 0:40:23.640 that you can kind of fix those types of behaviors, 0:40:23.680 --> 0:40:27.960 but in a kind, loving, educational manner. The less likely 0:40:28.000 --> 0:40:30.440 those things are to happen within your community, and then 0:40:30.480 --> 0:40:32.719 the less people see that stuff, the less they want 0:40:32.760 --> 0:40:36.520 to make similar comments elsewhere. So I also try to 0:40:36.520 --> 0:40:38.840 set the standard, not only in a nice way, but 0:40:38.880 --> 0:40:40.840 sometimes in a funny way, like if I see a 0:40:40.960 --> 0:40:45.000 really really just dumb, rude comment, I will also make 0:40:45.000 --> 0:40:46.920 a joke out of it, And I think that in 0:40:46.960 --> 0:40:50.080 that same way, it kind of teaches a lot of 0:40:50.120 --> 0:40:52.800 other people a lesson on why they shouldn't make comments 0:40:52.840 --> 0:40:55.000 like that. It's so funny you say that because our 0:40:55.080 --> 0:40:57.600 last generation of the show, it was a radio show, 0:40:57.600 --> 0:40:59.279 so it was live and then we're also streaming it 0:40:59.320 --> 0:41:02.800 on Twitch and it was like our first taste of chat. 0:41:03.120 --> 0:41:06.400 And let me tell you, I would I don't know 0:41:06.719 --> 0:41:09.840 how every every time the show wrapped, I would like 0:41:09.880 --> 0:41:13.160 cry to Allison, like they're so mean. And it was 0:41:13.200 --> 0:41:15.320 one mean comment, but it got under my skin, you know, 0:41:15.320 --> 0:41:18.680 because I'm a sensitive bird, and you know, like that's 0:41:18.680 --> 0:41:22.360 how humans are. It's like it's like people don't realize 0:41:22.400 --> 0:41:25.319 there's an actual human on the other receiving end of this, 0:41:25.440 --> 0:41:29.000 Like yes, we're entertaining you, and yes you're watching. But 0:41:29.080 --> 0:41:31.520 the other thing that I found that was really interesting 0:41:31.680 --> 0:41:34.239 was the troll If you called them out on the 0:41:34.280 --> 0:41:37.120 live stream, all of a sudden, they're nice. Like they 0:41:37.120 --> 0:41:39.600 would be like, you're a fucking idiot, and I'd be like, 0:41:39.640 --> 0:41:42.640 you know what, Dominic two two seven to seven eight 0:41:42.760 --> 0:41:47.560 seven basement, I am an idiot, how's your day going? 0:41:47.680 --> 0:41:49.480 And then he'd be like, oh my god, I love 0:41:49.520 --> 0:41:51.239 your show, and I'd be like, wait, so all you're 0:41:51.280 --> 0:41:54.359 wanted was a shout out, no, yeah, attention. They just 0:41:54.520 --> 0:41:57.239 want attention, And at the end of the day, you know, 0:41:57.360 --> 0:41:59.919 it's kind of cute. It's like a little kid at 0:42:00.160 --> 0:42:02.080 ing out and being crazy, but at the end of 0:42:02.080 --> 0:42:03.799 the day, like they just want your attention. They just 0:42:03.840 --> 0:42:06.560 want to play with you or talk or interact. So 0:42:06.680 --> 0:42:10.200 that's so we started responding exactly. So we started responding 0:42:10.239 --> 0:42:12.840 to the trolls, and they'd be like our best friends, 0:42:12.880 --> 0:42:16.200 you know, we're sending them holiday cards now it's and 0:42:16.239 --> 0:42:19.799 then other trolls. So then other trolls would come in, 0:42:20.000 --> 0:42:22.640 and the troll that bullied me last week was like, Yo, 0:42:22.719 --> 0:42:24.880 you better fucking get out of this chat. I'd be like, 0:42:25.160 --> 0:42:27.520 and they're offering to be my mod. It's like, dude, 0:42:28.120 --> 0:42:30.239 last week you were calling me a fucking idiot, but 0:42:30.320 --> 0:42:32.560 we cool now that's fine. So the other thing I 0:42:32.600 --> 0:42:35.319 want to touch on is how do you kind of 0:42:35.360 --> 0:42:38.719 like block out because obviously you're a very confident woman. 0:42:38.800 --> 0:42:42.280 You're inspiring others to be confident and just be themselves, 0:42:42.440 --> 0:42:45.680 but you are human, So how do you kind of 0:42:45.920 --> 0:42:48.560 block out the noise when you do see haters or 0:42:48.600 --> 0:42:52.360 trolls or how do you even continue to stream? Because 0:42:52.400 --> 0:42:55.360 I'm sensitive. I don't know. I definitely couldn't be a streamer, 0:42:55.400 --> 0:42:58.759 but how do you cope? I am so glad that 0:42:58.920 --> 0:43:01.400 for me it was like one step at a time 0:43:01.880 --> 0:43:04.720 in the sense that I started off I was really small, 0:43:05.160 --> 0:43:09.400 got to twenty viewers, a hundred was really exciting, triple digits, 0:43:09.440 --> 0:43:12.000 and like, my growth has been like slow and steady 0:43:12.040 --> 0:43:14.279 more or less. And because of that, I've kind of 0:43:14.360 --> 0:43:16.720 learned to deal with them one step at a time 0:43:17.200 --> 0:43:20.040 when you like, because you deal with that type of 0:43:20.080 --> 0:43:23.600 attention very differently when you have a smaller community than 0:43:23.880 --> 0:43:27.080 once you become like a larger name per se. I 0:43:27.120 --> 0:43:30.239 think I kind of just limit exposure to that sort 0:43:30.280 --> 0:43:34.719 of stuff because I recognize that it is so far 0:43:34.920 --> 0:43:37.920 out of my control the kind of stuff that people 0:43:38.120 --> 0:43:40.600 will comment or think of me or say about me. 0:43:41.120 --> 0:43:43.319 So I think I kind of just if I know 0:43:43.520 --> 0:43:45.640 that there's a certain area where a lot of people 0:43:45.680 --> 0:43:48.080 will just be saying a lot of rude things about 0:43:48.120 --> 0:43:51.480 me that and mind you, I think I'm specifically talking 0:43:51.520 --> 0:43:56.520 about comments that aren't criticism, just like there's a common 0:43:56.600 --> 0:43:59.640 term that's just like twitch thoughts or calling someone ugly, 0:44:00.120 --> 0:44:02.239 or commenting on things you don't like about them, you know, 0:44:02.320 --> 0:44:04.440 things that are related to like my looks that's not 0:44:04.560 --> 0:44:06.799 something that's ever going to change, or if you hate 0:44:06.800 --> 0:44:10.000 the way I sound, I can't change my vocal chords, right, 0:44:10.200 --> 0:44:13.200 So things that literally are out of my control, it 0:44:13.400 --> 0:44:17.560 only hurts me to continuously read that stuff. Whereas you know, 0:44:17.640 --> 0:44:20.120 if there's feedback like oh I didn't really like this 0:44:20.200 --> 0:44:22.160 thing that she said or this thing that she did, 0:44:22.320 --> 0:44:24.080 even if the feedback is kind of set in a 0:44:24.160 --> 0:44:26.400 rude way, at least I know that's something that I 0:44:26.440 --> 0:44:29.320 can think about reflect on. Was I happy with the 0:44:29.360 --> 0:44:32.879 way that I expressed myself in these situations? So those 0:44:32.920 --> 0:44:35.440 are negative comments like I'm more than happy to take 0:44:35.480 --> 0:44:38.799 and look at the ones that I can garner no 0:44:39.040 --> 0:44:41.279 value from reading, I just won't read them. Um, And 0:44:41.320 --> 0:44:44.600 it's not easy. It's definitely not easy, but you kind 0:44:44.600 --> 0:44:47.840 of try to learn to get out of those habits 0:44:48.760 --> 0:44:52.080 control yourself. Takes a lot of will power. But yeah, 0:44:52.160 --> 0:44:56.640 definitely limiting exposure to comments that are just bad and 0:44:57.120 --> 0:45:01.440 in chat moderators incredible well. Twitch chat moderation is like 0:45:01.480 --> 0:45:04.600 a key parts streaming, like if you have to have it. 0:45:05.000 --> 0:45:06.680 I did not know this in the beginning, so we 0:45:06.719 --> 0:45:08.640 had a lot of ship going on in our chat. 0:45:08.719 --> 0:45:10.680 I was like, oh my gosh, this is scary, Like, 0:45:11.200 --> 0:45:15.040 somebody get these people out of here. So yeah, that's 0:45:15.480 --> 0:45:19.880 I'm like having I'm having PTSD. No, it's fine, I'm 0:45:20.840 --> 0:45:24.480 you're crying. I gotta say. I've also kind of grown 0:45:24.560 --> 0:45:28.520 up on the internet, so I think I was a 0:45:28.680 --> 0:45:33.160 bit more ready for these kind of situations. Have you 0:45:33.239 --> 0:45:35.759 seen all the jokes about like the way kids are 0:45:35.760 --> 0:45:39.600 on like Xbox Live lobbies, right, Like when you grow 0:45:39.680 --> 0:45:43.839 up gaming online interacting with strangers, you know, sometimes like 0:45:44.000 --> 0:45:46.279 it just goes down. People are yelling at each other, 0:45:46.360 --> 0:45:48.600 insulting each other for no reason. So I had my 0:45:48.640 --> 0:45:50.600 fair share that. Oh I me and my brother would 0:45:50.600 --> 0:45:53.600 banter a lot when we were younger. So you're ready 0:45:53.640 --> 0:45:56.280 for it a little bit, right, But no one's ever 0:45:56.360 --> 0:45:58.200 ready for the kind of stuff that you get when 0:45:58.239 --> 0:46:00.839 you're like a public figure on the internet. How many 0:46:00.840 --> 0:46:03.799 partners does Twitch have on the platform today? I think 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:09.240 today rough count is about So there's thirty thousand people 0:46:09.280 --> 0:46:12.760 that are your children. How do you personally keep track 0:46:12.760 --> 0:46:14.759 of all of them and make sure that obviously you 0:46:14.760 --> 0:46:17.160 have a team, it's not just you, but what is 0:46:17.160 --> 0:46:20.319 a day to day like for you and your interactions 0:46:20.320 --> 0:46:24.080 with the partners? In terms of interaction I'm spending I'm 0:46:24.120 --> 0:46:28.000 spending less time communicating on a macro level nowadays and 0:46:28.200 --> 0:46:30.600 focused much more on a micro level, so talking to 0:46:30.640 --> 0:46:32.960 individual partners. I'm out here in l A right now, 0:46:33.000 --> 0:46:36.879 wet with a few partners today and tomorrow from my team, 0:46:36.960 --> 0:46:39.840 and the entire partnership's department is kind of broken down too, 0:46:39.880 --> 0:46:42.280 different facets. So we have people that focus on individual 0:46:42.320 --> 0:46:46.080 communities like I mentioned earlier, people who focus on first 0:46:46.120 --> 0:46:48.400 person shooters, people who focus on fighting and communities like 0:46:48.440 --> 0:46:51.320 street fighter, and other people who focus on stuff like charity, 0:46:51.719 --> 0:46:53.400 and then beyond that, we also look at people who 0:46:53.440 --> 0:46:55.560 are broken up by regions. So we have a Twitch 0:46:55.600 --> 0:46:59.120 comedy in Europe, we have one in Latin America and Asia, 0:46:59.680 --> 0:47:01.880 so we have different representatives and these different regions and 0:47:02.000 --> 0:47:05.400 also have their own strengths. And for us, really that 0:47:07.080 --> 0:47:09.000 plus partners that we have is kind of broken down 0:47:09.000 --> 0:47:11.239 into each of those regions, and for us, we we 0:47:11.280 --> 0:47:13.879 serve some in different ways, you know, and Asia there's 0:47:13.880 --> 0:47:16.400 a lot of growing communities. So it's really about building 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:18.120 up a presence not only for Twitch, but for the 0:47:18.120 --> 0:47:22.399 individual creators. Whereas in Europe and North America they're much 0:47:22.440 --> 0:47:25.280 more prevalent, they're much more present in terms of the industry, 0:47:25.280 --> 0:47:27.319 and so it's more about how do we grow them 0:47:27.360 --> 0:47:29.560 beyond mainstream, how do we get them connected with sponsors 0:47:29.560 --> 0:47:32.520 and advertisers that are non endemic to the brand. Every 0:47:32.560 --> 0:47:35.400 day is different, Every day is different, and the way 0:47:35.440 --> 0:47:39.239 that I'm working with the community isn't directly portrayed out 0:47:39.280 --> 0:47:41.439 to the public on a day to day, but more 0:47:41.560 --> 0:47:44.880 so in terms of events like E three, like packs 0:47:45.600 --> 0:47:47.279 being at those events. There's a lot of things that 0:47:47.520 --> 0:47:50.160 my team does not only from like a product standpoint, 0:47:50.200 --> 0:47:52.840 but also just like a from an interaction standpoint, and 0:47:52.840 --> 0:47:55.000 there's a lot that we do. We have usually parties 0:47:55.000 --> 0:47:57.239 at these events. That gives us a big operatorny to 0:47:57.239 --> 0:47:59.320 like communicate and reach out to partners so we've otherwise 0:47:59.360 --> 0:48:01.360 not been able to talk to in the past and 0:48:01.400 --> 0:48:03.880 really build up like a personal relationship and really forged 0:48:03.960 --> 0:48:07.080 that bond between the partnership team and the individual crewers 0:48:07.080 --> 0:48:09.920 because ultimately, the way I look at things, the partnership 0:48:10.000 --> 0:48:13.080 seems like Tron and the partners are really the users 0:48:13.080 --> 0:48:15.279 were fighting for them. What was the moment that you 0:48:15.320 --> 0:48:19.719 realized you had real influence? Oh, I went to a 0:48:19.800 --> 0:48:25.160 League of Legends finals kind of tournament. That was like 0:48:25.200 --> 0:48:27.879 the first time that I was really like overwhelmed by 0:48:27.880 --> 0:48:30.800 the amount of fans, Like there were people taking photos 0:48:30.880 --> 0:48:32.440 of the fact that it was like me and then 0:48:32.520 --> 0:48:35.160 like a bunch of fans and it became like a 0:48:35.200 --> 0:48:38.760 fire hazard level. And I think I was really touched 0:48:38.800 --> 0:48:40.800 by that because I woul't lie. The League of Legends 0:48:40.840 --> 0:48:44.440 community excuse a bit more toxic than most other gaming communities, 0:48:44.680 --> 0:48:48.440 and sometimes that's like mostly what you hear, just like 0:48:48.480 --> 0:48:50.799 the toxicity and the rude comments and you're like, oh, 0:48:50.880 --> 0:48:54.200 like I mustn't be like that loved or enjoyed, but 0:48:54.280 --> 0:48:56.919 like showing up to an event and having like an 0:48:56.920 --> 0:48:59.520 insane amount of people like around me or want to 0:48:59.520 --> 0:49:03.800 take photo of say hi. I guess that's when I realized, like, wow, 0:49:03.920 --> 0:49:07.160 we did a thing when when I like me, they 0:49:07.239 --> 0:49:11.640 really like me. But hopefully everyone who listened got to 0:49:11.719 --> 0:49:13.879 understand the world of Twitch a little bit more, and 0:49:13.920 --> 0:49:17.880 also the partnership program and streaming and you've got a 0:49:17.920 --> 0:49:20.600 lot on your plate. I'm happy to have it. Yeah, 0:49:20.600 --> 0:49:22.279 it sounds for having me. It sounds like a really 0:49:22.280 --> 0:49:24.080 fun job. It is. It's a dream come true. And 0:49:24.120 --> 0:49:26.160 again like I'm humbled every day to be doing what 0:49:26.160 --> 0:49:29.080 I'm doing. So you're not leaving Twitch anytime soon, like ever? 0:49:30.000 --> 0:49:32.720 I know I want a job there too, now hiring 0:49:33.400 --> 0:49:38.560 are Well, let's talk off air. Thanks for stopping by. 0:49:38.719 --> 0:49:41.280 I am so excited for everyone to hear this interview. 0:49:41.480 --> 0:49:44.400 And I'm sure you'll be back because something tells me 0:49:44.480 --> 0:49:46.480 you have your your hands and a couple of pots 0:49:46.520 --> 0:49:48.480 that I'm gonna want to learn about. I don't know, 0:49:48.520 --> 0:49:51.920 I'm just guessing. Alright, guys, Well, I hope you enjoyed 0:49:51.960 --> 0:49:56.839 the last ever podcast because I'm becoming a streamer out. 0:49:56.920 --> 0:49:58.680 It was a nice having yet, but yeah, we will 0:49:58.719 --> 0:50:01.839 let you go. Thank you for coming. We loved having you. 0:50:01.960 --> 0:50:03.920 This was so much fun. We hope you know. I'm like, 0:50:03.960 --> 0:50:08.840 thank you again, bye again, see you later again. Bye. 0:50:12.680 --> 0:50:14.920 All right, folks, that's all she wrote. I hope you 0:50:14.960 --> 0:50:18.080 guys enjoyed hearing from Kevin Lynn, co founder of Twitch, 0:50:18.560 --> 0:50:22.240 Pokemon number one most followed female streamer, and of course 0:50:22.280 --> 0:50:26.640 A Neil, the director of Partnerships at Twitch. I hope 0:50:26.680 --> 0:50:29.880 you guys are having a lovely Wednesday. I am looking 0:50:29.920 --> 0:50:32.040 forward to hearing feedback from you guys, and I will listen. 0:50:32.040 --> 0:50:34.640 If you never want to hear this again, no problem. 0:50:34.680 --> 0:50:40.400 In the meantime to Loup Behind the Influences, a production 0:50:40.440 --> 0:50:42.480 of I Heart Radio and t DC Media