Justin Kan

“Nothing is better received by a founder than reading about someone being passionate for his or her project.”

“The unifying factor in my career across investing and entrepreneurship was that the whole time I've basically been an involuntary power user of legal services.”

“The Internet is a place that fosters creativity.”

“I don't feel productive if I'm not working a lot.”

“When we started, the Internet was America. If you weren't there, you weren't a company.”

“That constant need to do better and better is what drove me to start more and more companies - but it wasn't enough.”

“One of the things big law partners say when they talk about Atrium is that we get people who wouldn't make partner. And I say, they're the people who are doing the work for you anyway, but they transition out because they hate the lifestyle.”

“If you look at our original business model with the verticalized law firm, a lot of these companies that have this kind of full stack model are not going to survive. A lot of these companies, Atrium included, did not figure out how to make a dent in operational efficiency.”

“A lot of people on the business side are really serious. But I like being able to mix content that's me having fun.”

“Surround yourself with people who do what you want to do, and eventually you'll wake up to find yourself doing the same.”

“A lot of tech people are afraid to get on the phone and talk to their customers, or get on Zoom, or whatever. But I think a great place to start is just be calling your customers all the time.”

“There was no real plan B. It was like, I'm gonna move back to Seattle and move in with my parents.”

“Broadcasting something live from a remote site has always been the sole domain of large media corporations with access to satellite trucks.”

“One of the reasons I think Y Combinator is so powerful is because it creates a new social norm, especially for those who come from outside Silicon Valley.”

“When I was 31, we sold Twitch for a billion dollars. I achieved everything I ever dreamed of. When I was 35, I realized I was just as unhappy as I'd ever been.”

“One of the ideas for Justin.tv was that it would force me to go out and be sociable and talk to people.”

“I'm kind of a life coach for thousands of people.”

“It helps tremendously to have operating startup experience when advising startups. It is much easier to tell people how to talk to customers, build product, manage an engineering team, raise money from investors, and talk to press when you've done it before yourself.”

“We do think founders should be treated like athletes, going for gold really hard.”

“After selling Twitch, I worked at Y Combinator, investing as a partner there for a couple of years.”