Emmett Shear Biography

Emmett Shear is an Internet entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of live video platforms Justin.tv and TwitchTV. He's also a part-time partner at venture capital firm Y Combinator. Shear is also co-founder of Kiko Software, the first AJAX-based online calendar. Shear graduated from Yale University in 2005 with a degree in computer science.

In 2006, Shear, along with partners Justin Kan, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt, started Justin.tv, a 24-7 live video feed of Kan’s life, broadcast via a webcam attached to his head.

Kan’s “lifecasting” lasted about eight months but the four partners decided to transition to providing a live video platform so anyone could publish a live video stream. Justin.tv, the platform, launched in 2007 and is now one of the largest live video platforms in the world with more than 30 million unique users every month. On August 29, 2011, Shear became CEO.

After Justin.tv launched in 2006, the site quickly began building subject-specific content categories like Social, Tech, Sports, Entertainment, News & Events, Gaming and others. Gaming, in particular, grew very fast and became the most popular content on the site.

The company then decided to spin off the gaming content under a separate brand at a separate site. They named it TwitchTV, inspired by the term twitch gameplay. It launched officially in public beta on June 6, 2011.

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