For some cruel reason, I keep finding myself in the position of being introduced to things in their infancy (often before they are even launched), dismissing them as stupid, and then watching them become unbelievably popular. This has happened to me at least three times. Each time I vow never to call anything stupid again, and then, invariably, it happens again. I’m not sure if there’s any lesson here other than a warning against arrogance, but I have one of those stories to share.
In early 2011, I had an opportunity to join forces with a company known as Justin.tv at the time. They were streaming platform company which was founded in 2006 by Justin Kan in San Francisco, California. Justin.tv launched a partner company in June 2011 by the name of Twitch.
In September of 2012, I made the hard decision to turn down further involvement with Twitch and continue my education in law enforcement.
The popularity of Twitch would eclipse that of its general-interest counterpart; by mid-2013, the website had amassed an average of 43 million viewers per month, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States Justin.tv was shut down as of August 2014.
“This is the right decision, go back to school,” I thought to myself. In September 2014, Twitch was acquired by Amazon.com for $970 million.
The future is extremely hard to see through the lens of the present. It’s very easy to unconsciously dismiss the first versions of something as frivolous or useless -- as stupid ideas.
"Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day." - Franz Liszt
In early 2011, I had an opportunity to join forces with a company known as Justin.tv at the time. They were streaming platform company which was founded in 2006 by Justin Kan in San Francisco, California. Justin.tv launched a partner company in June 2011 by the name of Twitch.
In September of 2012, I made the hard decision to turn down further involvement with Twitch and continue my education in law enforcement.
The popularity of Twitch would eclipse that of its general-interest counterpart; by mid-2013, the website had amassed an average of 43 million viewers per month, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States Justin.tv was shut down as of August 2014.
“This is the right decision, go back to school,” I thought to myself. In September 2014, Twitch was acquired by Amazon.com for $970 million.
The future is extremely hard to see through the lens of the present. It’s very easy to unconsciously dismiss the first versions of something as frivolous or useless -- as stupid ideas.
"Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day." - Franz Liszt
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