Justin Kan kept Justin.TV alive through two things: his co-founders' emotional support, especially during summer slumps when isolation hit hardest, and his pride in being an entrepreneur rather than admitting defeat to classmates in finance and law.
Chapters
Well, like I said out there, I think there are 2 things that really contributed to us not giving up. The first one is that we had great co-founders who, you know, even though we've argued about a lot of things, like, they're very talented. And, like, during the times, you know, entrepreneurship's like a roller coaster, right? Mm-hmm. And during— the good thing about having co-founders is when you're, like, at the bottom, you're in the valley, like, maybe they're not quite at the bottom. They're, like, maybe they're peaking, probably not. They're probably, like, you know, going down or going up. And so you kind of, like, aggregate enough, like, to be, like, kind of content enough, or, like, not depressed enough to, like, stick with it, right? Mm-hmm. I wanted to quit Justin.tv pretty much every year during the summer. I remember summer's a super depressing time for me, and, 'cause everyone else was, like, out going to the beach, and Fourth of July, having fun, and I'd be, like, working, right? So, like, every summer, I remember I was like, oh, I hate this, why am I doing this? And, you know, I think having great co-founders who are there for you emotionally, not just there, like, from a productivity standpoint, but they're, like, emotionally, is, like, a big part of it. And the second thing is, like I said out there, I think a lot of my ego is caught up with, like, being an entrepreneur, and giving up would have been, like, I'm kind of, like, admitting defeat. All of my classmates and friends from college were out making good money being investment bankers and hedge fund managers. Lawyers, and while they hated their lives, they at least were like, you know, kind of doing what society said you were supposed to and like actually making something of themselves. So the only thing I could do was say like, oh, well, I have this, you know, the coolest job ever because I get to like run my own company and make my own vision happen, which is like a much sexier distorted reality than actually exists, I think. But, you know, it was kind of like giving up would have been admitting defeat, and I didn't I didn't, uh, I was too prideful to do that. Mm-hmm. So I guess it worked out in the end.
