At Twitch, we made a clear decision to prioritize the needs of streamers over viewers, focusing on streamers because they were the key to our platform's success, especially in the early days when there were only about 200 gaming streamers who mattered.

Twitch faced significant traffic spikes, sometimes 20 times higher than normal, which required them to implement hacks like turning dynamic pages into static ones to handle the load during popular streams.

As Twitch scaled, we focused 70-80% of our engineering efforts on improving our video system because if the video didn't work, it didn't matter how good the rest of our product was.

Twitch began as Justin TV, where my co-founder Justin streamed 24/7 with just one camera. The initial version had no video games and was very basic, but it was a starting point for the platform.

When a major celebrity announces a live stream, a hundred thousand fans can request it simultaneously, causing the video server to crash. We had to find solutions to manage this sudden influx of traffic effectively.

The core learning from Twitch was that if they could help streamers make money, those streamers would create content that millions wanted to watch.

Before Twitch became a billion-dollar empire, it started as Justin.tv, a 24/7 live stream of one person's life without any script or plan, created by founders who were just trying to survive after selling a calendar app on eBay.

YouTube's live streaming has potential because it combines video on demand with real-time interaction, allowing creators to build a community by engaging with viewers instantly.

Twitch started as Justin.tv, an online reality TV show, showing that initial concepts can evolve significantly over time.