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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago

In honor of the 10th anniversary of launching Twitch, I thought I’d share some of the lessons I learned along the way. Each of these insights could probably be expanded into an essay, of course. Like the ones you would want me to expand on in the future.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Most of these insights are things I heard someone else say, as a caveat. I’m not claiming that I thought this all up myself! They’re the things that I find myself telling people over and over when they ask me for advice.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Make something 10 people completely love, not something most people think is pretty good.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

If your product is for consumers, either it’s a daily habit, it’s used consistently in response to an external trigger, or it’s not going to grow.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

There are only five growth strategies that exist, and your product probably only fits one. Press isn’t a growth strategy, and neither is word of mouth.

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6/9/2021
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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

The five growth strategies are high-touch sales, paid advertising, intrinsic virality, intrinsic influencer incentives (Twitch!), and platform hacks.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

For internet companies, growth is more important than profit. It’s very rare for a company to achieve massive scale of use, and then die because they can’t figure out the economics. The reverse is common.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Ignore your competitors, but don’t ignore their customers.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

If you’re a first time manager, you suck. That’s ok, everyone sucks. Apologize to your employees, get a coach or join a support group, read books, and generally treat management like a new important skill you can master.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Every time you add a layer of hierarchy underneath you, your job as a leader changes against and gets harder. You have to keep learning and growing. Note: good reason not to hire too fast!

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6/9/2021
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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

You know when you need to hire: when you just can’t keep up with all the work, and desperately need someone else to take over some part of the job.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Plans are useless, but planning is essential.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Your time horizon for strategic planning should approximately be equal to the length of time your organization has existed so far.

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6/9/2021
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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Over time, develop a huge vision that’s bigger than any specific thing you’re working on. Put it as far in the future, and make it as huge, as you have the guts to.

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6/9/2021
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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

You think you have a morale problem; a management problem; a recruiting problem; you don’t. You have a growth problem. Nothing succeeds like success.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Three ways to have a startup idea: something you want, something you’ve directly experienced others needing, something you’ve invented through analytic thought. They are listed in order of increasing risk.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Your culture is determined by what people perceive to be the behaviors you reward and punish. Note: Not what you actually reward and punish, and also not what you say you reward and punish.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Company cultures are reflection of their founders. To change your company's culture, seek to change how you behave. To change your company's values, seek to change what you value.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Letting an underperforming employee go is difficult and painful. You invested a lot in hiring them, and you want them to succeed. As a result you will almost always fire too late.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Presume deals won’t close and manage accordingly. Not only do deals fall through as a default, if you need the deal to close it impacts negotiations and actually makes it less likely to close.

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Do the job before you hire for it. You know nothing about X, so you think you need to hire an expert in X. But you can’t tell which experts are any good until you’ve learned enough to be dangerous yourself. (Exception: cofounders)

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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Don’t start a company. You aren’t cut out for it. And if I can persuade you not to start a company by saying it in this tweet, definitely don’t start a company. You’re buying the economy-sized amount of effort and pain.

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6/9/2021
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Emmett Shear@eshear• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

Today is the best time ever to start a company. You might fail, you might succeed, it’s a crazy ride either way, and you’ll learn and grow more than at any job.

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Human | Michael Rush@michaelmrush• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear 🔥🔥🔥

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6/9/2021
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Geoff Langenderfer@geoff_l• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear this is the one i'm fomoing

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6/9/2021
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Jean-Marc Denis@jmdenisme• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear What about @drdisrespect though

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6/9/2021
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Seba@lordsp• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @threader_app compile

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6/9/2021
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Jason Shen · The Outlier Coach@JasonShen• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @readwiseio save

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6/13/2021
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Adrian Albus 📈@adrianalbus• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @replywithacc

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6/27/2021
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Haris Aghadi@haghadi• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @readwiseio save thread

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8/18/2021
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Jenny Kim@jennykim• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @readwiseio save thread

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9/8/2021
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Stéffano Coelho #Arkanis@steffanocoelho• over 2 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @SaveToNotion #thread

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5/5/2023
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Tyler Alterman@TylerAlterman• 6 months ago
Replying to @eshear

Emmett, I’ve found this to be true for all initiatives, not just companies. But I had to become a multiple-time founder + be a part of many orgs/scenes/movements/projects to really notice this patternHow would you make this effect clear to someone who doesn’t have this experience?(I’m thinking of, eg, the hundreds of EAs who deprioritize personal flourishing & treating nearby others well because of the belief that all focus should be directed toward the largest scale good possible. I was one of these)

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3/18/2025
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Jay Kapoor@JayKapoorNYC• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear These are phenomenal points, esp about your consumer tool being (1) a habit or (2) a response to a trigger moment. 💯 🙏🏽 “You have a growth problem, nothing succeeds like success” also reminds me of the old @mcuban mantra: Sales Cures All

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6/9/2021
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Jay Rosenkrantz 🍊@jayrosenkrantz• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @justinkan Emmett making a run at the favorite founder's favorite founder title?!

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6/9/2021
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boris tane@boristane• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @bkmarkHQ bookmark please

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6/9/2021
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Dan@danmurrays• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear I've read a lot of threads in my time but this makes all the other ones feel meaningless, it's a masterpiece. Thanks for the wisdom and insights 👏

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6/9/2021
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KIRNEILL@KIRNEILL• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear One of the best threads I have ever read 🙌🏾thank you

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6/9/2021
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Alexander Embiricos@embirico• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear Thanks for sharing!

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6/9/2021
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Ben Davenport@bendavenport• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @Readwiseio save thread

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6/9/2021
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Thack@DaveThackeray• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @readwiseio save thread

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6/11/2021
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Ishaan Kapoor@Ishaank1999• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @pdfmakerapp grab this

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7/9/2021
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Ishaan Kapoor@Ishaank1999• about 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @TheReaderapp compile

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7/9/2021
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Ben Fisher✨@skinnyandbald• almost 4 years ago
Replying to @eshear

@eshear @readwiseio save thread

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9/8/2021