Where does Emmett Shear work?

Emmett Shear is Founder of Kiko and Founder at Twitch and CEO & Founder at Softmax.

What check size does Emmett Shear write?

Emmett Shear typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.

What companies did Emmett Shear found?

Emmett Shear founded Kiko, Softmax, Twitch.

Where did Emmett Shear go to school?

Emmett Shear studied at Yale University (BS, Computer Science); University of Washington.

What has Emmett Shear written?

Emmett Shear has 1 tracked post on ycombinator.com, including "How to prioritize features".

What podcasts and interviews feature Emmett Shear?

Tracked appearances include "How to build a product with Reddit's Steve Huffman and Twitch's Emmett Shear".

Emmett Shear

Founder

Founder at Twitch · Founder at Kiko · CEO & Founder at Softmax

San Francisco, California

Writes $5K – $50K checks · typically $25K

FoundedKiko · YC Softmax Twitch · YC

30 Under 30 2013 · Consumer Technology

Founder at Twitch YC W07

Intro paths

Emmett went through Y Combinator (Winter 2007) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

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In turn, Emmett can intro founders to Twitch's investors below.

Twitch's investors · 5

Alsop Louie PartnersSan Francisco Night CapitalCapitola Standard CapitalSan Francisco SV AngelSan Francisco Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checks · since 2007

Co-founders at Twitch

Justin KanFounder

Kyle VogtFounder

Founder at Kiko YC S05

Intro paths

Emmett went through Y Combinator (Summer 2005) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

→

In turn, Emmett can intro founders to Kiko's investors below.

Kiko's investors · 3

Smilegate InvestmentSeoul · $694K – $35M checks Strong Ventures, LlcLos Angeles · $100K – $1M checks Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checks · since 2005

Co-founders at Kiko

Justin KanFounder

CEO & Founder at Softmax

Intro paths

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In turn, Emmett can intro founders to Softmax's investors below.

Softmax's investors · 9

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks Juniper Ventures Management, LlcSan Francisco Lifelike CapitalLas Vegas LIONHEART VENTURESSan Francisco Mythos Ventures Management, LlcSeattle · $100K – $2M checks Night CapitalCapitola PluralLondon Sancus VenturesSan Francisco Summit Peak InvestmentsFort Worth

Co-founders at Softmax

David BloominFounder

Yatharth AgarwalCofounder

Adam GoldsteinBoard Member and Founder Emeritus

Experience

SoftmaxCEOcurrent2024 — presentSan Francisco, California, United States
Y CombinatorVisiting Group Partner2023 — 2025San Francisco Bay Area
TwitchCEO2011 — 2023San Francisco Bay Area
Fathom (YC W21)Angel Investor2021
Y CombinatorPart-time Partner2011 — 2016Mountain View, CA
Justin.TV Inc.Founder2006 — 2011
Kiko Software Inc.Founder2005 — 2006

Skills & more

Ruby on Rails24PostgreSQL9Python11C6Management6TypingHaskell3Capital Raising2Linux System Administration1Linux server administration

Languages Chinese

From Emmett's professional profile.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Emmett Shear

How to build a product with Reddit's Steve Huffman and Twitch's Emmett Shear

Y Combinator

Writing

How to prioritize features2020-11-23

An essay outlining three frameworks—Built For Me, Switch To Us, and Three Numbers Matter—for deciding which product features startups should build next.

Network13

Balaji SrinivasanScout

Angel investor and founder of The Network School

Arash FerdowsiScout

Co-founder of Dropbox

Amitt MahajanScout

Managing Partner at Presence Capital

Andrey KolodyukScout

Investor at AVentures Capital

Anji IsmailScout

Scout at Leonis Capital

Bradley KeywellScout

Investor at Lightbank

Cameron McLainScout

Building things that endure, and living fully along the way.

Dan ScholnickScout

Managing Partner at Four Rivers Group

Ethan KurzweilScout

Investor at Chemistry

Jared FriedmanScout

YC Group Partner

Bill Lee

Venture Partner at Craft Ventures

Dave Morin

Founder and Managing Partner at Offline Ventures

▶1 more connections

Ilya Sukhar

Investors connected to Emmett in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Emmett Shear?: Angel
Where does Emmett Shear work?: Emmett Shear is Founder of Kiko and Founder at Twitch and CEO & Founder at Softmax.
What check size does Emmett Shear write?: Emmett Shear typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
What companies did Emmett Shear found?: Emmett Shear founded Kiko, Softmax, Twitch.
Where did Emmett Shear go to school?: Emmett Shear studied at Yale University (BS, Computer Science); University of Washington.
What has Emmett Shear written?: Emmett Shear has 1 tracked post on ycombinator.com, including "How to prioritize features".
What podcasts and interviews feature Emmett Shear?: Tracked appearances include "How to build a product with Reddit's Steve Huffman and Twitch's Emmett Shear".