10 Things You Didn’t Know about Atrium CEO Justin Kan
Justin Kan is an American entrepreneur. Currently, he is known for being the CEO as well as the co-founder of Atrium, which is a corporate law firm that specializes in serving start-ups. However, chances are good that most people who recognize him will recognize him because of his role as one of the co-founders of Twitch.
1. Studied Physics
Kan is very involved with the tech industry. As a result, if people had to guess his major from when he was attending Yale University, chances are good that a lot of them would guess something that was tech-related in nature. However, that wasn’t the case. Instead, one of the two subjects that Kan studied at Yale University was physics, which has plenty of applications for tech but in a less immediate sense than a lot of the other sciences.
2. Studied Philosophy
Besides physics, Kan studied philosophy as well. It is interesting to note that philosophy can be divided up into a number of very broad fields, though the exact set can see significant variation from version to version. Some common examples include metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, and aesthetics. Science was once considered to be a branch of philosophy as well, which is why it was once called natural philosophy. However, said position tends to be much less common in the present than in the past.
3. Popularized Lifecasting
The concept of lifecasting existed before Kan. For proof, look no further than the fact that Kan was the one who popularized the term “lifecasting,” which replaced both “lifelogging” and “lifestreaming” before it. Regardless, this was made possible by Kan’s choice to lifecast 24/7, which was such a novel concept that he managed to attract widespread mainstream attention, according to this. Something that provided him as well as his business with a considerable boost from interested individuals.
4. Turned Justin.tv Into a Live Video Platform
In total, Kan’s lifecasting lasted for eight months. Afterwards, he and his partners turned what was called Justin.tv into a website where other interested individuals could broadcast video online as well. Soon enough, the website started using content-based categories such as Entertainment, News & Events, and Sports. However, Gaming was by far the most popular of these categories, so much so that it was spun off as a separate website called Twitch.tv in reference to twitch gameplay.
5. Shut Down Justin.tv to Focus on Twitch.tv
Eventually, Twitch.tv became so popular relative to the other categories that could be found on Justin.tv that the decision was made to shut down the latter. This way, Kan and the rest of the leadership could focus their full effort on Twitch.tv, thus ensuring that it would have the best prospects of further success.
6. Has Been Involved in Other Projects
Besides Twitch.tv, Kan has been involved in various other projects as well. According to Forbes, he and a couple of other individuals co-founded Exec in February of 2012, which was an online service that let users outsource whatever they wanted to interested individuals. Said service seems to have been regarded in a positive manner by at least some figures of note out there, seeing as how it was bought out by Handybook in January of 2014. If people are curious why they can’t find Handybook, it is just called Handy nowadays.
7. Founded Atrium For the Purpose of Problem-Solving
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Kan co-founded Atrium with problem-solving in mind. To be exact, Kan was frustrated by his experiences with the legal industry as what he called a power user, which is why he wanted something that could challenge the concept of the billable hour. On the whole, Atrium promises to be something new and innovative, which it believes to be untrue for much of the legal industry because of the incentives that are in place for maintaining the current state of things. Time will tell whether Atrium can fulfill its promise or not.
8. Used Alcohol For Stress Management
Kan has stated that he used alcohol for stress management. However, he eventually made a decision to quit drinking altogether, which he revealed to the public for a couple of reasons. One, he wanted to encourage like-minded individuals to follow the same path. Two, he wanted to make his personal resolution public so that he would feel an increased obligation to hold to his commitment.
9. Was Once Resistant to the Concept of Therapy
Like a lot of people, Kan was once resistant to the concept of therapy. However, that changed when he started seeing someone who helped him resolve various issues as well as learn useful skills for his day-to-day life. As Kan now sees it, a therapist is a useful stand-in for the “close, impartial person” that everyone should have access to but most people actually don’t. However, he has also stressed the importance of speaking with more than one therapist before choosing so that interested individuals can maximize their chances of getting someone who works well with their particular preferences.
10. Believes in Showing Gratitude As a Way of Achieving Happiness
Kan hasn’t been shy about sharing what he believes to be the keys for achieving happiness. One example of what he has said is the concept of showing gratitude, which can be summed up as someone telling their friends as well as their other loved ones about how much they meant to them on a regular basis. Said practice is a part of focusing on the good things rather than the bad things that people experience, which is often stressed because focusing on the bad things can cause people to drag themselves down by worsening their mood as well as wreaking other kinds of havoc with their personal well-being.