Justin.tv creator returns to his roots on Snapchat

Justin Kan, the entrepreneur behind the pioneering webcast project Justin.tv, has decided to reboot the concept on ephemeral messaging service Snapchat. Kan, fresh off a multimillion dollar payday as one of the founders of the video game footage streaming service Twitch, published a job posting today seeking a videographer to direct the project.

I've decided to restart https://t.co/F3NC12z527 on Snapchat. Come work for me. https://t.co/kGCbRCvK1g

— Justin Kan (@justinkan) February 3, 2016

Twitch was acquired by Amazon in August 2014 for $970 million.

Justin.tv, from which Twitch eventually spawned, started back in 2007 with Kan live-streaming many of his activities over the Internet. He then expanded the project to allow anyone to do the same thing using his software tools; one of the first stars of her own Justin.tv broadcast was Justine Ezarik, which served to propel her into a career as well-known on-air personality iJustine.

Kan, now at startup incubator Y Combinator, says he will use a Snapchat Story channel to perform the same function as Justin.tv — which was shuttered after the Twitch sale — did nearly a decade ago. For now, we have no reason to believe Kan is looking to recreate his Twitch success — it’s more like the original Justin.tv beta than the business it spawned.

The one big difference, of course, is that Kan has gone from an unknown performer to a widely recognized investor and world traveler.