# Emmett Shear

> Emmett Shear co-founded Twitch in 2007 and spent 12 years as its CEO, growing it from a scrappy live-streaming experiment into the dominant gaming and creator platform that Amazon acquired for nearly $1 billion in 2014. After a surreal 72-hour stint as interim CEO of OpenAI during the Sam Altman board crisis in November 2023, he pivoted to founding Softmax, an a16z-backed AI alignment startup working on 'organic alignment' - a biology-inspired approach to making AI systems genuinely care about their communities rather than merely comply with rules.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Softmax
- **Organizations:** Softmax, Y Combinator, Twitch, OpenAI (interim), Justin.tv
- **From:** Seattle, Washington, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** K-12 (Gifted Program), Evergreen School for Gifted Children, Pre-college Accelerated Mathematics, University of Washington (Early Entrance Program), B.S. Computer Science, Yale University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Twitch, the dominant live-streaming platform for gaming, from a college friendship, Grew Twitch from zero to 100+ million monthly users under his 12-year tenure as CEO, Led Twitch through Amazon's ~$970 million acquisition in 2014

## Career timeline

- **2005** — Co-founded Kiko (web calendar) with Justin Kan as part of Y Combinator's inaugural S05 batch
- **2006** — Sold Kiko on eBay for ~$250,000 after Google Calendar disrupted the market
- **2007** — Co-founded Justin.tv with Justin Kan, Michael Seibel, and Kyle Vogt
- **2011** — Named CEO of Justin.tv; spun off gaming category as TwitchTV; became part-time YC Partner
- **2014** — Amazon acquires Twitch for ~$970 million; Justin.tv shuts down; Shear continues as Twitch CEO
- **2023** — Resigned as Twitch CEO after 12 years to focus on family and newborn son
- **2023** — Served as interim CEO of OpenAI for 72 hours (Nov 19-21) following Sam Altman's firing
- **2024** — Announced founding of Softmax AI alignment startup, backed by a16z
- **2025** — Formally launched Softmax with co-founders Adam Goldstein and David Bloomin; departed active YC partnership
- **2025** — Angel invested in Lemon Slice multimedia/design software (December 2025)

## Achievements

- Co-founded Twitch, the dominant live-streaming platform for gaming, from a college friendship
- Grew Twitch from zero to 100+ million monthly users under his 12-year tenure as CEO
- Led Twitch through Amazon's ~$970 million acquisition in 2014
- Served as one of Y Combinator's earliest alumni and later as Partner, advising 1,000+ companies
- Named interim CEO of OpenAI during the historic November 2023 board crisis
- Donated $1 million to SF New Deal in March 2020 to support food workers during COVID-19
- Part of Y Combinator's literal first batch (Summer 2005 cohort)
- Founded Softmax with a16z backing to pursue biology-inspired AI alignment research

## Latest updates

- **2025-12** — Made angel investment in Lemon Slice, a multimedia and design software company
- **2025-03** — Formally launched Softmax with 10-person team in San Francisco, backed by a16z, Lionheart Ventures, and Plural
- **2024-12** — Announced Softmax AI alignment startup with a16z backing
- **2023-11** — Served as interim CEO of OpenAI for 72 hours during Sam Altman board crisis
- **2023-03** — Resigned as Twitch CEO after 12 years, citing birth of his son

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmettshear
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/eshear

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/emmett-shear
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-04