Emmett Shear
Emmett Shear | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth year and age Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Internet entrepreneur, investor |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Known for | Co-founder of Justin.tv and Twitch; CEO of Twitch until 2023; interim CEO of OpenAI in 2023; CEO of Softmax |
Emmett Shear (born 1983) is a prominent American Internet entrepreneur and investor. He co-established the live streaming platform Justin.tv and took on the role of CEO at Twitch after it separated from Justin.tv, maintaining this leadership position until March 2023. In 2011, Shear joined venture capital firm Y Combinator as a part-time partner. Additionally, in November 2023, he briefly held the position of interim CEO at OpenAI.
Currently, he serves as the CEO of Softmax, a startup focused on AI alignment.
Early life and education
Raised in Seattle, Washington, Shear attended the Evergreen School for Gifted Children, where he first connected with future co-founder Justin Kan. Their relationship developed through participation in advanced mathematics courses and playing Magic: The Gathering.
He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science at Yale University in 2005, studying alongside Twitch co-founders Justin Kan and Michael Seibel.
Y Combinator
Shear and Justin Kan were members of the inaugural 2005 cohort at Y Combinator. During this period, they created a calendar application named Kiko, which they later sold on eBay for approximately $250,000 after the introduction of Google Calendar.
Justin.tv
In March 2007, Shear teamed up with Kan, Michael Seibel, and Kyle Vogt to launch Justin.tv, featuring a continuous live video feed of Kan’s daily life through a head-mounted camera. The platform quickly attracted media interest and by October 2007 enabled other users to stream their own content. Over the next three years, Justin.tv raised $7.2 million in venture capital funding and reached about 31 million unique monthly visitors. Its gaming-centric offshoot, Twitch, eventually outpaced Justin.tv in popularity, leading to Justin.tv’s shutdown on August 5, 2014.
Twitch
After launching Justin.tv, the site expanded to include categories such as Social, Tech, Sports, Entertainment, News & Events, with Gaming emerging as the fastest-growing segment. In June 2011, the company separated its gaming content into a distinct brand called TwitchTV, named after "twitch gameplay." On August 29, 2011, Shear was appointed CEO of Justin.tv and continued to lead as the business rebranded around Twitch by 2014.
In 2012, Twitch secured $15 million in investment from Bessemer Venture Partners. Amazon acquired Twitch on August 25, 2014, for roughly $970 million. Shear stepped down as CEO in March 2023 and was succeeded by Daniel J. Clancy.
Investor Activities
In June 2011, Shear became a part-time partner at Y Combinator, where he provided guidance to startups across various cohorts.
OpenAI
On November 19, 2023, Shear was appointed interim CEO of OpenAI following the board’s removal of Sam Altman two days earlier. Altman was reinstated as CEO by November 21. Reports suggested that Shear threatened resignation if the board did not present a valid rationale for Altman’s dismissal.
Shear has voiced concerns regarding AI’s potential consequences for humanity, estimating his personal likelihood of an existential AI disaster ("P(Doom)") to range between 5% and 50%.
Softmax
In March 2025, Shear partnered with Adam Goldstein and David Bloomin to establish Softmax, a startup focused on AI alignment.
Philanthropy
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Shear contributed an initial donation of US$1 million through Twitch to support SF New Deal, a charitable organization that procured meals from San Francisco restaurants for distribution to individuals facing hardship. This initiative was created by his Yale peer Leonore Estrada, who owns Three Babes Bakeshop located in the Bayview area.