Iterate and Experiment
Startups are known for their iterative approach. They test hypotheses, gather feedback, and continuously improve or adjust their products or services based on customer insights.
Startup story: Originally known as Justin.tv, Twich began as a general live-streaming service in 2007. The founders, Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, encountered numerous challenges before identifying their sweet spot in the gaming and esports market. Here’s how Twitch iterated to find its product-market fit:
- Diverse Streaming Platform: Justin.tv allowed users to broadcast a wide range of content, from personal vlogs to general interest live streams. However, it struggled to attract a substantial audience or generate a clear revenue stream.
- Discovery through User Behavior: The breakthrough for Twitch came when the team observed a pattern: a significant portion of the platform’s content was gaming-related. They noticed a small but dedicated gaming community that was gaining traction on the site.
- Pivoting to Gaming: Fueled by this insight, the team rebranded the gaming section as “TwitchTV,” focusing exclusively on gaming content. This pivot to gaming live streams quickly gained traction and engagement.
- Iterative Features: Twitch continuously improved its platform, adding features such as live chat, user monetization tools like subscriptions and donations, and built-in support for game streaming.
- Community-Centric Approach: Twitch embraced the gaming community and actively involved gamers in shaping the platform. They hosted events, competitions, and engaged directly with streamers to build a loyal user base.
- Monetization for Creators: Providing opportunities for streamers to earn revenue through various means, such as subscriptions, ads, and later, affiliate programs, played a crucial role in attracting and retaining content creators.
The iterative process of identifying the specific niche—gaming and esports—within the broader live-streaming market was pivotal for Twitch. By recognizing user behavior, pivoting, and focusing on a particular segment, Twitch found its product-market fit. Today, Twitch is a dominant force in the gaming industry, serving as a global platform for gamers, streamers, and esports enthusiasts, illustrating the power of understanding and catering to a specific niche within a broader market.
Personal story: Building on my goal of strength training from last year, I wanted to optimize my diet to improve overall health. Depending on where I was in my fitness journey, I tried out different approaches:
- V1 – Metabolic Health: Since I was at Signos when I began my journey, this was a convenient starting point. I already had some of the most stable glucose readings of our team and it was fun experimenting with dietary aspects like:
– Individual Foods: I found healthy foods like red lentils broke my glucose (gave me the highest spike of any consumed item at ~230 mg/dl for 3-4 hours though my glucose after a meal is typically around 100-120 mg/dl) or junk foods like fries that had basically no effect on my glucose (+5-10 mg/dl).
– Balanced Meals: What I considered a treat, like a banana-date smoothie packed with almond milk and pistachios, had little impact on my glucose (+5-15 mg/dl) and was in fact metabolically healthier than consuming the same quantity of bananas or dates (+100 mg/dl).
– Meal Ordering: Simply re-ordering the way in which I consumed my meals – starting with greens or proteins – blunted my glucose spike considerably by 30-40 mg/dl. - V2 – Macros: Caloric restriction works like a charm for me so it’s my go to tool whenever I need to shed any holiday or travel weight. It doesn’t work for everyone though, especially those who struggle to keep the weight off. But when I was looking to tone up, caloric restriction itself didn’t suffice. I needed to start paying closer attention to my macros for the first time. With strength training came a greater emphasis on increasing protein intake as a % of total calories consumed. And with gradually decreasing fat intake came the eagerly-awaited changes in tone.
- V3 – Micros: Once I got comfortable with tracking macros, I started looking into my micros. The work I put in to track micros was exactly the same, I just found an app that tracked both macros and micros together. Based on insights from the app, I incorporated more leafy greens in my diet for iron using metabolic insights I’d gathered previously, and researched dairy-free, high-calcium foods that coincidentally were also a good source of protein (tofu and chia seeds), thus satisfying my macros as well.
- V4 – Continuous Improvement: When I became accustomed to redesigning my diet, I started incorporating nuggets of dietary wisdom from books like “How Not to Die”, which would have fallen through the cracks if paying attention to even the micros. For instance, consuming turmeric, flax seeds, and mushrooms daily, and a serving of legumes with each meal have demonstrated benefits in clinical studies. I even learned that I’d been eating broccoli wrong all these years! Boiling broccoli prevents the formation of any significant levels of the cancer-killing sulforaphane – one of the more active components in cruciferous vegetables – due to inactivation of the precursor enzyme. However, adding powdered mustard seeds to cooked broccoli for just a few minutes significantly increases sulforaphane formation and eating cooked broccoli prepared in this way is almost as nutritious as eating raw broccoli.
There is such a thing as over-optimizing though and a lot of health and wellness startups rely on optimizers aka biohackers aka early adopters as their initial customers. The secret here is knowing when to keep going and where to draw the line. For each version of iteration there is a period of learning when I develop habits and a period of unlearning which naturally occurs while traveling, when I’m forced to be more intuitive and practice mindful eating. And with each version there are varying levels of discipline or flexibility. I’ve found sticking to macros daily or weekly matters more than for micros, where periodic bloodwork is useful in indicating if you’re deficient.
In the startup realm, the Twitch success story exemplifies the potency of iteration and experimentation. Twitch’s evolution—from a diverse streaming platform to a gaming-centric powerhouse—highlights the strategic importance of recognizing user behavior and refining features. This approach, synonymous with personal growth, mirrors my journey in health optimization, involving metabolic experiments, macro tracking, and a focus on micros. The crux lies in finding a balance between optimization and practicality, a lesson applicable to both startups and personal endeavors. Just as startups refine their product-market fit, individuals can discover their optimal paths through continuous learning, experimentation, and mindful iteration.
Originally published on “Data Driven Investor.” Primary author of this article is Sonal Panda, co-written with ChatGPT. These are purposely short articles focused on practical insights (we call it gl;dr — good length; did read). See here for other such articles. If this article had useful insights for you, comment away and/or give a like on the article and on the Tau Ventures’ LinkedIn page, with due thanks for supporting our work. All opinions expressed here are from the author(s).
