Gawker: valleywag, justin kan

Yale begs student startups to stay — except this guy

Paul Boutin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EDT

The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute is a program whipped up by the school to connect student-founded startups with the local business environment. The program's director hopes YEI "leaves students and potential students with the impression that Yale is an incubator for student-run businesses, just like Stanford or MIT." This is the program's second summer. Last year, four of the six startups in the program left for literally greener pastures. Yale should be careful what it wishes for. At a school known for its tradition of naked parties, shouldn't authorities be glad the program wasn't around to keep the pants-shedding likes of Justin.tv cofounder and Yale alum Justin Kan on campus?

Justin Kan, raw and undressed, in kerfuffle at TechCrunch afterparty

Alaska Miller — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:00:00 EDT

Can't get enough of this weekend's TechCrunch party? Valleywag's camera was on the scene as Justin.tv's Justin Kan shed his shirt and got into a heated altercation with OpenHulu creator and Ustream.tv employee Matt Schlicht over accusations of content poaching.

As a nearby source explains:

Justin got introduced to some guy sitting down and quickly started yelling and waving his arms. Justin accused the guy of stealing his broadcasters, using words like "incessant" and "out of control". Justin then said something about "staying off his fucking site" or that he'll just "break the guy's face", with his fists clenched. The guy just sat there pretty calmly and simply asked Justin for more than 1 example of content poaching. After Justin stumbled to answer the guy continued to say "this is not worth my time." Stumped, Justin kind of gave up, apologized, and walked away embarrassed.

More photos of Kan, Julia Allison, Sarah Lacy, and other afterpartiers:

iJustine to run her own show

Tim Faulkner — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:30:48 EST

As reported a couple of weeks ago, Justine Ezarik, the blonde videoblogger better known as iJustine, has opened her own website, iJustine.tv. Neither of her potential suitors, Justin.tv and Ustream.tv , appear to have won her heart outright. Ezarik's maintaining channels on both lifecasting startups, and also posting videos using Viddler and Revver. The girl knows how to keep her options open. Her latest affair is with ChannelMe.tv, a little-known .tv domain registrar, video-streaming service, and advertising platform. Unsurprisingly, ChannelMe's site now features iJustine.

Ezarik quickly rose to the top of the lifecasting niche, and now she's cashing in. That she's going with an unknown just shows how her own brand has outgrown all the services she uses. But will her old flames stay infatuated while she pumps up the competition? And is iJustine a strong enough commodity on her own to support a dedicated site? As her male counterpart Justin Kan can attest, achieving fame is no small task, but staying on top is a whole lot harder.

iJustine dumping Justin.tv for single life?

Tim Faulkner — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:52:02 EST

Rumor is spreading that Justine Ezarik, the blonde videoblogger better known as iJustine, is leaving Justin.tv. Ezarik, who holds the dubious distinction of being the most popular lifecaster of the moment, is currently denying that she's leaving the self-broadcasting service where she made her name. Ustream.tv, where Justine first started videoblogging before she made it big on Justin.tv, has regained the affections of the vlog hottie, or so the story goes. As is often the case when two are competing for the attention of one woman, neither suitor ever really wins.

Justine claims:

I never said I was leaving jtv.. so I'm not really sure where they got that info!

Whether or not she does leave Justin.tv for Ustream, Justine's own brand has outgrown both startups, and she knows it. Justine is launching her own self-branded site, iJustine.tv. Like any desirable young woman, Ezarik has been keeping her options open — her original Ustream page has remained active during her brief dalliance with Justin.tv, and she frequently uses Viddler to post videos to her blog. Even if iJustine returns to Ustream, she's savvy enough to know she doesn't need anyone's help. iJustine — the woman, the brand, the videoblog — is now free to flirt with whomever she wants.