Twitch Culture Clash
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Shaan tells a story about asking a provocative question during his Twitch acquisition interviews.
"When we were getting acquired by Twitch, our whole team had to come in for interviews. During my interviews, I asked everyone, including the CEO, the same question. I would ask 'How many people work at Twitch?' They'd say around 1,800 or 2,000 people. Then I'd ask 'How many people do you think should work here?'
Most people were taken aback. Some thought I was a jerk, while others found it refreshing. Nine out of ten CEOs would get offended because it implies they've mismanaged the company through bloat. But the CEO wasn't offended. He said 'That's a good question' and answered that they needed about 22,100 people to hit their goals.
Later at Twitch, I found my startup mentality clashed with corporate culture. For example, I once talked to a competitor's founder to get their numbers by pretending to be interested in their business. When I proudly shared this at Twitch, they were concerned, saying 'We don't do that here - we have legal and corp dev people for those conversations.' What was celebrated as scrappy startup behavior was frowned upon in the corporate world."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.