
Justin Kan: I'm starting a new startup incubator, Zero-F - tilt
https://twitter.com/justinkan/status/838857587948834816
======
CosmicShadow
I'm interested in this guy's stuff, he's got an AMA for this, but everything
he posts is through his Whale app which is Apple only and it's been like that
for awhile, so is everyone on Android just fucked? Not even web versions
available? Frustrating :/

~~~
civilian
I think you can log into the website with twitter and then go here:
[https://askwhale.com/add/justinkan](https://askwhale.com/add/justinkan) The
link in the twitter post didn't work for me.

//edit: but that link might just be a "Greatest hits" thing or something? Idk.
I might go steal an iOS test device from one of my coworkers.

~~~
sytse
I wrote up most of the video's in
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13807203](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13807203)
so anyone can ready them.

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jhartmann
Justin, I love the concept of Whale, but many of us don't have iOs phones.
Could you run a more traditional AMA at some point?When will there be a web
player or an Android app for Whale? I feel that many people in the early user
base for Whale are being alienated here.

~~~
justin
Sorry - this is really annoying I know. You can watch the videos on the web
here [https://askwhale.com/p/5efd87/ama-justin-
kan](https://askwhale.com/p/5efd87/ama-justin-kan)

I wish I had a better answer than "we're still figuring things out and I don't
want to duplicate work yet", but that's where I'm at. We are a really small
team (1 designer, 3 engineers, 1 community manager, 1 ceo, 1 professional
snapchatter (me)) so right now we are conserving our meager engineering
resources until we really believe that it is worth replicating on Android. But
we will eventually.

~~~
jhartmann
Last time I looked there wasn't a way to view on the web, that at least works
for me. Appreciate the reply, good luck on Whale and Zero-F

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josh_carterPDX
Trying to understand the mission behind this program. The site has no
information. With YC, 500, and Techstars it's pretty clear they are very
team/founder focused. It would be nice to understand why founders should look
at Zero-F and how they can benefit from going through this program.

~~~
justin
This isn't a YC competitor. YC is the best accelerator out there and there
isn't need for another in my opinion.

A year ago I looked at my life and realized I really enjoy and get fulfillment
out of three things:

1) learning about new industries and thinking about how technology can improve
them

2) developing products and consequently seeing numbers go up (users, revenue,
anything really)

3) mentoring people I really enjoy the company of over extended periods of
time (years)

Zero-F is my attempt to build a thing where I maximize my ability to do those
things. It isn't a program or application based. It's me opportunistically
building 1 to 2 startups a year with friends or people in my extended network
or even new people. I provide business building insight, product knowledge,
capital, recruit talent, and they bring grit.

~~~
josh_carterPDX
Thanks for the explanation Justin. We met years ago when you just started
doing Justin.tv. Excited to see where your next adventure takes you. If I can
be of any help please let me know. Happy to provide my unique perspective. :)

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minimaxir
See also: Justin Kan's attempt at launching a startup competition on Snapchat:
[https://justinkan.com/snapchat-pitch-
competition-359bf25a44a...](https://justinkan.com/snapchat-pitch-
competition-359bf25a44a5) (HN discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11678286](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11678286))

And the aftermath by the winner of the competion: [https://hackernoon.com/how-
to-make-20-000-on-snapchat-and-ge...](https://hackernoon.com/how-to-
make-20-000-on-snapchat-and-get-into-y-combinator-2513a7ee371d)

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cperciva
I feel like I'm missing some back story here. Why is he leaving YC?

~~~
logicallee
And what does F stand for in Zero-F?

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itsyogesh
[1] Zero to Funded. He mentioned it in the AMA.

[1] [https://askwhale.com/q/a9dc38](https://askwhale.com/q/a9dc38)

~~~
logicallee
Thank you!

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ConnorLeet
Zero-F's emblem is a fox, Zero-Fox given!

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mankash666
Link to zero-f, if it exists would help.

~~~
matt101589
[https://zero-f.co/](https://zero-f.co/)

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brilliantcode
Looks pretty cool. I really dug JK's writing when he sold Twitch. The whole,
_fuck-what-everyone-says-build-yo-shit-they-will-come_ really resonated with
me.

I wonder if he's leaving YC because he didn't find what he wanted or maybe
something changed that inspired him to go out on his own.

Inspiring to see a fellow Asian American make it.

~~~
smalter
pretty sure justin is chinese-american!

~~~
komali2
I'm _pretty_ sure you're clarifying, not challenging the OP by somehow
suggesting Chinese-American isn't Asian-American... right?

~~~
brilliantcode
I thought Justin Kan was Korean but he corrected me saying he was Chinese
American and I had to use the AA blanket card to justify feeling proud for an
entrepreneur from a different ethnicity because as Korean we are only allowed
to feel proud of other Koreans.

~~~
justin
I married a Korean American and love Korea so there's that if it helps!

~~~
brilliantcode
Big up Justin!

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rgovind
W.r.t askwhale.com, seems like it is a mashup of Quora/Reddit and video based
Q&A. Given that there is greater friction in video compared to text based Q&A
sites, who would be interested in contributing this?

~~~
jethro_tell
Apparently people with iPhones. This feels like forcing an album release on
tidal. I get it, you're promoting your product, at the expense of your other
product.

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fudged71
Zero Fucks?

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sytse
Justin has been amazing for YC and has done a great job promoting
entrepreneurship on social media. I wish him all the best. To help everyone
better understand this move I transcribed the answers given by Justin in
[https://askwhale.com/q/23caaa](https://askwhale.com/q/23caaa)

Q: What's the mission behind Zero-F?

A: Empower entrepreneurs to start amazing startups and get back into building
companies more hands-on which I haven't been able to do as much as I'd like to
in the past couple of years. I am particularly interested in startups in
industries where technology hasn't been applied yet. I think a lot of easy
wins have already been taken and my goal is really to focus on industries
where you can use tech to innovate their processes and improve efficiency.
That's what gets me up every morning and that's what I'm excited about.

Q: Did you raise money for Zero-F?

A: Didn't raise money for it, it's fully self funded right now. So we'll see,
maybe one day I'll run out of money and I'll have to beg Nick for an
investment. (Asks Nick) What do you think Nick, want to be my first LP? Nick:
I think we're in trouble if I'm your first LP.

Q: Can you share with us if you will be the sole investor for all ideas in 0-F
or there are others too? Only consumer software or enterprise too?

A: So for new companies that we start through Zero-F, we generally raise money
from other funds of mine, other investors that I have a connection with, when
it's the right time. That's definitely something we do. It's a mix of
startups, not just enterprise or software startups. I have an idea for an
enterprise startup right now in the legal space that I'm currently thinking
about. So we're always looking for new investors to partner with.

Q: What will you do differently at Zero-F that you couldn't do at YC? I.e. Why
leave YC to do this? And why would they invest if you are competing with them?

A: Zero-F is not in competition with yC, we're not opening up applications for
start ups. Zero-F is more about a vehicle for me and Nick to co-found start
ups with some of my friends, people in my extended networks, people who have
worked for me or my friends before, and basically start one or 2 startup
opportunistically a year. So there's no program, there's no $150,000, there's
no demo day. It's really just about starting startups that I'm interested in
industries that I think are interesting where there's innovation to be had by
applying technology and so it's very different from YC or 500 Startups or
anything like that. I love YC, I think I could work there forever, it was
basically like being an university professor and I think it was a really
exciting challenge for me but what I really really wanted to do is go back to
starting companies myself and so that's why I left.

Q: What are you hoping to enjoy most in this next stage of your journey? Any
particular focus on the startups?

A: I think there are 3 things I know I really like in startups and I'm hoping
that in this next stage I will get to focus on those 3 things particularly.
Number 1: I love learning about new industries and thinking about how
technology can be applied to improve them. Number 2: I really like seeing
numbers go up, it doesn't matter what but I like iterating on a product or
company and seeing something improve wether it's revenue or users. And number
3: I like working closely with a small set of founders to build a business and
then mentor them on growing a company over a long period of time. And so I'm
hoping with Zero-F, my new vehicle for creating startups I'll be able to focus
on those 3 things, and only those 3 things and that's what I'm really excited
about.

Q: Why start another incubator? The market seems pretty saturated and YC
dominates the market. How will Zero-F differentiate? Also, explain the name!

A: So YC is not an incubator, in fact, PG always hated that whenever anyone
would call it an incubator. YC is a seed fund that invests in early stage
startups and it takes applications and gets founders from all over the world.
What I'm imagining for Zero-F is a really company that help start companies
with friends of mine, people in my extended network for ideas that are mine or
theirs. It's not a public facing incubator like YC or 500Startups or
Techstars, really it's just a vehicle start a few startups opportunistically,
probably just one or two a year and mostly things that I'm interested in and
interested working on. So I think it quite different from what else is out
there, it's more like a startup lab, something like Expa or Betaworks, but
even smaller scale, it's just me and Nick over here.

~~~
justin
Thank you Sytse!

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Hambonetasty
I'm really hoping you meant F-Zero. If so, sign me up.

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padobson
Fal-Kan punch!

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better_ra
I don't get why you're being downvoted. Great pun. Can't have Zero-F without
Captain Falcon.

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padobson
It's a bit esoteric and perhaps adds unwanted levity to the proceedings, so I
get it.

Worth the downvotes? Absolutely.

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upen
Good luck in your new venture

