Not quite jumping for joy
Reaching 100 million users is the kind of milestone that most tech startups would celebrate loudly. However, Kick’s co-founder Bijan Tehrani used it as an opportunity to be honest about how badly things have gone wrong in certain areas and the work being done behind the scenes to make significant improvements.
we aren’t where we need to or should be”
In a public letter to the Kick community, Tehrani said that he is proud of how far the team has come to reach the 100 million milestone. However, he went on to say that “ultimately it’s vanity as we aren’t where we need to or should be.”
Tehrani noted that the company has deliberately kept the beta tag on its logo. He said they rushed to market, meaning it went live with “weak plumbing, purchase tech, and lacked dependable streaming.” The three years since launch have largely been spent addressing these issues.
Refreshing honesty
The admission is notable for an industry where executives usually celebrate growth as a benchmark. Kick launched as a free-speech alternative to Twitch, appealing to frustrated creators, particularly after Twitch’s October 2022 ban on unregulated slot games and other gambling content from sites like Stake and Roobet, which led to an exodus of major creators like xQc and Trainwreckstv.
The company also had significant financial backing, as Tehrani and fellow co-founder Eddie Craven, both of whom also founded Stake, have invested almost $1bn to date in Kick. Tehrani pointed to the mobile app as an ongoing weak point for the company.
He revealed that a full rebuild is underway, and he’s closely overseeing it to ensure the user experience is much better. He also took aim at Twitch’s July 2024 redesign, telling his followers, “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to pull a Twitch here and fully TikTokify.”
Moving away from big money deals
Tehrani also remarked on the way the company structures deals with creators these days. In the beginning, he said that the massive deals with high-profile streamers, such as the two-year deal xQc signed in June 2023 reportedly worth up to $100m, generated a lot of attention and short-term growth, but were financially unsustainable and arguably diluted the platform’s content quality.
The focus has shifted away from these contracts and toward improving the economics of the Kick Partner Program and rewarding creators with genuine communities.
Kick has removed thousands of accounts from its partner program for viewbotting
Tehrani remarked on the abuse of this system. Kick has removed thousands of accounts from its partner program for viewbotting and deleted tens of millions of fake spam accounts.
The next phase is a new recommendation feature that’s currently live for about 10% of users. It is designed to surface authentic streamers based on real engagement, not inflated numbers or staff preferences. Kick is doing so with the aim of becoming the “best long-form streaming platform for authentic engagement and discovery.”
Advertising is also starting to come to the fore, though Tehrani said it won’t be a primary strategy, as the team doesn’t want to compromise the user experience.
