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What Was Ryan Hickman's Live-streaming Startup MeVee?

Ryan Hickman describes MeVee as live video in the vein of Periscope and Instagram Live, built so creators could earn the way they do on YouTube from the first day. Periscope and Meerkat, he says, chased venture-backed growth and never built creator relationships. Co-founder Tomer Dicturel knew sports. A close friend, Billy Hunter, had run the NBA Players Association, and agents wanted players who were not LeBron James to prove influence and get paid before an injury ended the contract. Players with 100,000 to a few million followers still could not land brand deals that demanded 50 million or 100 million. Ty Lawson and Trey Burke were among the players who joined.

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From 50k Users in 6 Weeks to Shutting Down, with Ryan Hickman ·

The Failory Podcast

More from this episode

  1. Who's Ryan HickmanRyan Hickman introduces himself. He's the founder of Epic AI, a studio developing products that help startups succeed.
  2. What Pulled Ryan Hickman Out of Banking and Into Startups?Ryan Hickman was at a bank, watching it flail at fragmented digital media and spend more time preparing campaigns than measuring them.
  3. What's Your Failed Startup StoryRyan co-founded MeVee, a video streaming application for influencers and well-known people. They launched in 7 days and grew to 50k users in just a few weeks.
  4. How Did a VH1 Watch Party Blow Up Ryan Hickman's MeVee?After a Ty Lawson stream spread further than Ryan Hickman expected, MeVee took a new name, replacing a tongue-twisting brand, and added a peace-sign logo.
  5. What Does Ryan Hickman Think the Live-streaming Race Gets Wrong?After shutting down MeVee, Ryan Hickman says cable taught audiences to prefer on demand.
  6. How Did Ryan Hickman Turn the End of MeVee Into Epic AI's Crane?Winding down MeVee, Ryan Hickman felt he owed angel investors who were not venture funds trained to lose money.
  7. How Does Ryan Hickman Find Customers for Epic AI?Ryan Hickman says Epic AI's strongest source of customers is account-based marketing, not a pile of inbound email.
  8. How Does Ryan Hickman Decide What Epic AI Should Build Next?Ryan Hickman would rather put 100 people on a phone call than into self-serve software nobody has used.
  9. What MeVee Habit Did Ryan Hickman Refuse to Repeat at Epic AI?Ryan Hickman says the MeVee lesson he uses at Epic AI is lean startup taken literally.

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