Kiko

Kiko is the browser calendar startup that Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, and a Yale classmate brought into Y Combinator’s first batch in Emmett Shear on YC, Kiko, Justin.tv, Twitch, and Founder Resilience. The product had a working drag-and-drop web calendar demo, which helped the team get accepted even though YC warned that the idea itself might not be strong.

The company matters to the wiki as a failed-startup learning case. Emmett says Google Calendar removed much of Kiko’s reason to exist, and the founders did not have a deep calendar need themselves. The eBay sale to Tucows for $258,000 turned the failure into liquidity, press attention, and a cash cushion that later helped [[JustinTV|Justin.tv]] survive.

Connections

• Emmett Shear, Justin Kan, Y Combinator, and Paul Graham - founder and accelerator context.
• Tucows - buyer in the source.
• Startup Accelerator Batch Selection, Founder Product Fit, and Founder Cash Flow Constraint - concepts connected to Kiko’s acceptance, failure, and sale proceeds.