Debuff is a software application that helps esports players track stats and matches on Electronic Arts’ Apex Legends. Co-founder and CEO John Kahn (BA’19) sat down with us to discuss his latest venture.
Tell us about your new startup, Debuff
The app is just a small piece of what we do. Our company’s aim is to create an ecosystem for the esports industry. We want to solve the disconnected and overloaded information in Esports across communities. Nothing really works “together” in esports. People easily feel lost and overwhelmed when they have to visit varying websites for information and data. The app is the first step to that. It acts as the portal to interact in esports. We analyze and collect the best information to keep viewers and gamers involved and informed of the performances of players in tournaments.
How has the transition been from your corporate job at American Airlines to the startup world?
We started Debuff while I was still working full-time at American Airlines. I was making good money with good benefits but it was beginning to become challenging to manage both. I started to realize that I could no longer try to keep building my startup on the side. After leaving, I worked for about eight months full-time on a drone startup. Getting back into startups lit the spark in me again because I really gravitate to that. My team and I decided to really get Debuff up and running this past August.
You’ve probably been working on this venture for some time, how did you begin building Debuff?
We’ve had this idea since 2019. When we started working on the app we began to realize we couldn’t do it as a side project. It’s really a full-time job to build something this big. Actually, there was a period of time when we didn’t add any new features to the app because we simply weren’t available to put 100% in due to our other work responsibilities. Now, that I am full-time we are making tremendous progress.
You’re live on the app store. Now what?
We would like to scale up Debuff to be like the Olympics of esports. Except for tracking the performance of the tournaments, we would love to start linking data across games. It provides the viewers and gamers with more thorough analysis but also opens communication across esports communities.
What advice do you have for students who are interested in starting their own business?
First, find the smallest piece you can put out that gives value to get started. Don’t worry too much about the 5-year plan for now. Focusing on the smallest piece of your business is the first step in building a business. Second, if there is something that you know you can’t do or that you don’t know how to do, you have to believe that you can find the right person to do it. At the end of the day, it’s about having the belief in yourself that you can work it out.
