Is there a way to tell a Steam shortcut to open in big picture mode?
Solution 1:
Yes there's a way, according to this reddit thread and this steam forum discussion, there's a option to add to your shortcut.
Create a shortcut to steam then in the properties edit the the target location and add -bigpicture at the end so it should be something like; "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -bigpicture
Steam forum (changed < > to " " since it wouldn't render correctly here) :
"your steam location"/steam.exe -bigpicture