WEBVTT - Founders Mash Up: featuring Jack Conte, Reed Duchscher, and Ian Hecox 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.680 Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:08.840 Radio and t DC Media. Read Duke Shure and I 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:12.480 did not correct your last name. A lot of a 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:14.480 lot of people struggle with that outside in North Dakota. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.360 But that was good. You were on point, very good. Okay, right, 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:26.240 well what it's kind of out of ten already, Ian 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:28.800 he talks, is in the house. Guys, Hello, you don't 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.040 know who Ian is? What do you know? I know 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:32.840 that was aggressive, but if you don't know that name, 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:35.519 we got to reevaluate life. I mean, the Internet is 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:37.680 a big place. I never assume anybody. You're pretty good 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:47.120 Internet a video of mine. So, Jacob Kanje has started 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.879 a small platform called Patreon. We all know it, we 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:52.919 all want to be on it. It's the reason so 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.240 many creators are able to create. And you are such 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.760 an inspiration because I was telling Jack this before the interview. 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:02.280 As you guys know, Behind the Influence is all about 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.880 people who are literally behind the influence, the people who 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.160 create the platforms that allow social media influencers to be 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.760 social media influencers or creators. And Jack also happens to 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.440 be very musically talented and has a creator passed and 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:21.800 present so you fall on two sides of the coin. 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.119 How does that like, how do you even balance the two? 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.080 It's really hard. The first five years of the company, 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.120 I didn't nail it. So actually that was a real 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:31.479 struggle for me. And actually it was probably a little 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.399 bit of there was some darkness there for me trying 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:35.880 to figure out how to balance it because I felt like, 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:37.800 oh god, I'm giving up my creative career and I 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.160 love being a creator, and so it was really hard 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:42.120 because you know, I was becoming like a you know, 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.640 an operator and building a company and I actually kind 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.920 of had to stop creating for a couple of years. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.200 So that was that was pretty rough. But then in 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.640 the last three years, I've really found a way to 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.200 to still be prolific and make things. I fly down 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.200 to l a once a month now and I do 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:58.720 four music videos with one band for with another band, 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:00.760 and then we you know this point, now I'm releasing 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.000 eight music videos a month. So that's a lot. How 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.240 do you find the time and you're the founder of 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.840 a massive, massive platform that you're very much involved and 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.760 it's not like you've just stepped aside. Now that's super successful. Yeah, 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.000 I mean I'm I'm there, you know, of course every 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.680 single day, and I'm working more than every day, you know, 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:23.320 on on the making Patreon a thing. Yes, starting a 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.400 company is a is a triple time job. It's not 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.760 the kind of thing you can just kind of not 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:31.519 to because you can't have asked these things. No, it's 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.360 you can't. And yeah, it's been you know, I've I've 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.720 worked more in my life, you know, on Patreon that 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.280 I've worked ever on it. I mean it's been so intense, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:45.000 so so yeah, that has been you know, rewarding hard. 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:47.560 Recently being able to in the last three years, being 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:50.400 able to combine it with being a creator again has 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:52.600 made me feel like so I feel like I got 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:54.720 my pilot light, you know, turned back on. You know, 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.560 it feels nice. We're really excited to have you here. Obviously, 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.160 you represent the to me of what we cover on 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.440 this show, people of influence, and you are a person 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.200 of influence because you are behind these people and helping 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.079 them groom into these mega stars overnight. And literally we're 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.400 going to talk about the numbers of all the people 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:19.400 that you have brought forth to us. Yeah, lots of growth, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.880 and I think I think it's because of you. I 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:23.800 don't know if it's all like. We have an amazing team. 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.000 I got into this industry four and a half five 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.720 years ago by myself out of my bedroom, and to 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.720 see what night Media has blossomed into today's have been incredible. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:33.919 I think we're just to throw out some numbers. Were 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.240 over a billion views a month through ten clients, across 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.920 ten clients, and I believe we're at about that eighty 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.600 eight million subscriber range. And that's pretty impressive when you 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.560 consider it's only ten individuals. You represent more than ten people, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.600 that's just your top ten. We actually just have ten. 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.840 So we keep it so Night Media's philosophy just to 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:52.760 get into this a little bit, so we usually only 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:54.840 work with family friendly creators, so we don't work with 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:56.640 a ton of people that actually we don't have any 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.280 creators that really swear on their channels. It's something that 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.040 we're we're not necessarily against. We just don't like to 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:03.960 promote it to children. And the second ones, we only 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.000 work with with creators that want to be entrepreneurs and 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:09.000 business people. And you know, we found ten that you know, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.000 want to dig into this industry and want to keep 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.960 YouTube at its core and want to do so much more, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.240 and that's why we stayed small. The reason you're here 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.920 is because of that. You were one of the pioneers 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.400 in the YouTube space. And not only did you pioneer 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:24.440 in a world that a lot of people didn't understand 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.039 back in two thousand five, by the way, when people 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:29.880 weren't really doing the YouTube thing. Yeah, I mean YouTube 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:33.839 wasn't really a thing. It wasn't a thing. It just recently, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:35.880 I think, in the last decade, has become a thing. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.400 In two thousand five, starts with a little, a silly video, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.280 just you and your friend. And did you ever know 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.799 that it would turn into this empire that has employed 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.520 so many people and made so many people so much money. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.479 And yeah, we had no no idea whatsoever. It was 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.279 just us, you know, messing around with a webcam. We 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.840 started with lip syncs. We did the Power Rangers theme song. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:04:59.839 That was our first slip sync, and then we did 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.400 Mortal Kombat and then Pokemon and then the Pokemon theme 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.120 song music video was the video that like really really 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.840 blew up and for I think a year and a 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.040 half it was the most viewed video on YouTube. And 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:16.080 back in the day, there was no discover ability on YouTube. 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.919 So the only way that you could find quote unquote 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.719 quality content, which that video looking back is not the 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:24.520 only way you can find quality content is if you 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:27.320 went to the most viewed page like most people of 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.400 all time. Okay, so all those videos that had the 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.159 most views must be the best videos on YouTube. That 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.440 would be the theory. But you know, our videos up 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:37.520 at the top, and it was think, why do you 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:42.400 think about so many views? Because nothing else like that 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:44.760 was on YouTube, and you guys were just kind of 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:48.000 creating your own lane. And people were curious because that's 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.400 what I would think. Yeah, I mean I think music 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.400 is universal. I mean that's why all the top view 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.599 videos are are music videos. So I think that's one 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:00.600 thing Pokemon is, you know, the sort of global unifier 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.159 who doesn't like Pokemon. At that time, a lot of 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:04.720 people were doing lip syncs, but a lot of people 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.159 were just kind of standing there and just lip sinking. 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.840 But we were also throwing in jokes into it, so 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.440 like kind of like criticizing the Pokemon while we were 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.720 singing the song. Just the fact that they like Pokemon 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.839 in a strange way is like animal abuse. So we 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.800 had some like jokes I never thought of it. I 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.000 don't need to laugh, but I never thought about it. Yeah, 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.640 I mean, you're you're forcing it's it's it's no different 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:32.159 than a than a dog fight, and we don't allow that. 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.840 So we, uh, we kind of made some some jokes 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:39.599 in the video. I think that's what kind of made 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.440 it stand out from the other sort of lip syncs 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.880 is we actually had a take on it. I'm not 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:48.159 saying like it's supreme art. But also, back in the 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.280 days of YouTube, you're not really competing with that much 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.760 quality content. Anything that's like sort of above like the 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:59.240 worst quality ever would automatically rise above everything else. So 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.880 you have of ten of the most subscribed to followed 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:08.839 YouTube personalities in a time where YouTube is it's hard 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.040 to navigate right. People die on YouTube, but I don't 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.000 mean actually die, but their content dies on YouTube because 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.640 they're not switching it up enough or whatever. The reason is. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.560 Is it that you've found people who have staying power, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.520 or is it that you have come up with a 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.200 strategy for that staying power? Man, I don't know how 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.320 much I want to say here. I think most of 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.680 it is just lack of understanding of how YouTube actually works. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.840 Most of our guys focus on a few things, and 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.600 yes they switched their content up. Yes they don't do 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:38.680 the same video ten times in a row like some 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.480 creators make that mistake. But you know, we really understand 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:44.040 that a good video starts with a good title and thumbnail, 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.160 and then once you get people to click on that video, 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.720 it's all about getting them to stay and watch that video. 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.200 So it's really just a combination of high click through 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.720 rate which is CTR and high average uderation. So that's 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.560 the two things that we really focus on. And as 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.400 a creator, when those two dip, that's when it time 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.640 to either switch it up or say, Okay, my fans 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.000 aren't clicking on this video. Why are they not clicking 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:07.720 on this video? Or why are they not staying and 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:09.840 watching this video? For the duration we're going to get 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:11.640 into a little bit of your back story before we 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:14.160 give away all the secrets. But there was a time 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.920 when all of this clicked for you, and there had 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.080 to have been moments in the journey where you figured 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:23.080 out the secret sauce and and to even figure out 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.120 to work with influencers. Would you remember a time in 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.840 your career that this all kind of came to fruition 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:31.520 for you. There there's a few. I honestly don't even 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:33.080 think we're a first space yet, Like, we have so 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.360 much more to accomplish as a company. And yes we 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.600 work with some of the most influential people on the Internet, 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.079 but there's a lot that we have to accomplish with 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.600 those individuals, and we really dig into their businesses. But 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.080 when I was I was an NFL sports agent before 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.240 I got into this industry, and I met Dude Perfect. 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.360 So this was two thousand and fifteen. Dude Perfect was 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.480 still small, not the Dude Perfect we know today. They're 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.480 like two million subscribers. And I met them, and at 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.800 the time, we were working with large NFL clients. We 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.200 had Odell Beckham jew a year and Richard Sherman and 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.440 Marcus Allen and Barry Sanders and so like, we were 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:05.880 at the top of this NFL chain and it was 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.400 a lot of fun. But when I met Dude Perfect, 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:12.000 advertising agencies and brands were asking me questions that they 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.040 weren't necessarily interested about Odell and Richard. They were going, 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:17.960 tell us more about Dude Perfect, or those trick shot 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.040 guys are really interesting. Why don't you come to the 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.080 office and tell us more and that was kind of 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:25.080 like my first AHA moment was Okay, people are actually 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.760 looking at this to be a viable marketing you know medium. 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.880 I left three months later. People still thought I was 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:35.160 crazy at that time, like nobody's gonna buy a Dude 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.360 Perfect video, Like people aren't gonna spend money on YouTube. 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.800 But eventually, after pitching it for six to eight months, 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.120 people started to spend money. And that first one was 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.720 Callaway Golf. Callowe Golf came in in a very conservative 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.720 golf industry that's predominantly marketed towards older individuals, came in 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.120 and bought a Dude Perfect video and this was the 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:54.960 first thing I had done with Dude Perfect. And then 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.480 they came back for a second video, and that's when 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.400 I knew, Okay, this is something that's going to be 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.240 massive for people who don't know who did you do 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.320 the video with? Yes, So I did the video with 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.680 my childhood friend Anthony. We met in like the sixth 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.920 grade and we did a share boredom. We just graduated 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.160 high school. I was seventeen. He might have been seventeen 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.720 as well. Yeah, at the time he was also seventeen. 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.440 You guys, go to the same high school. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:22.480 So we went to the same elementary school and middle school, 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.599 high school, best friends, and we're both bored. All of 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:27.960 our friends were going off to real colleges. We were 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:30.280 staying in Sacramento and we're going to go to a 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.040 community college. So we were pretty bored. Over the summer. 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:37.360 We had actually started making videos and posting them on 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.240 my Space before we even knew what YouTube was. And 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:42.280 the only reason we found out about YouTube so early 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:48.040 was because somebody had stolen our video and uploaded on YouTube. Yeah, 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.280 so that's how we actually found out about YouTube, was 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.559 because somebody had ripped our content. So we started upload 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.440 kind of a compliment, Yeah right, yeah, so we started 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:02.200 uploading on there. It started the views, and to us, 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.400 over a hundred views was insane. And at that time, 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.240 you could just refresh YouTube and see the counter go up, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.840 so we would just like refresh and see like, oh 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:12.559 my god, there's five more views. Oh my god, there's 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:14.480 ten more views. So that was that was a weird 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.400 experience for us. You know how some artists become managers 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.920 of other artists and they're like, now, where's where's my moment? 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.959 Where's my stage? You know, like I would imagine that 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.959 it could be hard to see other people creating when 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.600 you really want to create, but you're also creating something 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.520 but on a different level. Absolutely. Yeah, before I figured 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.200 out a way to kind of be a creator and 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:41.359 do the business, well, let's see, the secret was amazing 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:45.200 working with amazing people and letting go a little bit 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.839 of all the details. It was really hard because as 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:51.199 a creator, as an artist like I, you know, when 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.280 we when Pablo originally was making music, I was, you know, 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.360 doing all the instrumentation, all the mixing, all the mastering. 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.480 You know, Um, it was of a partnership with Natalie, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.480 but but I had full I had my hands. I 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.080 was sculpting the whole thing, from the video to the 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.160 editing to everything. And um, now Papa Mouse is like 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.920 fifteen contractors right and like and we've slowly let go 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:16.920 of like Okay, we're letting go to the video editing, Okay, 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:18.840 we're letting go to the audio mixing. Okay, we're letting 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:20.679 go to the mastering. Okay, now we're gonna let go 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.480 some of the production. And like one step at a time, 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:25.680 you kind of take a step back, but you still 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:27.480 get to do the things that are exciting to you 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.560 as an artist and that give you a voice as 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:31.600 an artist. So I still feel like, you know, before 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.280 we were able to do that, I kind of felt 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.480 like I didn't have vocal chords anymore. I was like, oh, ship, 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.160 like somebody took my vocal car I can't speak anymore. 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:40.680 And now I feel like I got my vocal chords back. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.360 And even though my voice is a little different than 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.120 it used to be in some ways, it's like even 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.480 more exciting and more beautiful and more fun because it 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.320 combines the creativity of other people too. It's not just 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.200 my soul vision. It's like the vision of this wonderful 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.400 group of fifteen people, and they get to be creative 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.240 and do their thing. So it's been really wonderful. And 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.160 so you leave the sports world behind, Yeah, I did. 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:03.240 I packed up my car. I worked so hard to 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:06.720 get into the sports industry to everyone's hard. That's a 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.760 hard career to kind of break into. It's almost impossible 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.600 to break into because there's not that many sports agents. 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.800 It's very difficult. It's easy to get a certificate to 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.200 be a sports agent. It's very difficult to represent a 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.560 guy that actually makes an NFL roster. And so I 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.920 saw the movie Jerry McGuire, just like everyone else did 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:25.280 when they were younger, and I thought it was a 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.120 sexy industry. I lived in Las Vegas, and I used 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:29.880 to travel back and forth in Las Vegas to l 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.360 A and literally just sit in lobbies like c A 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.800 and athletes first, and like all these different lobbies. I 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:38.559 would just sitting wait for agents to come out, and 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:40.680 then I would hand them my resume and I'd be like, 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:43.640 just give me an opportunity, like I promised, like it's 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.760 going to be worth it. What was monetization like back that? 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.120 Did you guys even think that this was something you 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:51.640 can make money from that early on? There's no way 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.600 of montization. I mean, like I guess we we had 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.679 sort of like the first Patreon in a sense where 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.480 we just not like solicited our viewers for donations, but 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.800 we said, like, hey, we want to film with more 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.040 than just a webcam that's tied to the computer. We 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.120 we would like a handicap. So people actually donated money 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.280 to us to buy a handicam so that we can 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:20.160 actually go beyond Anthony's bedroom, and then we put their 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:22.160 names and they're like, donation. I think we can put 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.320 their donation amounts like on the screen of our videos. 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.240 So at the end of the video, it's like, thanks 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:31.520 to this person for donating thirty So ahead of the 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.120 times because I feel like that was a very early 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.280 iteration of what actually ends up happening. In a sense, 0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.000 you were living it because you this was something that 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.640 was missing from your life. You didn't just create Patreon 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.000 because you were like, oh, this is a really cool 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.360 idea that you'll see like on some home shopping network 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.640 that you thought was some great invention. This was something 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.440 that would affect your life directly. Yeah, I as an 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:58.480 as a creator. Um, I had just finished a music 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:00.920 video that I spent about ten thousand bucks on. I 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.240 drained my savings account, I maxed out to credit cards 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.600 to make time. I was twenty eight. Were you married 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.760 at the time? Now, I wasn't married. So it's a 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.920 video called Pedals and it's on my personal YouTube channel. 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.040 You will love this. Stephen Stephen, our camera guy DP 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:20.160 master of all Things. But yeah, it's awesome. It's it's 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.480 a wild video. Yeah. I literally built by hand. I 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.040 built a replica of Lennium Falcon cockpit to be the 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.520 set for the video. I mean, like I built the 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.480 whole thing, like hot gluing things, and like it took 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:33.560 me three months. I mean I was working nineteen hour days. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.400 My hands were like cracked and bloody and painted and 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.640 like I was, I mean, I was all in on 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:41.960 this video. It's a lot of money for I'm thinking 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:45.360 about when I was twenty eight dropping ten stacks on 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.360 something like that's insane. It was insane. I it was 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.600 not a good idea. I mean it was it worked out, 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.840 It worked out. It was illogical, though, and I knew 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:56.080 that going in. I was like, you know what, I'm 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.720 going to be illogical right now because my life just 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.400 lets there you go. I was like going to home 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.040 Depot and Joann's Fabrics and like it was a crazy time. 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:11.240 But the idea something. I mean, the whole reason that 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.960 Patreon came up was because I was about to post 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.440 this video that I like poured my soul into. When 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.160 I posted videos at that time, they got about a 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:19.760 million view So I knew I'd get about a million 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:21.760 views and I came with this video and I'd get 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:23.320 my ad revenue check for me to be a hundred 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:28.160 and fifty bucks, and I couldn't stomach the idea of 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:30.960 having spent ten grand on this thing that's going to 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.280 reach a million people. It's not like I'm a starming artist, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:35.040 and I'm like, I can't find an audience, Like I 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.480 found my crew on the people who like what I 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:39.600 have to say, and I put that on the web 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.440 and then I get a million. I've reached a million 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.240 people around the world and I get paid a hundred 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:46.360 and fifty bucks. Like what the funk kind of system? 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.520 It's bullshit, total bull And that that was the thing. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:52.520 I thought, There's got to be a better way here. 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:55.040 There's gotta be a way, like if you involve fans, 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.880 fans want to help, they want to support, you know, 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.000 you know that. I sort of sketched out the side 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.320 da for a membership platform like k Q e D 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.800 or you know, um W B e Z in Chicago 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.320 or SF Moment where people, you know, the fans of 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.000 a thing can pay five bucks a month or ten 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:13.080 bucks a month in exchange for exclusive access or whatever, 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:23.640 and uh and it worked, and here we are. Once 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.600 the Pokemon theme song music video was removed for copyright infringement, 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:29.440 we were like, hey, you know, we should probably start 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.720 making more original content that's not using other people's stuff. 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.000 And so from that point on, pretty much we were 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.359 we were wholly original content, not using copyrighted music or 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.919 you know, images or whatever. So we then sort of 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.960 transition to sketch comedy, and that's kind of the road 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:48.440 we went down. So sketch comedy for the first few 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.760 years of YouTube was kind of like the king of YouTube, 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:54.520 Like everybody wanted to do sketch comedy, and you know, 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.320 there's channels like Balloon Shop. It really pays me off. 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.320 Why would you knock the drink out of your hand? 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:01.879 What would you do that? Why would you do that? 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:06.800 The Lonely Island Lonely Island obviously, Andy Sandberg, Kiva and Jorma, 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.280 who then went on to SNL and then bigger and 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:13.000 bigger things. Hello, welcome to the party. Hi, I've never 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:17.360 met you before, you know, just two guys and we're 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.200 having a good time. Derek Comedy is where Donald Glover 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.359 Child's Gambino came from. That was the day everyone and 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.680 a sad only to you too, Sir sat opposite day, 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:32.760 Sir James, good evening, Sir, Can I not ask you something? 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.680 About opposite day. No, but sketch comedy is really hard 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.119 to continue and it's expensive. It's more expensive than just 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:42.520 doing a vlog, Like you need to like hire people 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:47.240 and you know, writing sketches and shooting it and editing 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.080 it takes a little bit longer than normal kinds of things. 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:52.600 So a lot of people burnt out on making sketches. 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:54.840 I packed up my cars, like, Mom, Dad, like, I'm 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.679 driving to Dallas. We're dude, perfect is Base. I'm leaving 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:00.720 for Smartin Management, which is the sport station Seaton. Like wait, what, 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:02.240 I thought. You've worked a year and a half to 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.679 get this job. You've done it for nine months, and 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:06.480 now you're gonna leave. I was like, yeah, I think 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.560 I can do this, and like, well, you know, we 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.159 trust you and good luck and you know they supported me, 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.880 which you know, it was number one and then number two. 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.920 It was then figuring out who were the next big 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.040 channels that are going to pop up on YouTube, And 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.480 luckily then met typical gamer who was live streaming Grand 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.600 Theft Auto and saw him pulling five thousand viewers to 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.240