012 In The Belly of THE Beast
How a YouTuber's leaked document is the talking point of the Valley and beyond
MrBeast is currently in the news for something else but that’s not what I am here to talk about.
A fortnight or so ago, a document of MrBeast was leaked on the internet. It is entirely written by Jimmy (MrBeast) and it’s him talking to his current employees, old and new.
MrBeast is no slouch. He is by far the biggest YouTuber, his videos rake in more views than most movies and TV shows, and he is well on his way to be the first YouTuber billionaire.
After the doc/memo came out, there were a handful of users who tried to “cancel” him for it but to no avail.
And that’s because:
A - MrBeast is currently TOO big to be cancelled
B - He found more admirers, especially from outside the YT space, then he found haters from the leaking of this doc
The document is titled “How-To-Succeed-In-A-MrBeast-Production” and it is a thing of founderesque-beauty.
The memo is 36 pages long and he takes you through 5 chapters: ‘‘what makes a YT video viral, creating content, creative and your career’’.
I am not really going to get in the depth of it since a lot of it is from a video creation, and production perspective.
BUT what I will share are some of the points which resonated with me regardless.
The Intro
5 handpicked pointers
1 - Everything is connected
There is no point in building a separate operations manual for different departments. The more you know about other department(s) the better.
2 - Results > Hours
The amount of hours you work is irrelevant. What matters is the results at the end of the day. “Get sh*t done and move the goalpost.”
3 - ‘A’ or nothing
Workers can always be categorized into 3 buckets, always be in the A bucket.
A-players: obsessive, coachable, intelligent, don’t make excuses, learn from their mistakes,
B-players: new players that need to be trained to become A-players
C-players: average employees
4 - It’s your fault, track the contractor
“Don’t just dump and forget your projects. Leave no room for error and track the contractor (vendor) for updates; talk to him daily if needed, and not just the day prior to the deadline. Know in advance if you are f*cked.”
5 - Critical component
Critical components can come from anywhere and once they are labelled as such, they become your baby. Identify, treat, communicate, and never compromise on cc.
And 2 more
“Nothing before your prios”
“Use consultants”
This leaked document provides a rare glimpse into the systematic and strategic approaches that have contributed to MrBeast's extraordinary success on YouTube.
Credit where it’s due.