Kind: captions
Language: en
Am
I retiring? That is the question I will
answer in this video. And you can skip
ahead to the answer if you like, but I
think it'll make more sense if I
explain. You know, I started this
YouTube channel in 2011 after quitting
my full-time job.
>> And welcome to Veritassium in units of
kilogram.
>> I was teaching around 15 hours a [music]
week to pay the bills. This is a
represent
>> but the other 40 to 50 hours per week I
spent making videos on this channel and
I [music] didn't do it for the money
>> gives math to the other subatomic
>> I don't think anyone who started at that
time did because there was basically no
money to be made in my first year
working full-time I made $840
in my second year I earned $12,000
the real reason I made Veritassium is
because it allowed me to combine the
[music] three things that I always loved
doing the most. Learning about science,
teaching,
and creating, like performing, and
making [music] videos.
I did not get into this to start a
business. I personally think I'd be
terrible at selling things. I'm not one
of those people who can say, "You've got
to try this. It'll change your life."
You know, back in 2015, I kickstarted a
magnetic molecular modeling kit called
SNATMS, and I still sell it on Amazon,
but I hardly ever mention it because I
don't want to bother you. And I figure
if you're looking for something like
that, well, maybe you'll find it.
Hello. Very nice. Thank you. I almost
never ask you to like, comment, or
subscribe. Thank you for watching
because I figure you know what you want
to do. And [music] I'm not a growth
hacker. We don't sell cheap merch. No
t-shirts or hoodies. I want you to get
more value out of me than I get out of
you. You know, the only thing that I am
really passionate about is the truth.
And the best way to get to the truth is
through science. Our universe is an
extraordinary place. And I think most
people go through life oblivious to how
it actually [music] works. How does the
boat go forwards?
>> Yeah, it's okay. Then well again
[laughter] well I know I know it does
[music] but again I don't have all the
answers.
>> I think that's not just unfortunate it
has real negative consequences. To give
an example in 1958 Dr. Benjamin Spock
published in his book Baby and Child
Care that babies should be put down to
sleep on their fronts rather than their
backs to prevent them from choking on
their own vomit. And this book outsold
every other book except the Bible for
its 52-year print run. So, it [music]
was pretty influential. But when
empirical studies showed that babies
sleeping on their fronts were actually
more likely to die from sudden infant
death [music] syndrome, well, the book
was not promptly updated. It was printed
with the same bad advice for decades,
[music] leading to an estimated 50,000
unnecessary deaths. The point is, we
lead better, happier lives when they're
in accordance with how the world
actually is rather than just how it
appears to be or how we'd like it to be.
That is why an undercurrent of every
video is how do we know what's true? How
would we know if we were wrong? [music]
Because I want to increase the level of
critical thinking in the world. That is
the fundamental mission of Veritasium.
>> Now, so far this is basically just like
>> by 2013 I was fortunate enough that this
dream job YouTube channel started to
produce enough income to live off. So I
quit all of the work and this has been
my main gig ever since.
I can't believe all the things I've
gotten to do. And I want to thank you,
someone who's watched at least one of
these videos, for making [music] it
possible.
But I have to acknowledge my biggest
fear and what I think is the biggest
challenge facing any creator, which is
precariousness.
This is a job that comes with a lot of
uncertainty. I mean, how much you make
in any given month depends on how many
views your channel got in that month.
And then there's the comment section and
the fact that your sense of self-worth
is basically tied to how well your
videos are received. But by far the
biggest source of uncertainty is just
not knowing when this is all going to
end. Like when are you going to upload
your last successful video? When are you
no longer going to be able to make a
living doing what you have been doing?
In 2018, I had a call with my contact at
YouTube who told me I needed to quote
stay relevant. Yeah, that stung a bit.
Now, I'm not going to name names, but I
have seen friends and other creators who
have stopped making stuff for a whole
bunch of reasons. Like, maybe they've
gotten injured or gotten really sick. I
know of other YouTubers who've been
cancelled or demonetized. I mean,
there's just a million ways for things
to go wrong and only really one way for
them to continue to go right. I think by
far the scariest proposition is that the
YouTube algorithm just stops showing
your videos to people. I think that's
the scariest because it is so common and
it's completely out of your control. A
violinist placed in one of these rooms
was apparently banging.
>> The way I dealt with this precariousness
was by limiting my expenses. I didn't
buy any more equipment than was strictly
necessary. I didn't book travel to
filming locations. But if someone else
was flying me out, I might try to tag on
a shoot. That is Chernobyl nuclear
reactor number four. I did all the
research, writing, filming, and editing
myself. Even the crappy animations, yes,
all of that was me. As long as it was
just my time going into this channel and
me depending on it for survival, I was
okay. Hello, and thank you for
>> When I had my first kid in 2016, I
launched a Patreon to try to ensure that
I could always take care of my family.
But the channel continued to grow. It
grew to a size where it was ridiculous
that I was still doing everything
myself. I was working all the time. I am
perhaps the slowest editor you will ever
meet. So, I should have hired an editor,
but hiring takes time. [music] And on
how many days was hiring someone at the
top of my priority list? Well, zero.
Because I was always focused on making
that next video.
>> There's been a number of missions. Like,
>> now I did eventually start hiring
people, but not because I was looking
for them, just because they found me. I
mean, the first person I worked with
consistently was Johnny Heyman, and I
only found him because he recognized me
in a Chipotle.
He is ridiculously talented. He's
researched and written for this channel.
Plus, he's edited, done VFX, made
simulations. He's even written and
produced music, [music] original music
for videos, and you're listening to some
of it right now. I hired Peter Lev
because he did a PhD with my old PhD
supervisor. [music] I hired Emily Zang
20 minutes into a Zoom call and told her
to move across the country. [music]
>> I found out about you through a friend,
Zyla Foxlin.
>> I remember I just got a text from you
and I was like, "Oh my god, Derek Muller
is texting me." You're like, "Oh my god,
Veritassium, Mr. Veritassium was texting
me." And you were just like, "Can you
hop on a FaceTime later today?" I was
like, "Well, this is a different
interview [laughter] process."
>> We talked for half an hour.
>> Yeah.
>> And then I said, "Do you want to work
with me? Do you want to fly to LA and
like
>> Yeah.
>> work together?"
>> And I was like, "I guess." in and how
soon? And you were like, "As soon as you
physically can." [laughter]
>> The only person I actively sought out on
a job board was my editor, Trenton. My
two main animators, Ivy and Fabio, I got
through cold emails.
>> What did you say?
>> I said, "Are you looking for someone to
help [laughter] with animations?" And
yes,
>> Ivy sent me an email saying, "I've seen
your animations and I think I can do
better."
>> Your animations are the best
straightforward. I was like slightly
offended reading the email, but I was
also like, "Well, if you think you can
do better, let's see it." [laughter]
>> We also got our first intern, Casper,
through a cold email.
>> And we said yes.
>> No. You said no.
>> We said no.
>> You were like, "We can't do that right
now, but would you like to research,
write, and produce a video as a
freelancer?"
>> Oh.
>> And I was like, "That's crazy." In
short, I wasn't very good at finding
people, but if they found me and seemed
[music] decent, then I was happy to give
them a shot. By 2021, I had this
talented little team of writer,
producers, animators, and an editor. So,
you might think that I could delegate
tasks to them and work fewer hours. But
what actually happened was the opposite.
I was working more then than ever before
because I had to prepare things for them
to do and I had to train them up. You
know, I was still editing about half of
the videos, and for the other half, I
would often drive across Los Angeles in
the middle of the night to pick up a
hard drive from my editor because this
is the fastest method of data transfer
that we worked out. And then I would
[music] drive back home, upload the
file, and launch the video by 6:00 a.m.
I pulled more all-nighters that year
than any other year of my life,
including university. There were many
nights where instead of tucking my kids
into bed, I was downstairs in the office
making videos for this channel. So that
is when my fiance told me something that
I already knew, which was that this was
not sustainable. And yes, she was still
my fiance because even though we got
engaged 7 years previous and had three
kids together, we hadn't found the time
to have a wedding.
So, the timing was kind of perfect when
in 2022, these two guys, Owen and Ian,
approached me about investing in
Veritassium. They had started a company
called Electrify with the stated aim of
helping educational creators build
better businesses and achieve work life
balance.
>> We loved Veritassium for what it had
been doing for, I guess, 13 years at
that point. Um, and we just want to keep
that going and do more and even more of
that great stuff.
>> So, the deal they offered me was this.
They would buy some of the business, but
I would remain an owner. They would take
care of things like hiring, production,
logistics, you know, corporate
compliance, taxes, all that sort of
stuff. And they would reduce my working
hours. So, it was kind of the perfect
offer at the perfect time. I never
wanted to deal with hiring and taxes and
all that stuff. I just wanted to make
videos, you know, like that's always
what it's been about. Learn about
science, make a great video. Plus, with
the cash they would pay upfront for
equity, well, that would reduce the
precariousness of being a creator,
especially at a time when AI was coming
on the scenes and shorts were just
starting, there was a lot more
uncertainty than usual. And this would
allow me to always be able to provide
for my family, which most importantly,
with fewer working hours, I would have a
lot more time to spend. So, it was kind
of a no-brainer. I signed the deal in
April 2023, and since then, Veritasium
has been owned and run by me and
Electrify. Now, I've seen some comments
concerned with how the investment will
affect the channel, which I totally get.
I mean, would they cut costs, reduce the
video quality, and just pump out way
more videos to boost short-term profits?
But fortunately, you don't have to
wonder what Electrify will do because
we've already been working together for
nearly 3 years. so I can show you what
we have done. We have produced some of
the most successful videos in the
channel's history. In fact, the three
videos you collectively have spent the
most time watching were all produced in
this period. The videos on forever
chemicals, blue LEDs, [music] and black
holes, white holes, and wormholes.
Videos like these have steadily
increased the amount of time that people
are spending watching Veritassium. In
fact, the last four months have seen a
record amount of time that people are
spend watching the channel. Since the
deal, the number of subscribers on the
channel has increased by 50%. These
results have not been achieved by simply
[music] pumping out more videos. In
fact, the number of main channel videos
has remained basically constant. We've
also not tried to make shorter videos.
We've continued to do deep dives into
complex scientific topics. And because
of that, the length of videos has
continued to increase. But that's a
trend that began before Electrify. The
real way we've been able to grow is by
adding more people. There are now over
30 people working on Veritasium. Writer,
directors, [music] researchers,
illustrators, animators, editors, and
production staff. These are the people
responsible for some of your favorite
videos. I worked with Greor to make the
exposees on Teflon and PAS and Monsanto.
With Casper to make entropy, the
principle of least action series and
black holes, white holes, and wormholes.
With Emily, we made blue LEDs and the
micro mouse competition video. Henry was
responsible for the videos on Alfred
Nobel and phone hacking. Sully explored
the construction of the city corp tower,
superglue, and what happened to Amelia
Heheart. Peter wrote and directed the
videos on Oppenheimer and Japanese
swords. Amelia did the same for jet
engines and lithium ion batteries. James
made the videos on power laws and
[music] six degrees of separation. I
could go on, but the point is far from
cutting costs under electrify expenses
have quadrupled. Most of that goes to
the team. We are all spread around the
world, but we come together a few times
a year to connect and figure out how to
improve. When you see a beautifully
animated scene, it's not AI. That was
drawn by hand by a person and animated
by a person, too. The way our videos are
storyboarded now, it's so professional.
It's like a movie studio. And we have
people supporting us in other ways, too.
Videos like PAS or Monsanto might make
big companies mad at us. So, we've only
been able to make those videos now
because we have access to a legal team
who can properly advise us. you can run
things past the legal team and just see
like are we allowed to say this? So I
mean it just it's expanded our
capability. You know the goal of
improving the level of critical thinking
in the world is a big one. But on my own
I tackled it almost exclusively by
making YouTube videos. I didn't have the
time or bandwidth for anything else. But
with more people and resources we have
expanded our approach. We're now
launching videos regularly on Tik Tok
and Instagram. And we're making original
shorts for YouTube. We have dubbed our
most successful videos into languages
like Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese,
Arabic, and Turkish. In addition to
maintaining dedicated channels in other
languages, [music] every week, we are
publishing a free science newsletter,
and we just kickstarted a science trivia
board game with over 11,000 backers.
Other projects like podcasts and
additional channels are in the works.
Now, some of these things may not appeal
to you, and that's fine. But I hope you
agree with me that the world is better
off with more rigorously produced
science content. You know, all our facts
are checked internally and we also use
multiple experts with every video. We
run it past them to make sure we get
everything right. We also post early
versions to our Patreon supporters who
graciously help us catch mistakes. If we
ever mess up, and I know it happens,
well, please let us know. I welcome your
constructive criticism. I want you to
help us improve.
As for me, I have been able to [music]
reduce my workload and spend more time
with my now four kids. This summer, we
traveled around the Azors, Iceland,
biked around Amsterdam,
and visited my family in Vancouver. And
just last month, I finally got married
to my brilliant, [music] beautiful wife
here in Portugal.
I could not have picked a better or more
patient partner with whom to spend the
rest of my life.
So, am I retiring? Well, at some point I
will, but it's not exactly clear when
that will be. What I can tell you is
that [music] I won't be around as much,
which you've probably already gathered
over the last year or two. You know, in
some upcoming videos, I will not appear
at all, even if I'm guiding things in
the background. And this is to give me
more time to spend with my family and to
read books and exercise and contemplate
other projects. You know, I am proud
that what started as my passion project
now employs dozens of people. I am
inspired by each and every one of them
and I have the utmost confidence in
their abilities. You know they are paid
well and they produce excellent work. At
one of our meetings I walked into this
room to see all these super intelligent
people who have taken up the mission of
increasing the level of critical
thinking in [music] the world. And
that's when it hit me that I am no
longer doing this alone. It's no longer
just one guy pushing a boulder uphill.
Now the team [music] is like a
juggernaut. They're like this train
barreling down the tracks with their own
momentum. So, I genuinely can't wait to
see what we're able to accomplish
together. I hope you'll join us. And if
you have any questions or ideas for the
channel, please put them down in [music]
the comments. And as always, thanks for
watching.