One year ago, I started a YouTube

channel. Today, we're at 55,000

subscribers. Thank you to every single

one of you for being with us this year.

Today, we're letting you in on what's

happening behind the scenes, how this

channel was built, how it took off, what

is happening behind the scenes, how

we're prepping everything, what's going

to happen next year, and basically

answering all of your questions that you

have been asking under the posts. This

last year was definitely one of the most

difficult and exciting years of my life

and I want to break it down into four

chapters. So, we're starting with the

first one, how it started.

The reason I started this channel is

because I had spent a lot of time

working in tech and I think that tech is

full of fascinating stories. The

business of technology is full of

fascinating stories that are not really

being told in a way that a lot of people

would listen and engage. And I wanted to

bring these stories to life and combine

them with research. One of the things

that I think I'm more or less good at is

doing research. And I thought that if I

can combine hardcore research with my

experience in tech and cinematic

storytelling, it would be something that

I am personally looking for on YouTube

and something that I would want to

listen to. Our first video came out on

December 9th, 2024. And all I had was

this mic and the cheapest set of soft

boxes and my iPhone 13, which I don't

have on me right now, but it's not a new

iPhone. If there is one thing that

describes my personality in one

sentence, it's how I used this mic. So,

get this. I got it and this is the first

microphone that I've ever owned. For the

first seven videos that I filmed, I did

not even bother reading instructions. I

quite literally took it out of the box.

I connected it to my laptop. I called my

friends and I actually tried testing

this mic with my friends. And for the

first 5 minutes, turned out that it was

not it was not even plugged in. So, I am

that person who doesn't read

instructions. For the first seven

videos, I had terrible possives. And the

sound was absolutely disgusting because

I did not even read it cuz I was like,

if I need to do it, I'm going to sit

down and do it. I have to start

recording. It doesn't matter how it

sounds. It doesn't matter how it looks.

I just got to do it. So, that's

basically me in a nutshell. Now, when

you start doing YouTube for the first

time, there is a lot of content on

YouTube about how to do YouTube. And I

got to say that one of the most helpful

tips that I learned at the very

beginning of my journey was actually

from Ali Abdal. Uh he had a video where

he talked about how to start a channel.

And he said that he was like, "You just

got to start. It doesn't matter what you

talk about. It doesn't matter what it

is. You just pick a topic, any topic,

start recording, start doing something."

So back when I started, I honestly had

no idea how many videos were enough for

a new channel. So I was like, "Well, you

know what? how about I do three a week?

And I'm like, well, yeah, I think three

is going to be a bit of a stretch, but I

mean, it's doable, right? Like three

videos, if I just sit down and I do

everything and I'm going to record

myself and it's just like, what's so

difficult about it? So, in December

2024, I did 12 videos. Every single

video was about 20 minutes. I did

everything by myself from uh research to

script writing to filming to editing.

Every single thing was done by me. and I

released 12 of those. Now, if you know

anything about video production, you

might be listening to this and be like,

"How on earth did you do 12?" Because

it's a lot of work. If I'm being honest,

looking back, I don't know how on earth

I did 12. Right now, I have a team and I

cannot imagine doing 12 videos a month.

Like, I would have to quit my job. I

would have to not sleep at night to

release 12 a month. But at the time when

I just started, I thought it was

difficult, but I was like, you know

what, it's doable. Because I had to

start somewhere. I started with what I

do for a living with what I know best,

which is product management for

software. I was talking about things

that were top of- mind for me at the

time, uh, from interviewing to, um,

doing certain techniques or tactics

during my day job. And then one of the

things that I was really interested in

at the time was that I was exploring

international job market. I have been

trying to move to a different country

for several years and I have explored

all kinds of tech markets and I really

did my research. I tried the Gulf, I

tried the US, I thought about Europe

potentially. So a lot of the videos that

I was producing at the very beginning of

the channel were very much connected to

things that I was really focused on

because for me top of mind was moving

and that is how the where to run series

was born. the content was really

resonating with a lot of people and that

was the first time when the channel took

off uh because I was covering countries

not just on a job specific level like

what it's like to be a PM in England for

example but I was doing incredibly deep

dives into tech markets in the

post-pandemic post layoff AI first

economy which I would like to emphasize

one more time is incredibly important

because the job market that we're seeing

today is not the same job market that

was happening four or 5 years ago. So I

was looking for content online where I

could see what's happening across the

globe or across the countries that I was

interested in on a very deep level like

what it's like to work there, what it's

like to live there, what what are the

pros and cons and I was looking for that

kind of content and I wasn't able to

find it. So I started creating it and

that seemed to really resonate with a

lot of people because that was the first

time when uh the channel really started

getting a lot of subscribers and we were

getting a ton of messages um on our

LinkedIn and emails and comments of

course people kept commenting and asking

for the next country and as soon as I

would release an episode there would be

a ton of comments being like hey can you

do Luxembourg? Can you do England? Can

you do France and that is how the where

to run series was born. It wasn't

supposed to be a series at the very

beginning. It just happened to be that

way. The only country that I was

planning on covering in the very

beginning was actually Canada because I

live here and I very much understand

what is happening on the local market.

But then people kept asking for more and

that's how the first series was born and

that is how the channel took off

initially. And I certainly believe that

that series was really our proof of

concept in product management terms, so

to say, because 85% of the series was

filmed on iPhone 13 with the cheapest

lights with absolutely almost no

equipment. I was filming it right here

in my living room. In fact, the setup

that we have right now is actually

mimicking the setup that I had at the

very beginning. We wanted to have a

little bit of a uh nostalgia into how it

all started. So, uh, what I would like

to say to people who, um, perhaps start

their own channels or are thinking about

starting their own channels is that

before you invest, before you hire teams

or editors or any creative uh, resource

that will help you with your content, in

my opinion, it is really important that

you understand that your content can

take off even without an editor. I will

talk about the creative resources in a

bit, but you really have to make sure

that your content has value even when

there are no bells and whistles. And

also, I can speak for myself. I am

really not built for editing work. I

hate it with passion. I cannot stand

editing videos. But I am nevertheless

happy that I was doing that for 5 months

straight. But the fact that I did it by

myself, first of all, it gives you

understanding of what it is that you're

asking for when you're hiring a creative

resource. Secondly, it gives you

appreciation for that work because you

know how much time it takes so that when

an editor gets back to you and says

that, hey, you know, I can't do this or

that, you understand why they're saying

that. They're not just trying to be

difficult. So, my recommendation to all

people who are starting YouTube is get

your proof of concept first. Your

content has to land. There is so much

content and videos on YouTube with

basically no editing. Like it is

surprising how primitive they are and

that video would have hundreds of

thousands of views because there is

something about that content that

resonates. I'm sharing this because a

lot of you have been asking us in the

comments what we do on the creative

side, how all of this background process

is happening. So I'm just telling you

that your content has to land first.

everything that comes on top. Editing

will enhance her content, but it's

basically like putting expensive,

beautiful cutlery on a dirty table. That

table has to be clean and no cutlery

will save it. So that is something that

I would recommend to keep in mind.

Moving on to chapter two.

So in May, something slightly unexpected

happened. I actually had my first video

editor and unfortunately she was a

little overwhelmed and wasn't able to

continue working with me. So my close

friend Maria um who I often mention on

this channel offered to help me out and

it was supposed to be just a temporary

four video partnership. We had four

videos that I needed to get done. I

asked her to help me out and then um at

the end of the fourth video she offered

that we try and do this together. we or

at least I did not have any

expectations. I was just I promised

myself to give it a year. Back when I

started, I was like, I'm going to give

it a year no matter what happens. Even

if I get zero, even if nobody

subscribes, nobody says a word, nobody

comments. I'm doing it for a year and I

want to see what comes out in the end.

And 5 months into the channel, um we

started working on it together with

Maria. And when we partnered, we had the

whole summer ahead of us. But the

problem was that we knew that the series

that we were doing, the where to run

series, it was taking off, but we knew

that it would end at some point. And

that was something that we were really

scared of because when the channel

starts to take off, I mean, of course,

as you know, you're pour your heart and

soul into this thing and you're

expecting that it would continue, but we

knew that at some point it would stop

and we would need to do something

different. And the problem is I realized

that as much as I'm grateful for the

fact that it was the where to run series

that really brought us the takeoff that

we were looking for, it is not the

content that I wanted to make because it

was incredibly career oriented. And the

reason that we knew that it would end is

because all of it was based on my

experience, my and my research. And the

reason I covered only 10 countries in

this series is because I explored those

10 countries for myself and that's why I

knew so much. But we knew that we would

have to pivot at some point. And the

second reason why I wanted to pivot is

because I did not want to be associated

with uh being a career creator. I wanted

to do a much more intellectual,

deep, and difficult content and tell you

the stories that on one hand are

incredibly dry and full of math, but

deliver them in a way that would really

make them sound as a fascinating story

to listen to. So yeah, we had a

difficult summer ahead of us because we

pivoted completely to business and tech

content which is a very difficult niche

on YouTube and it is something that is

dry by definition because you do talk

about a lot of math and you talk about a

lot of stats and making that kind of

content sound engaging through

storytelling.

You have to really be good good at

storytelling and making people

appreciate the numbers that you're

talking about. And our views dropped. It

was really difficult because when you're

creating it and you're putting just as

much effort, in fact, you're putting

more because now you have a creative

partner with you. She's putting a ton of

work. I am putting a ton of work in and

it's just not paying off. And looking

back, I completely understand why we had

such a difficult summer because we grew

an audience who came to us to learn

about tech employment, about careers,

about what's happening on the job

market. And we started feeding the

content that was really different from

what we did before. We started talking

about business, about tech, about AI in

the context of unit economics. It is a

very different content. It is different

in terms of depth. It is different in

terms of delivery. It is different on

every level. And that's not what the

audience that came to us in the spring,

that's not what they came here for. So

really in the summer, we had to almost

rebuild the entire channel. Now to your

questions, how much time do you spend on

your full-time job versus YouTube? And

how do you make time for the research

for YouTube videos? YouTube is my second

full-time job. I can say that with

certainty. I spend at least 40 hours a

week doing YouTube and that involves

content, reviewing stuff, talking about

the next videos, planning for the next

video. It's everything at once, but I

can say it with confidence. This is a

full-time job. And mind you, for me,

this is what I do after my day job. But

then for Maria, this is her full-time.

So yes, YouTube is a huge time

commitment. How much time does it take

to research on a topic and how do you

organize research? So, one video takes

me one full week to produce. For the

first three days, all I do is just read.

I read a lot of content and a lot of

data to be able to form an opinion and

deliver a video that I typically

deliver. I go through a hundred

resources probably per video. like I

read them from top to bottom and then

from everything that I read I filter out

what I actually want to use in my video

and the data that I want to pull into

it. So just reading and studying the

topic probably takes about 25 hours of

my time. Once the research is done, I

move on to assembling the data. So I

actually take data points that I have

found. I do the math myself when there

is no math that can be readily used. Day

five is my creative writing day. So when

I have done all the research, I have

found everything that I want to put in

the video, I have drawn all of the

conclusions and all of the second order

effects that I want to bring in my

video. That's when I start assembling a

script for my video. I do creative

writing. I tell the story that I'm

hoping is going to resonate with the

audience. And then I basically start

reading it to myself. So, I write it and

I read it to myself and I'm trying to

make it into a really like a mindblowing

story that would make anyone stick to

the screen and make the story really

irresistible to listen to. On day six, I

typically polish everything that I have

found, my research, my writing, and then

I start rehearsing. I start reading it

to myself. I read it and I rehearse it

and I'm trying to tell it in a way that

I would find interesting and that I

would be like really fascinating with

the story. and that is how I rehearse

and then on day seven we typically film.

What seems to be working for that

consistency, better selection of topics

or something else? Good question and

there is no right answer to this. It all

works when it's done in combination. So

consistency is important but it's about

20% of the entire equation. I do not

believe in the concept of as long as

you're doing it at some point the

algorithm will pick you up and you'll

just go with it. There are plenty of

channel a ton of channels with hundreds

of videos who have been on YouTube for

years and would have you know a thousand

subscribers at most and you go there and

person is doing fantastic job. They're

publishing videos or doing a ton of

stuff and the videos sometimes are very

good but they're just not they don't

have an audience. So consistency is

important for the algorithm. It is

important for the channel growth but

consistency is not everything. It is

part of the equation. Do not expect for

your channel or your personal brand or

anything that you're creating to take

off just because you have the volume. A

lot of people have the volume. The

volume is not the quality. I critique

every single video that we release

harder than anybody else. I go back to

my own scripts. I go back to listen to

myself. I go back to literally every

single element in that video and we try

to make it better. And that is what I

would say is probably the key to our

success. So back to your question, what

seems to be working? What's working is

when you approach every single element

of the production process with utmost

quality and you are really hard on

yourself. And I know this is probably an

unpopular opinion, but I think that

everybody should be hard on themselves.

You don't have to agree with me. Nobody

has to agree with me. This is just my

opinion. But I think that the only way

to get better is when you are extremely

critical of what you do. That is how we

treat our channel and that is the reason

why I think it succeeded. Your videos

always feel super current, like they're

pulled straight from what's happening

right now in AI and startups. How do you

decide what to make your next video

about? Very good question. Sometimes the

topics that I pick are evergreen. It's

just something that I have personally

been interested in for a long time.

There is also videos that are very

current as you said because there is

trending news and yes we do that as

well. We do typically split our content

into videos that are evergreen and very

trendy and current. So for example the

H1B video was definitely a response to

recent news. The circular economy video

was definitely a response to recent

news. But the unit economics of AI

startups that is an evergreen video. Do

you film videos after preparing a topic

or one by one or you make them in

batches to better organize your

production flow? No, we shoot them one

by one extremely rarely, maybe two at a

time. I think that it is best because I

simply get tired over time because

filming is difficult. You have to speak

on camera. You have to be presentable.

You have to be energetic. You have to

speak like it it's it's very tiring. So,

no, we do not film them in batches. It

would be really inefficient in my case.

What AI tools do you use in your

workflow for this channel for automation

and efficiency? Do you use any of these

tools for research or for script

writing? The only AI tool that I use

regularly and that I swear by is

Perplexity. And I use Perplexity

specifically to find sources. I cannot

think of a better tool other than

Perplexity that can gather as many

resources as possible on a given topic.

So when I start my research and when I

look for initial resources like those

three days when I'm telling you that I

do research for the first three day I

just read things that's where I start in

terms of other AI tools that we use in

our workflow. So, we absolutely love

Notion and Notion AI. We're very happy

that we partnered with them. This was a

huge moment for us this year. Even if we

didn't partner with them, we absolutely

love Notion and Notion AI. Fantastic

agent uh that they launched this year.

Um so, that is a huge part of the

workflow that we have. And also, Gamma

for all kinds of presentations uh that

we use for the team. We also heavily use

every single tool that we promote in our

channel because those are fantastic

products and they're really helpful. We

don't use them as much as we use

perplexity for example, but every single

tool that we have promoted on the

channel, we absolutely love and swear by

and we use it in our day-to-day. What

kind of skill set needed to survive an

AI boom coming next year? I guess

honestly, whatever it is that you do, I

say that there are four fundamental

skills that you need regardless of the

time that you live in. It's the ability

to write, the ability to speak, the

ability to read, and the ability to

research. the four skills that I swear

by and it doesn't matter whether you're

living through AI or AGI or ASI or

quantum or whatn not. If you're asking

about some tactical skills, it is

definitely the ability to work with

information. If you're asking about

education per se, the only thing I can

say is that again, I'm not claiming to

be right. This is just my opinion and

I'm sharing it because you're asking for

it. I am a huge proponent of formal

university education. High quality

university education is extremely

important for the vast majority of

people. And when someone says, well,

look at Bill Gates. Well, with all due

respect, not everybody is Bill Gates.

The vast majority of people are not him.

I am not him. I do think that

educational background in foundational

sciences, it doesn't have to be anything

fancy. doesn't have to be nanobiology or

any of the newer degrees. If you get

basic education in physics, in math, in

stats, in chemistry, that will be

sufficient for the rest of your life.

Whether it's AI or not, you will be

fine. So, I hope I answer your question.

If I didn't, let me know in the comments

and I'll be sure to continue there.

So, 9 months into the channel is when it

really took off. We had our first viral

video that got almost 300,000 views.

actually more than 300,000 now. And that

is when the actual takeoff happened.

Compared to the takeoff that we saw in

the spring, it was really unmatched. And

then 4 months into doing unit economics

and hardcore business content, that's

when we had our first uh viral video.

Now, back to your questions. Did you do

anything special to boost the channel or

traffic started to pick up with the

time? Nothing. We did absolutely nothing

to boost the traffic. There was zero

dollars invested. We're not doing

trends. We're not doing shorts. We're

not doing any other kind of social

media. YouTube is the only thing that we

do. And we did not invest a single

dollar into promotions. How long do you

plan this to be a side hustle? It seems

like the time point to go allin has

already come. Honest answer, until I can

comfortably build a business out of

this. If I weren't planning on scaling,

if I weren't planning on hiring any

team, if it was just the two of us, in

that case, I would be able to afford to

make this my primary income. But at the

same time, I would like to emphasize

that the reason I am able to produce

this level of content at this quality is

because of all the years that I have

spent in the tech industry. There is

absolutely no way I would be able to

make this level of research or this

level of content had I not spent the

previous 10 years working in the

industry. busting my ass and working

across a variety of industries and a

variety of companies. So, this is not to

say that don't do full-time or don't

ever go into employment become content

creators. The reason I'm a content

creator is because I spent a decade in

the industry. If you were to take a

second job instead of YouTube, would you

have made more or less money that you

make on YouTube? I'm guessing the answer

is obvious in the early stages of your

channel, but at which point will YouTube

revenue exceed equivalent time and

secondary job? A few things. You're

absolutely right and it does depend on

the stage of the channel, but it also

depends on your long-term goals. I did

not start YouTube to make a side income.

I started it to build my own voice and

to build my own content online and to be

known for my content. YouTube became a

massive confidence boost for me because

I always thought that I was never

enough. I thought that my skill set was

not enough. I thought that there was

always something not enough about me. So

the fact that when I started producing

content, I have a CEO, CTO, CPO

messaging me on LinkedIn every single

time I release a video asking for

consulting or offering me a job

definitely gave me the confidence that I

was lacking. So to your question, the

reason I was able to continue with

YouTube is because the financial aspect

of it was not my only or the primary

goal that I had when I started. Because

if it was just that, I would have given

up a lot sooner because YouTube is a

long-term game. And for me, yes, it just

so happened that it paid off because we

were able to hit 55,000 subscribers in

under one year. This is an extreme

outlier. What we have achieved is not

typical growth by any means, especially

for a dry business and tech channel. If

I was doing it just for the money, it

wouldn't have solved the problem of

having a steady side income because of

all the money that I make, I reinvest

95% of it back into the channel. So,

it's a lot of investment upfront hoping

that one day it'll pay off or that one

day it'll take off. So, if your goal is

purely financial and you just want to

make side income, I would say that it is

a lot less riskier to take a second job

rather than to do YouTube. Because with

YouTube again, you don't know if it's

going to take off and when it's going to

take off and how much you're going to

invest before it happens. I'm curious

whether your team is turning into a

social proof or a consulting crew.

Everything you've talked about feels

like stories from the consulting front

lines. Yes, I think it's definitely

going that way and we're actually

thinking to do a series in the new year

called the founder series. We're going

to be releasing a series of videos

specifically for entrepreneurs and

founders. And that is because I have

started my career and I have spent a lot

of time working for tiny startups going

through aggressive growth. I have seen

all variations and all kinds of angles

of small tech startups and how they

become big. So yes, consulting through

content is definitely something that

we're going to be pursuing next year. So

what's next for us? We are going to be

scaling. We're going to be scaling both

our content and the team. We will

continue creating fascinating stories

about tech and business in the post

layoff, post-pandemic AI first economy.

We will continue telling fantastic

stories about math, about business, and

about tech. One of the core principles

for our entire team is to stay extremely

centric and neutral. We're not

left-leaning, we're not right leaning.

We are as objective and as deeply data

verified as we can possibly be.

So, what can you expect in the new year?

We will be expanding our content

verticals. You know, I talk about a lot

of things. I talk about business. I talk

about tech and geopolitics. I talk about

finance. I talk about a lot of things

that are around the topic of technology

and business. So, we're going to be

expanding our content lines and every

single one of those things. So, to give

you a little glimpse, there's going to

be new hosts. There's going to be a lot

more creativity. There's going to be a

lot more variety in our content. And the

series that I promise you is the founder

series that I feel incredibly excited

about. Coming back to your last

questions, do you have any plans for a

Discord type community for this channel

where we can discuss points you bring up

in your videos? So, I have been asked

multiple times if we're going to have a

community. And I thought actually about

doing it on Slack, but if I'm being

honest, I don't think I have mental and

physical capacity to manage those

channels right now just because I have a

full-time job and YouTube is my second

full-time job in and of itself. And

we're going to be scaling the team. I

don't know if I have enough time to

manage a Slack or a Discord community,

but what I am thinging to do is a

YouTube community. YouTube has a

community feature. I'm going to explore

it over the next several weeks while we

have a little break. And I promise that

I will bring a community element into

the channel next year. Not sure it's

going to be Discord or Slack, at least

at the beginning, but I promise

something is definitely coming. Please

come up with a course. I like your no BS

PM content. I am not interested in PM

courses. So, if you're looking for a

NOBS PM course that I would highly

recommend, it's definitely going to be

Reforged. This is not sponsored by any

means, but if there is one product

management resource that I would swear

by and I love every single course that

they post, it's Reforge. And your last

question, do you do it yourself or do

you have someone help me with the

content? No, I don't do it myself. This

is Maria. You've heard about her a

million times, so say hi.

>> Hello everyone. I'm Maria. I'm Daria's

creative partner and I am editing most

of her videos. We also now have a new

team member. Her name is Lauren. So,

there's a really high chance this video

that you're seeing right now is edited

by her. So, say hi to lovely Lauren. So,

this is my friend. This is my creative

partner. This is the second person that

you don't see on camera who is always

behind the camera. So, this is her. Um,

now you know what she looks like. from

both of us. Thank you very much for

watching us this year. This was a very

important and a very difficult and a

very exciting time for us. We're doing

this for the first time and we highly

appreciate everyone who believed in us,

who commented on our videos, who said

something nice. Huge thanks. We have big

ambitions. We have big plans and we're

hoping that this is going to be even

bigger next year. So from both of us,

merry Christmas everyone. Merry

Christmas, happy Hanukkah, whatever it

is that you're celebrating. Happy

holidays, happy new year. And again,

thank you for staying with us. Thank you

for watching us. We will see you next

year. And for the last time in 2025,

bye

>> bye.