I Met the Founder of YouTube!

Read time: 3.5 minutes

Did you know that YouTube actually started off as a dating app?

Wild, huh?

As if this month couldn’t get crazier — last week, I got the chance to meet one of the minds behind it all.

Steve Chen. The co-founder of YouTube.

He was one of the headlining speakers at the global tech summit in Valencia, the same event where I was invited to speak on a panel.

And now that I’ve committed to growing my content creation on YouTube (which you can find here), I knew this was a chance I couldn’t miss — hearing firsthand from the founder of the second most-used search engine in the world.

And Steve didn’t disappoint.

What did he share?

Let’s get to that in a second.

First off, is this story just for content creators or startup founders?

Not at all.

This is for anyone who wants to create a life beyond the ordinary. For those who know there’s more out there, and who want a life they’re excited to wake up to each day.

Steve's number 1 tip for making that happen?

Being crazy enough to believe in yourself.

That's right.

All those other Silicon Valley icons — whether it’s Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg — always shared how “crazy” they were to believe they could build the things they did.

And it all boils down to one simple concept:

Dreaming.

Don't forget my friends — dreaming doesn't discriminate.

It's free.

Accessible for each and every one of you.

And most importantly, it isn't only reserved for children.

The difference with people like Steve Chen?

They started dreaming.

And then, when things didn't go as planned or fell through, they didn't stop.

They kept at it.

Everybody else might take it as a sign to stop or go back to doing what everybody else is doing.

But, Steve didn't give himself that chance.

He told me during our conversation.

This is what "going all in" looks like.

Take YouTube.

It didn’t take off right away.

Their original idea was to create a video-based dating app.

And let me tell you…it didn’t work the way they’d hoped.

BUT.

Instead of stopping there.

Instead of giving up & throwing the towel.

Instead of blaming themselves & thinking negatively.

They paid attention.

They looked deeper. Paused & studied the data.

People loved the video aspect.

So instead of stopping, they pivoted.

And guess what?

What may have seemed like a silly idea at first became the catalyst that sparked the creation of an app that all of us, over a decade later, still use to consume video content.

The biggest lesson?

You’ll never know unless you try it.

Anybody can speculate. People can say what they want.

But ultimately — nobody knows.

Not your parents.

Not your closest friends.

And definitely not any venture capitalist.

Steve emphasized this: get a prototype out there as soon as possible.

Do it for the data collection.

It’s golden. It will serve you. No matter the outcome.

And this is the mindset that I've taken in my own journey.

I had no clue if people would resonate with my content.

Or if I even had it in me to coach others & help them create better lives.

But, here's one thing that I do know for sure, my friends:

I would've never known if I hadn't gone & found out.

Plenty of people told me I was wasting my time.

Others constantly wondered why I wasn't getting a "normal" job.

And that's fine. To each their own, right?

Their definition of "success" or a "better life" varies from mine.

So I just ignore them.

Which, by the way, was another big anecdote from Steve's life:

Ignore the sceptics. Ignore even your parents if you have to.

If you’re aiming for something bigger, you have to go for it.

Cancel distractions. Put in 3-6 months of focused effort. Make the sacrifices.

I can guarantee that if you do this — you'll get a pretty good indication of where it's headed.

Either it's going exactly like you would've wanted (or even better).

Or, you'll have gathered invaluable experience & data, while simultaneously learning more about yourself than the rest of your life combined, and can now iterate & adapt accordingly.

Remember, the founders of YouTube found themselves in the second bucket.

It doesn't matter what outcome takes place.

What matters is what you do moving forward.

Because, let me remind you — what started as a “failed” dating app quickly pivoted into YouTube, and by the end of that same year, it was using up to 25% of the internet’s bandwidth.

That's the story of YouTube.

Just imagine if Steve & his co-founders would’ve quit back then.

No YouTube today, no platform connecting billions worldwide through video.

Would’ve been a disservice not just to them but to the rest of us too!

Who says you can't create a similar story for yourself?

Please don't lower your chances of doing so because others brought you down.

Allow yourself to dream.

And when you do so — continue to show up & put in the work to increase your chances of turning those dreams into reality.

If nobody else will tell you...

Let me:

Keep moving. You're closer than you think.

Success isn’t about knowing you’ll make it. It’s about starting anyway.

That's it.

Thank you for reading.

Much love as always,

Julian