Marques Brownlee on Building an Audience and Other Advice for Creators

Marques Brownlee is a YouTuber. He has over 8 million subscribers to his channel MKBHD where he reviews electronics, drives electric vehicles, and interviews people such as Kobe Bryant and Bill Gates.

https://twitter.com/MKBHD
https://www.youtube.com/MKBHD

The YC podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

https://twitter.com/craigcannon

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Topics

00:00 – What does Marques attribute his channel’s success to?

2:15 – The early days

4:45 – How does he go about evaluating a product?

7:05 – Features that Marques thought were great that didn’t catch on

8:15 – Peak smartphone?

10:05 – Folding phones and new trends

11:00 – Tesla and the EV market

15:20 – Getting older and staying relevant

16:40 – New kinds of videos and podcasting

22:00 – Does Marques feel limited by gear?

25:45 – Storytelling techniques

27:50 – Tech vs Marques as the star of the show

29:30 – Marco Castro asks – What advice do you have for new creators on YouTube?

30:30 – When did Marques find his voice as a creator?

33:30 – Overcoming perfectionism

34:30 – Gut instinct vs data

37:00 – YouTube comments

39:05 – Austin Ryder asks – In the early years of his channel, Marques took a several month hiatus from YouTube, but then came back with a new video format and seemingly renewed drive. What happened during those months off that led to the channel becoming what it is today?

40:15 – Winston asks – What’s your daily schedule?

42:40 – Ultimate frisbee injuries

43:00 – Amad Khan asks – Are there any problems that you see or face that you really wish engineers/developers would solve?

44:25 – Christian Giordano asks – Any tips on how to engage/work with influencers when you are a very early stage startup with little or no money?

46:15 – The future of creators supporting themselves financially

49:05 – His biggest challenge as a creator

50:05 – Long-term goals