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How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

simonwillison.net

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Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#721

Post by agluszak »

doix wrote: post #689

There are lot of comments here disliking MrBeast and what not, but some of the advice can definitely apply to all organizations. > Your goal here is to make the best YOUTUBE videos possible. That’s the number one goal of this production company. It’s not to make the best produced videos. Not to make the funniest videos. Not to make the best looking videos. Not the highest quality videos.. It’s to make the best YOUTUB…

And the "best YOUTUBE videos possible" are... toxic, useless brainrot? (with occasional for-views philanthropy)

These videos are certainly the best in terms of what money they can make... but are they any good for their consumers?

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#723

Post by esaym »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #715
bayindirh wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Replace "youtube videos" with whatever the company is trying to achieve. Some counterpoints: - Xerox knowingly didn't fix the problematic gear trains to guarantee periodic part changes, prioritizing money over "best copier possible". - Ford didn't fix Pinto's fuel tank, prioritizing cost minimization over "best possible car in its class". - Microsoft is did tons of shady things in its OS development history to prio…

> - Dyson's some batteries are notorious for killing themselves via firmware on slight cell imbalance instead of doing self-balancing. Dyson prioritize "steady income via killing good parts early" instead of "building the best vacuum possible". Any good alternatives?

I went down the vacuum rabbit hole a few years ago. I decided on Sebo. These are more or less big ugly machines with a cord, but you can buy every part online no matter how small (screws, gaskets,etc) or big (motors, control boards, etc).

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#725

Post by prmoustache »

xrd wrote: post #81

I have kids and I'm really bothered by MrBeast. I had to buy goddamn chocolate bars at Walmart because of him. I acknowledge he is creative and driven but the content is such crap, with a few exceptions that my kids point out. But, what's the alternative? For example, I love 3brown1blue videos. But, it is too advanced even for my eleven year old. Mark Rober videos are great, and my kids love them, but he's even insid…

> I had to buy goddamn chocolate bars at Walmart because of him.

No you didn't. You chose to do so.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#726

Post by gruez »

wesselbindt wrote: post #680
t_mann wrote: post #670

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point to the parts of the document, or other resources about Mr. Beast, that warrant a comparison with tobacco companies?

They make money in ways that others would find morally reprehensible. The tobacco industry makes its money off of addictive substances that kill millions per year, and Donaldson makes content for entertainment that literally tortures people in the sense of being a violation of the geneva convention. In both cases they're highly efficient operations that make a lot of money, but whether or not you would call it a succ…

>and Donaldson makes content for entertainment that literally tortures people in the sense of being a violation of the geneva convention

What specific acts are we talking about? "violation of the geneva convention" could mean literally anything between "putting red cross symbols on soldiers" and "summarily executing civilians", so it doesn't really narrow things down. If they're being put in uncomfortable positions, but they're not risking long term harm and it's voluntary, I don't see what the issue is.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#727

Post by safety1st »

bnralt wrote: post #622
tpmoney wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I find interesting in reading this is that it's not particularly surprising in content. And I don't mean that I expected some hugely toxic culture from a youtube company and found it. I mean that the whole document is largely pretty standard "how to make it in a competitive industry" advice. The tone might be a little unprofessional for folks who are used to big corporate talk, but if you'd leaked internal Micro…

That's the same impression I got. It's odd seeing the discussion veer off into morality, because most of it seems to be standard and non-problematic advice (IE, understanding what your product is and don't get distracted by focusing on what it's not). And though the advice isn't particularly novel, it was worth reading since a surprisingly large amount of people don't do these simple things.

I read the entire PDF and I felt he was pretty spot on about works and what doesn't in running a business.

This is Hacker News, ostensibly created as a website for hackers and founders.

If you are a hacker and a founder then a ton of this advice is spot on.

For example it's a simple concept but he absolutely nails a key factor by distinguishing between A, B and C employees. A high performing team really can't have more than one or two C's. It moves them out even if they're nice, cool, good people. If the team is run by good humans it does what Mr. Beast does and gives them severance.

I can smell a couple C employees fuming on here and in the Twitter thread. I've had C employees work for me and they were always the ones who lobbied me hardest for being more tolerant of mediocrity. Sorry but you just have to hold the line against the average if you want to succeed, this is dictionary definition level of obvious. To be above average, you have to be above freaking average. Half the world is C's and to win your team needs to not be in that half.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#728

Post by whywhywhywhy »

tpmoney wrote: post #50
renewiltord wrote: post #7

On one side, an army of HN commenters: “Repeat after me. Don’t build on someone else’s platform.” On the other side, Mr Beast: > Your goal here is to make the best YOUTUBE videos possible. That’s the number one goal of this production company. It’s not to make the best produced videos. Not to make the funniest videos. Not to make the best looking videos. Not the highest quality videos.. It’s to make the best YOUTUBE…

I read that as less about "building on someone else's platform" (though that's still a risk they're taking) and more a youtube / media content producer version of "perfect software doesn't pay the bills, shipping software does". I've known plenty of good developers that if they didn't have hard deadlines and people reminding them about what the real goal of the company is, would spend 6 months developing a perfect, p…

>That quote reads like its reminding people that youtube and a youtube production company job is not where you go to make art house silent films.

It's more specific, a YouTube video is very different from a TikTok video or an Instagram video.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#729

Post by itishappy »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #715
bayindirh wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Replace "youtube videos" with whatever the company is trying to achieve. Some counterpoints: - Xerox knowingly didn't fix the problematic gear trains to guarantee periodic part changes, prioritizing money over "best copier possible". - Ford didn't fix Pinto's fuel tank, prioritizing cost minimization over "best possible car in its class". - Microsoft is did tons of shady things in its OS development history to prio…

> - Dyson's some batteries are notorious for killing themselves via firmware on slight cell imbalance instead of doing self-balancing. Dyson prioritize "steady income via killing good parts early" instead of "building the best vacuum possible". Any good alternatives?

Riccar, Miele, SEBO. Brands you may not have heard of (I know I hadn't). Highly recommend a visit to your local vacuum repair store. Talk to the guy who's job is fixing all the shitty stick vacs.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#730

Post by ThrowawayTestr »

jerrygoyal wrote: post #606
tkgally wrote: post #335

It might be interesting to contrast MrBeast’s management approach with that of Marques Brownlee (MKBHD). He is also a successful YouTuber who leads a team that puts out videos on several channels. While his videos don’t have the huge production scale of MrBeast’s, they seem to be produced on short deadlines and must require close coordination among his team. If I were young and wanted to work in online media producti…

despite less views, MKBHD is more net positive for humanity than MrBeast. MrBeast's whole game is to draw people's attention to not-so-useful content.

Watching a review on a device you'll never buy is hardly a net positive compared to watching a yacht get blown up.
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