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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)

#791

Post by javier123454321 »

smt88 wrote: post #739
spencerchubb wrote: post #718

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the entire document and I don't understand where you saw bad culture or micromanaging. Some people may not like the fact that they pull all nighters, but that's a matter of opinion. Clearly some people do like the terms of employment, otherwise they wouldn't work there.

> Clearly some people do like the terms of employment, otherwise they wouldn't work there. This is a deeply naive understanding of employment. Almost no one has a huge array of job opportunities, and they can select the one they want based on company culture. Most people have one viable job offer at a time, and they have to work hard for it. This is even more true in entertainment fields. Many people in entertainment…

This is not a foxcon factory, this is the most famous and productive Youtube production company. People here work incredibly hard IN ORDER TO get this particular job, seeking it out specifically.

> Many people in entertainment feel lucky to be a paid employee at all

And this is BY CHOICE.

I fundamentally disagree with your positioning.

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

#792

Post by meowface »

oulipo wrote: post #638
ocean_moist wrote: post #77

Lot of people critiquing this, but you can't deny the success. I think a lot of the advice is applicable to startups. 1. KPIs, for Beast they are CTR, AVD, AVP, will look different if you are a startup. I am willing to bet he knows his metrics better than >95% of startup founders. Because he is literally hacking/being judged by an algorithm, his KPIs will matter more and can be closely dissected. Startups aren't that…

A lot of people here (and in tech in general) are conflating "being efficient" with "having success"... that's clearly because people in tech generally value efficiency but we have to take a step back collectively and understand that "being efficient at producing addictive video for teens to sell ads for shit they don't need" is BAD, not a "success"

If 100% of his watchers were YouTube Premium subscribers and none of them ever saw an ad, would you feel differently?

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

#793

Post by marxisttemp »

ocean_moist wrote: post #77

Lot of people critiquing this, but you can't deny the success. I think a lot of the advice is applicable to startups. 1. KPIs, for Beast they are CTR, AVD, AVP, will look different if you are a startup. I am willing to bet he knows his metrics better than >95% of startup founders. Because he is literally hacking/being judged by an algorithm, his KPIs will matter more and can be closely dissected. Startups aren't that…

> Rewarding employees who make value for the business and think like founders/equity owners, not employees.

The best way to get employees to think like equity owners is to give them equity. But I guess the name of the game in our times is to somehow expect people with no equity to work even harder for the company than the equity holders do, right? Let me know how that works out.

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

#794

Post by darby_nine »

ocean_moist wrote: post #77

Lot of people critiquing this, but you can't deny the success. I think a lot of the advice is applicable to startups. 1. KPIs, for Beast they are CTR, AVD, AVP, will look different if you are a startup. I am willing to bet he knows his metrics better than >95% of startup founders. Because he is literally hacking/being judged by an algorithm, his KPIs will matter more and can be closely dissected. Startups aren't that…

> Lot of people critiquing this, but you can't deny the success.

Presumably the issue is not the result but rather the means and cost. The practice of justifying the means with the ends is famously behavior most people try to avoid sharing a society with and, in fact, behavior people generally try to end once discovering.

EDIT: To be sure, employees could be quite happy there and there's little negativity to discuss—but the tone in the above post raised concerns.

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

#795

Post by mdgrech23 »

darby_nine wrote: post #789

I can't be the only person disturbed by the penetration of terms like "obsession" into nominally professional culture. You should not be asking your employees to qualify for DSM symptoms just to not get fired (with severance, lol, that is genuinely a step up from nothing even if it's clearly meant to soften the psychological shock of reading about A- B- and C- employees).

this is why we need unions.

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

#796

Post by philipwhiuk »

anamexis wrote: post #761
whiterknight wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Billions of views and total YouTube dominance disagree with you.

No, they're not exclusive at all. As the guide itself says: > 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 videos possible. You can get billions of views and total YouTube do…

It does not define best.

Best revenue? Best profit margin? Best viewed?

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

#797

Post by dogleash »

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…

>I see it all the time in large organizations, where different teams forget what the goal of the company is and instead get hyperfocused on their teams KPI's to the detriment of the company as a whole.

I thought it was well understood that this kind of misalignment is the cost of someone afraid to admit outloud what the goal is.

Mr. Beast, like Hollywood production companies before him, can say "don't forget, your job is lowest common denominator slop."

This is hacker news, so take a tech giant (doesn't matter which) and imagine what it would mean for leadership to tell the rank and file what their actual goals were. For starters it would be internally demoralizing, externally scandalous, and include mens rea for many of their legal "whoopsie daisies" over the years.

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

#798

Post by azemetre »

codedokode wrote: post #777
latentcall wrote: post #770

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes agreed. Another commenter said YT is the most valuable educational tool in existence today. I think the real answer is a library. YouTube is 99% junk and just because 1% of it is decent, that doesn’t make up for the 99%.

Maybe but YT recommendations are good enough so that you don't see those 99% you are not interested in.

Trusting an algorithm that wants you to watch the next video for ad impressions may not be the unbiased metric you think it is.

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

#799

Post by meowface »

latentcall wrote: post #770
gleventhal wrote: post #359

I don't have the energy for an intellectual debate, but personally, I have the sense that Youtube is net bad for the world and the monetization of Youtube has incentivized and amplified mediocrity, stupidity, and social decay. I don't follow or watch Mr Beast videos, but from what I've seen, they are largely driven by a money fetish and as far as "creativity", it feels on par with the more boring "What would you rath…

Yes agreed. Another commenter said YT is the most valuable educational tool in existence today. I think the real answer is a library. YouTube is 99% junk and just because 1% of it is decent, that doesn’t make up for the 99%.

There are plenty of terrible books and trash novels. Easily 99% of books are junk (often junk dressed up as non-junk). I think it's very possible that in 2024, YouTube is net more educational than reading. (Speaking in terms of total amount of knowledge acquisition.)

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

#800

Post by mc32 »

bayindirh wrote: post #698
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…

> 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…

>- Ford didn't fix Pinto's fuel tank, prioritizing cost minimization over "best possible car in its class".

This is a nit-pick, but for the record, The Pinto didn't explode at higher rates than other similar automobiles, also there wasn't an internal Ford Memo, it was an attachment to a letter to the NHTSA --but all people remember is the this so called "memo" Anyhow a myth was born and it seemingly refuses to die. By the numbers:

In 1975-76, the Pinto averaged 310 fatalities a year. But the similar-size Toyota Corolla averaged 313, the VW Beetle 374 and the Datsun 1200/210 came in at 405.

Additional info: https://newmarksdoor.typepad.com/mainblog/2005/07/the_pinto_...

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