The Future of Veritasium

(cardboard thudding) (cardboard crunching) - Am I retiring?

That is the question I will answer in this video, and you can skip ahead to the answer if you like, but I think it'll make more sense if I explain.

You know, I started this YouTube channel in 2011 after quitting my full-time job.

And welcome to Veritasium.

In units of kilogram.

I was teaching around 15 hours a week to pay the bills.

This is the repre- But the other 40 to 50 hours per week, I spent making videos on this channel, and I didn't do it for the money.

Gives mass to the other subatomic part- I don't think anyone who started at that time did, because there was basically no money to be made.

In my first year working full time, I made $840.

In my second year, I earned $12,000.

The real reason I made Veritasium is because it allowed me to combine the three things that I always loved doing the most, learning about science, teaching, and creating, like performing and making videos.

I did not get into this to start a business.

I personally think I'd be terrible at selling things.

I'm not one of those people who can say, "You've gotta try this.

It'll change your life."

You know, back in 2015, I kickstarted a magnetic molecular modeling kit called Snatoms, and I still sell it on Amazon, but I hardly ever mention it because I don't wanna bother you.

And I figure if you're looking for something like that, well maybe, you'll find it.

Hello?

- [Passerby] Very nice.

- Thank you.

I almost never ask you to like, comment, or subscribe.

I wanna thank you for watching.

Because I figure you know what you wanna do.

And I'm not a growth hacker.

We don't sell cheap merch, no t-shirts or hoodies.

I want you to get more value outta me than I get out of you.

You know, the only thing that I am really passionate about is the truth, and the best way to get to the truth is through science.

Our universe is an extraordinary place, and I think most people go through life oblivious to how it actually works.

How does the boat go forwards?

- Yeah, escape that.

Well again, well, I know, I know it does but again, I don't have all the answers.

- I think that's not just unfortunate.

It has real negative consequences.

To give an example, in 1958, Dr. Benjamin Spock published in his book, "Baby and Child Care," that babies should be put down to sleep on their fronts rather than their backs to prevent them from choking on their own vomit.

And this book outsold every other book, except the Bible, for its 52 year print run.

So, it was pretty influential.

But when empirical studies showed that babies sleeping on their fronts were actually more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome, well, the book was not promptly updated.

It was printed with the same bad advice for decades, leading to an estimated 50,000 unnecessary deaths.

The point is we lead better and happier lives when they're in accordance with how the world actually is, rather than just how it appears to be or how we'd like it to be.

That is why an undercurrent of every video is how do we know what's true, how would we know if we were wrong, because I want to increase the level of critical thinking in the world.

That is the fundamental mission of Veritasium.

Now so far, this is basically just like- By 2013, I was fortunate enough that this dream job YouTube channel started to produce enough income to live off.

So I quit all other work, and this has been my main gig ever since.

(suspenseful music) I can't believe all the things I've gotten to do, and I want to thank you, someone who's watched at least one of these videos, for making it possible.

But I have to acknowledge my biggest fear and what I think is the biggest challenge facing any creator, which is precariousness.

This is a job that comes with a lot of uncertainty.

I mean, how much you make in any given month depends on how many views your channel got in that month.

And then, there's the comment section and the fact that your sense of self worth is basically tied to how well your videos are received.

But by far, the biggest source of uncertainty is just not knowing when this is all going to end, like when are you going to upload your last successful video, when are you no longer going to be able to make a living doing what you have been doing.

In 2018, I had a call with my contact at YouTube who told me I needed to quote, "Stay relevant."

Yeah, that stung a bit.

Now, I'm not gonna name names, but I have seen friends and other creators who have stopped making stuff for a whole bunch of reasons, like maybe they've gotten injured or gotten really sick.

I know of other YouTubers who've been canceled or demonetized.

I mean, there's just a million ways for things to go wrong and only really one way for them to continue to go right.

I think by far the scariest proposition is that the YouTube algorithm just stops showing your videos to people.

I think that's the scariest, because it is so common and it's completely out of your control.

A violinist placed in one of these rooms was apparently banging on.

The way I dealt with this precariousness was by limiting my expenses.

I didn't buy any more equipment than was strictly necessary.

I didn't book travel to filming locations.

But if someone else was flying me out, I might try to tag on a shoot.

That is Chernobyl Nuclear reactor number 4.

I did all the research, writing, filming, and editing myself.

Even the crappy animations, yes, all of that was me.

As long as it was just my time going into this channel and me depending on it for survival, I was okay.

Hello, and thank you for supporting.

When I had my first kid in 2016, I launched a Patreon to try to ensure that I could always take care of my family, but the channel continued to grow.

It grew to a size where it was ridiculous that I was still doing everything myself.

I was working all the time.

I am perhaps the slowest editor you will ever meet, so I should have hired an editor, but hiring takes time.

And on how many days was hiring someone at the top of my priority list?

Well, zero, because I was always focused on making that next video.

There's been a number of missions like- Now, I did eventually start hiring people, but not because I was looking for them, just because they found me.

I mean, the first person I worked with consistently was Jonny Hyman.

And I only found him because he recognized me in a Chipotle.

He is ridiculously talented.

He's researched and written for this channel, plus he's edited, done VFX, made simulations.

He's even written and produced music, original music for videos, and you're listening to some of it right now.

I hired Petr Lebedev because he did a PhD with my old PhD supervisor.

I hired Emily Zang 20 minutes into a Zoom call and told her to move across the country.

I found out about you through a friend, Xyla Foxlin.

- I remember I just got a text from you and I was like, "Oh my god, Derek Muller was texting me."

I be like, "Oh my God, Veritasium, Mr. Veritasium was texting me," and you were just like, "Can you hop on a FaceTime later today?"

And I was like, "Well, this is a different interview process."

- We talked for half an hour.

- Yeah.

- And then I said, "Do you wanna work with me?

Do you wanna fly to LA and like work together?"

- And I was like, "I guess. In how soon?"

And you were like, "As soon as you physically can."

(Derek and Emily laughing) - The only person I actively sought out on a job board was my editor, Trenton.

My two main animators, Ivy and Fabio, I got through cold emails.

What did you say?

- I said, "Are you looking for someone to have good animations?"

And you said yes, you were.

- Ivy sent me an email saying, "I've seen your animations and I think I can do better."

"Your animations-" - I wasn't so straightforward. - "Aren't the best."

so straightforward. - "Aren't the best."

I was like slightly offended reading the email, but I was also like, "Well, if you think you can do better, let's see it."

We also got our first intern, Casper, through a cold email.

- And we said yes.

- No, you said no.

- We said no?

- You were like, "We can't do that right now, but would you like to research, write, and produce a video as a freelancer?"

- Oh.

- And I was like, "That's crazy."

- In short, I wasn't very good at finding people.

But if they found me and seemed decent, then I was happy to give them a shot.

By 2021, I had this talented little team of writer, producers, animators, and an editor.

So you might think that I could delegate tasks to them and work fewer hours, but what actually happened was the opposite.

I was working more than than ever before because I had to prepare things for them to do and I had to train them up.

You know, I was still editing about half of the videos, and for the other half, I would often drive across Los Angeles in the middle of the night to pick up a hard drive from my editor, because this is the fastest method of data transfer that we worked out.

And then I would drive back home, upload the file, and launch the video by 6:00 AM.

I pulled more all-nighters that year than any other year of my life, including university.

There were many nights where instead of tucking my kids into bed, I was downstairs in the office making videos for this channel.

So, that is when my fiance told me something that I already knew, which was that this was not sustainable.

And yes, she was still my fiance because even though we got engaged seven years previous and had three kids together, we hadn't found the time to have a wedding.

So the timing was kind of perfect when in 2022, these two guys, Owen and Ian, approached me about investing in Veritasium.

They had started a company called Electrify, with the stated aim of helping educational creators build better businesses and achieve work-life balance.

- We loved Veritasium for what it had been doing for I guess 13 years at that point.

And we just wanna keep that going and do more and even more of that great stuff.

- So the deal they offered me was this.

They would buy some of the business, but I would remain an owner.

They would take care of things like hiring, production, logistics, you know, corporate compliance, taxes, all that sort of stuff.

And they would reduce my working hours.

So, it was kind of the perfect offer at the perfect time.

I never wanted to deal with hiring, and taxes, and all that stuff.

I just wanted to make videos, you know?

Like that's always what it's been about.

Learn about science, make a great video.

Plus with the cash they would pay up front for equity, well, that would reduce the precariousness of being a creator, especially at a time when AI was coming on the scenes and shorts were just starting.

There was a lot more uncertainty than usual.

And this would allow me to always be able to provide for my family, which most importantly, with fewer working hours, I would have a lot more time to spend.

So, it was kind of a no brainer.

I signed the deal in April, 2023, and since then, Veritasium has been owned and run by me and Electrify.

Now, I've seen some comments concerned with how the investment will affect the channel, which I totally get.

I mean, would they cut costs, reduce the video quality, and just pump out way more videos to boost short-term profits?

But fortunately, you don't have to wonder what Electrify will do, because we've already been working together for nearly three years.

So, I can show you what we have done.

We have produced some of the most successful videos in the channel's history.

In fact, the three videos you collectively have spent the most time watching were all produced in this period.

The videos on forever chemicals, blue LEDs, and black holes, white holes, and wormholes.

Videos like these have steadily increased the amount of time that people are spending watching Veritasium.

In fact, the last four months have seen a record amount of time that people are spending watching the channel.

Since the deal, the number of subscribers on the channel has increased by 50%.

These results have not been achieved by simply pumping out more videos.

In fact, the number of main channel videos has remained basically constant.

We've also not tried to make shorter videos.

We've continued to do deep dives into complex scientific topics.

And because of that, the length of videos has continued to increase.

But that's a trend that began before Electrify.

The real way we've been able to grow is by adding more people.

There are now over 30 people working on Veritasium, writer directors, researchers illustrators animators, editors, and production staff.

These are the people responsible for some of your favorite videos.

I worked with Gregor to make the exposes on Teflon, and PFAS, and Monsanto, with Casper to make entropy, the principle of lease action series, and black holes, white holes, and wormhole.

With Emily, we made blue LEDs and the micromouse competition video.

Henry was responsible for the videos on Alfred Nobel and phone hacking.

Sulli explored the construction of the Citycorp Tower, super glue, and what happened to Amelia Earhart.

Petr wrote and directed the videos on Oppenheimer and Japanese swords.

Emilia did the same for jet engines and lithium ion batteries.

James made the videos on power laws and six degrees of separation.

I could go on, but the point is far from cutting costs, under Electrify, expenses have quadrupled.

Most of that goes to the team.

We are all spread around the world, but we come together a few times a year to connect and figure out how to improve.

When you see a beautifully animated scene, it's not AI.

That was drawn by hand by a person and animated by a person too.

The way our videos are storyboarded now, it's so professional.

It's like a movie studio.

And we have people supporting us in other ways too.

Videos like PFAS or Monsanto might make big companies mad at us.

So we've only been able to make those videos now, because we have access to a legal team who can properly advise us.

You can run things past the legal team, but just see like, are we allowed to say this?

So I mean, it just, it's expanded our capability.

You know, the goal of improving the level of critical thinking in the world is a big one, but on my own, I tackled it almost exclusively by making YouTube videos.

I didn't have the time or bandwidth for anything else.

But with more people and resources, we have expanded our approach.

We're now launching videos regularly on TikTok and Instagram, and we're making original Shorts for YouTube.

We have dubbed our most successful videos into languages like Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Turkish, in addition to maintaining dedicated channels in other languages.

Every week we are publishing a free science newsletter.

And we just kickstarted a science trivia board game with over 11,000 backers.

Other projects like podcasts and additional channels are in the works.

Now, some of these things may not appeal to you, and that's fine, but I hope you agree with me that the world is better off with more rigorously produced science content.

You know, all our facts are checked internally, and we also use multiple experts with every video.

We run it past them to make sure we get everything right.

We also post early versions to our Patreon supporters who graciously help us catch mistakes.

If we ever mess up, and I know it happens, well please let us know.

I welcome your constructive criticism.

I want you to help us improve.

As for me, I have been able to reduce my workload and spend more time with my now four kids.

This summer, we traveled around the Azores, Iceland, biked around Amsterdam, and visited my family in Vancouver.

And just last month, I finally got married to my brilliant, beautiful wife here in Portugal.

(upbeat music) I could not have picked a better or more patient partner with whom to spend the rest of my life.

So, am I retiring?

Well, at some point I will, but it's not exactly clear when that will be.

What I can tell you is that I won't be around as much, which you've probably already gathered over the last year or two.

You know, in some upcoming videos, I will not appear at all, even if I'm guiding things in the background.

And this is to give me more time to spend with my family and to read books, and exercise, and contemplate other projects.

You know, I am proud that what started as my passion project, now employs dozens of people.

I am inspired by each and every one of them, and I have the utmost confidence in their abilities.

You know, they're paid well and they produce excellent work.

At one of our meetings, I walked into this room to see all these super intelligent people who have taken up the mission of increasing the level of critical thinking in the world.

And that's when it hit me that I am no longer doing this alone.

It's no longer just one guy pushing a boulder uphill.

Now, the team is like a juggernaut.

They're like this train barreling down the tracks with their own momentum.

So, I genuinely can't wait to see what we're able to accomplish together.

I hope you'll join us.

And if you have any questions or ideas for the channel, please put them down in the comments.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(techno music) (logo whizzing)