The YouTube Advice MrBeast Gave Initialized’s Garry Tan; TikTok Eyes Podcasting

Garry Tan, the co-founder and managing partner of early-stage venture firm Initialized Capital, was chatting on live audio app Clubhouse early last year when YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson offered a critique of Tan’s YouTube channel. Donaldson, who goes by MrBeast, said Tan’s “thumbnails and titles were garbage” and “they effing sucked,” Tan recalled. 

Once he got past the initial shock, the feedback helped him make some changes, Tan said in an interview with The Information on Friday. Tan’s YouTube channel, which he started posting on about three years ago, now has about 212,000 subscribers, up from about 5,000 when he spoke to MrBeast, Tan said. On Twitter, he has more than 240,000 followers.