TubeTalk: Your YouTube How-To Guide

How Speeed Can Make A Video About ANYTHING And Make It Successful

• vidIQ • Season 6 • Episode 50

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We walk through how the guys left Donut, built Speeed from scratch, and learned to balance inspiration with packaging without burning out. We share what worked, what flopped, and why authenticity is the only sustainable strategy on YouTube.

• lessons from High Low and big-budget production
• why we left and how we kept it respectful
• first upload panic and the rebound
• the “magazine” model beyond cars
• experiments that outperformed expectations
• packaging rules: idea first, thumbnail second
• what the algorithm gets right and wrong
• analytics traps with the 1–10 ranking
• tools, sponsors, and weekly ops pressure
• small-channel shoutouts and influences
• live two-minute channel pitch challenge

If you're new to Speeed, you can check them out. There'll be a link in the description as well as the show notes if you're listening to audio podcast.


SPEAKER_01:

At the end of the day, for YouTube, you have to be authentic. That's the only way to be sustainable.

SPEAKER_02:

There is no guarantee. You can come from the biggest platform on the face of the planet and then try something else, and it doesn't work. So this was never guaranteed. Hey, welcome to the only podcast that brings you more guests per episode than any other podcast in the history of podcasting. I'm Travis, and I'm here with an incredible group of creators I've known for quite a long time, and I'm super excited to have here. They are the team behind Speed here on YouTube. And we're going to introduce each one individually. Usually I say, tell us about yourself, but there's like three other people here. So let's start with a person you probably know a little bit best. Uh, that would be James from Speed. How are you doing, James? Tell everyone about yourself.

SPEAKER_04:

Um doing good. My name is James Pumphrey. Uh I am a co-founder of the YouTube channel Speed with three E's. Um and uh previously from Donut Media. And uh yeah, I'm the one in the videos. There you go. Or not the one anymore, I guess. Though these guys are in the videos quite a bit now, too. So awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh and the one who uh I've known probably the longest out of these entire groups is Jesse. Jesse, tell everyone about yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, good morning, good morning. Uh I'm not sure what my title is here at Speed. I don't know if any of us know exactly what our titles are. Um, but do a bit of everything. Um uh also previously at Donut. Um, I was a chief creative officer at Donut um and left and started speed with James. Um and yeah, just uh continuing to wear multiple hats. Uh but we can dive into those.

SPEAKER_04:

Started speed with James and Zach in SR.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, Dan Jesse and Zach now, Zach uh 30 seconds in. Well, people don't know who Zach is yet, so now Zach. Who are you?

SPEAKER_04:

How did you get in?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'm Zach, I guess, one of the co-founders of Speed. Uh and yeah, I I kind of to Jesse's point do a little bit of everything. Um help write the videos, shoot the videos, sometimes edit the videos. Uh kind of try to stay out of the business and admin side and make that Jesse's job. I've been pretty avoidant of that. I'm like, yeah, I just make the videos over here. Um but yeah, and been in been with these guys uh since the donut days was over there for I don't know, six years or so, yeah, from early days. So been on that YouTube journey with them and now on a new one.

SPEAKER_04:

I'd say we're all creative director, and then we all have like a job after that as well.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

A job. Oh, so that's just one of the many cats.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, so we're all like creative directors, and then Zach actually directs most of the videos. Jesse handles a bunch of the like phone stuff, like being on the phone, and uh I handle a lot of like I don't know, talking parts. He brings the magic, maybe the genetic qual.

SPEAKER_02:

The talking part's kind of important for YouTube, I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. Um, but let's talk a little bit about how you guys got here. So, where most people would know your guys' work from and James your face from is from Donut Media, which is where I met you guys, where I did some consulting for Donut. I still do. Um, and there was a lot of really cool creative things you guys did there. For those who don't know, Donut is kind of this really cool. You can say it's a car channel, but it's it's not just a car channel. Like there's all types of really cool things going on there. James, of all the projects you worked on over there, what was kind of like one of your more favorite projects you worked on?

SPEAKER_04:

I mean, I'd say that the peak of Donut would be high low. Um, I think that was the first time that we stepped out of a hallway and like away from a green screen and decided that all right, we're gonna do stuff in the real world. And then we did multiple seasons of it, and it was to be able to make one thing once that was really successful was like a real achievement for us. But then to have a series that we could recreate multiple times and get to the point where we could like sell it to for like a lot of money to a brand with the confidence that we were gonna deliver was you know like a huge thing for us, and I think not something that happens a lot. And then I'd say like from a creative standpoint, you know, like Zach that like Zach directed all of the high lows, and Jesse directed the first season of Hilo. And so I think that like in a lot of ways, what we carried over on to speed was the relationships and like not like friendship aside, but like the working relationship and the shorthand, and just like a lot of the experience that I think we've gained came from that show. Um, and you know, like dealing with like big budgets and not screwing up, I think was like a huge rite of passage for us. Shooting multiple days, dealing with like a bunch of moving parts. Inevitably, everything goes wrong. Um, and we have to figure it out and like a mix of like improv but also very heavily written, like there was like travel elements involved. And so I just think like that uh series really just kind of checked all the boxes, and it was kind of everything that Donut was from like the history stuff, the video essay, the science stuff, the like working on cars stuff. It was kind of like everything together.

SPEAKER_01:

I I think that Hilo was like an interesting uh spot in the Venn diagram between like it was loose enough that it's still like in terms of from a production approach, loose enough that it still uh allowed like the YouTube uh magic and spontaneity to happen, but also still uh tight enough uh that you know we could operate a production at that scale. Um, and I think like to me, that's the thing that I'm most proud of with that because there were so many moving pieces and schedules and like James said, travel. Um, but so keeping all of those things operational and like at least roughly on time, but still leaving enough, you know, like slop um in there that we could still kind of let magic happen along the way.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you agree with all that, Zach? Or are these guys wrong?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, High Low was awesome. I mean, what a product too to like sell to a brand where you're like, hey, we're gonna make eight of these. They're guaranteed gonna average two million views, and the audience loves it. And we were at a point by the time we were making like the third and fourth ones that it was clockwork for us, essentially. You know, like there's a lot of discovery in the first one and the second one, even, and there's always something we're pushing ourselves on each time we revisit it because we want to try something new. But ultimately, you're getting to a place where it's a team of people who've done this, you know, this is our third time, oh, this is our fourth time, and we've just got this huge product that you can sell to a brand with so much confidence. Where we're kind of in the opposite situation now where we're very experimental and we're like, what's gonna work? Let's try this, let's try this. Where by the third high low, it was like, we know like exactly what we're doing. We're just in a machine right now, churning it out um with a lot of confidence. And we have confidence, but it's definitely much more experimental what we have going on now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I remember like the first conversation uh I had with James and uh Jess and Jesse uh right after. So I remember Jesse telling me that you guys were leaving Donut, and I'm like, oh, that's gonna be interesting. And then when we sat down, um, I it might have even been after you posted your first video um when you guys were like, Yeah, we're not just gonna do car stuff. I was like, oh, that's really interesting, but very risky in a way, right? Because it could just not work. Like people know James from Donut, so show me car stuff and be funny. And um, and we're gonna definitely talk about how you guys have made that work on the channel. Because I think that's the most interesting thing about speed right now is how you guys are able to do different types of content and it make it work, but we'll talk about that a little later. But coming in, like, I mean, first of all, tell me, I want to hear each one of your stories about like what it was like, and you're like, okay, this is the time to leave donut and do this thing, like bet it bet on myself, so to speak, or bet on yourself, or in a lot of ways, bet on James. Because, like, really, to be honest, if if James fell apart for whatever reason, uh, it kind of falls apart for everybody. So, James, let's start with you. Um, what was it like to go, okay? I'm gonna I need to do this on my own. Um, I'm bringing these guys along, and uh, it kind of is on your shoulders.

SPEAKER_04:

I think if any of us fell apart, I think speed would fall apart. So um I think it's a very uh there is no like leader or whatever, and I think that everyone and I don't and I'm not just saying this, I think we have a group uh that contributes pretty equally, and I think you can see people's signatures pretty hard on every piece of content that we make. And so like I really do believe that if it weren't for any of like the original four people like us, and then SR, our editor, I don't think that speed would definitely not look like it does, and I would be I would potentially go so far as to say, like, I don't know if it would have been uh whatever degree of success it is at this point, because because it is so early, and everyone is like everyone is basically like the department heads of donut, and so um everyone was like confident enough to really put their stank on everything, and so like the reason our stuff looks like it does is because of SR, uh SR's interpretation of like any note that we gave. The reason our stuff like moves in the way it does is like Zach. Like the other day I was talking to Zach and I got like teary-eyed because I was like, yo, like I don't think this would work without you, or I know that this wouldn't work without you. Um but yeah, so and yeah, we're like the four of us together. I say this a lot, like makes one pretty good guy. And so because of that, I think we're confident into making uh some of the types of content we do where like sometimes we'll give like advice to our younger audience. Um yeah, I don't know. I think the writing was on the wall for a long time at Donut. I think that we did some really, really cool stuff there, and I think it was just this like lightning in a bottle thing that we were all kind of pulled into, and we didn't know what it was gonna turn into, but we all got there at the same time, and it's just this like awesome thing that happened where like a bunch of young dudes were given way more responsibility uh and way more creative control than like in other situations they would have been given, you know. And at the helm, we had this like really young, like kind of brilliant executive, uh Matt Levin, you know, hiring all of us and encouraging us to uh try huge things and like sometimes waste money, which is insane. And I think like Matt was really great at asking us questions. Um, and so like Jesse and I definitely had creative control at Donut, but like we'd have these meetings with Matt, and he'd come and he'd have like he'd be like, So, are we uh a DIY channel or are we an entertainment channel? And you could tell he had been thinking about that like for like two weeks, and we'd be like, hmm, I think we're an entertainment channel. He's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then like from then on, we were an entertainment channel. So if any like situation came up, it's like, well, that's which way it will go, and they're just like a million of those things, and I think that like anything that magical has sort of an expiration date, you know, especially and like I'm be I'm past being upset about this fact, but like we didn't own it and it wasn't ours, and so like to be to have this like magical moment that happened and like that moment is over, you can either just kind of continue doing that thing that, or you can like go off and start your own thing and scare yourself again and uh try and create like a totally different, totally new magical moment. And I think that that is what we're doing right now.

SPEAKER_02:

The crazy thing about Matt is first of all, he he was an incredible guy. I say like he's dead, he's not dead. He actually hired me to help uh help donut and stuff. Uh, so I'm ever thankful for him. And then when he went away, he went away and did a YouTube channel and overly successful. Like, what is that? That was first video out. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

My narcissistic, like my self-absorb shit, like not my narcissistic tendencies are like he did that just to tell me that he could.

SPEAKER_02:

It's wild. So, just for people who don't know, like again, like was just explained, Matt ran donut, uh, then um left donut, and then just sprung up some random YouTube channel about like comics or something, is getting millions of views. And I'm like, he could have been teaching all of us. What what was I there for? He had no face IP to bring with him.

SPEAKER_00:

He was totally fusing.

SPEAKER_04:

He was on Donut one time on a phone call and he made us blur his face out.

SPEAKER_02:

He's a magician. And uh, Matt, if you're listening to this man, I miss you, brother. Uh what a what a great what a great guy he is. Uh Jesse, let's talk a little bit about that. So the transition from donut to speed, um, one of the things that uh I'm I'm curious about is you have this kind of um, I mean, it is like once it becomes more corporate y, it's like, I mean, I really kind of want to do this thing, but you really are jumping off a bridge. You're like, there's this thing I know, and then there's this thing I don't know, which can be very scary. And you were in a very influential part of that company. Was there a moment where you're like, maybe this isn't such a good idea? Oh, for sure. Yeah, it is February this year. Yeah. Uh every week.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh no, I mean, yeah, it it's certainly scary, and especially, you know, not only leaving to start a new thing, but also leaving to do a thing that isn't exclusively cars and like you know, resting on our laurels and all the best practices and stuff that we learned over the years with donut. But I think also, you know, at the end of the day, we were working there for you know, push in 10 years, making thousands of uh very specific kind of set of car videos. Um, and candidly, I was just kind of for me personally, and I think the guys will probably agree with this to some extent, but I was just kind of burnt out. Um, you know, after I left, I spent some time just I went I literally drove to New York and just kind of did nothing and like walked around New York, New York for weeks on end. Um and James would, you know, James and I would talk, and uh for a while I really did not want to do anything that had to do with cars. Um you know, uh, but eventually, you know, I kind of came came around on it to introducing a piece of that because it you know, we still all love uh cars from a personal standpoint. Um so I think it was like taking a step back to reassess like what is authentic to us, and I think you know, we're not just one-dimensional people, the cars certainly are a big part of our personalities. Um, but I think like reassessing that what's authentic to us is yes, some car stuff, but also other things as well. Um, and so I think like at the end of the day for YouTube, you have to be authentic to who you are. That's the only way to be sustainable, frankly. Um and so like that that was kind of the breath of fresh air, is just kind of reassessing um and doing like a new spin that was like true to all of us.

SPEAKER_02:

Zach, how was this whole thing pitched to you to like uh spin off, do something new? Like, and what were your thoughts, honest thoughts going through your head as this was happening?

SPEAKER_04:

Zach was the first person I pitched speed to. I pitched it. I pitched it to Zach and Matt Levin first, so so that and then they liked it, and then I could go to Jesse and be like, well, Zach and Matt think it's a good idea. I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think James told me, and honestly, the idea is not what speed is now. Um I think the original idea was kind of just as you know, James had a popular series on at Donut called Up to Speed, where he did the history of each car. And so it's like, yeah, what if we did up to speed, but just about anything? Um, and specifically James is very into menswear, but it could be beyond that as well. Uh and I was like, Yeah, I mean, frankly, like James has such good charisma that I'm like, if you want to make a history show and it's the history of anything, um, I that can work on YouTube for sure. Um and that's not what speed has become, but that was the original pitch, and I was like, that's a great idea. And at this point, I don't even know. And James was definitely interested in me coming on. I think where was I at at the time? I was doing a big project with Donut. I knew the split was coming. This might have been like before everything. And so I felt like me personally, professionally, I had a lot of options as far as like where am I gonna where am I gonna be a year from now with this whole kind of explosion happening? Um and I honestly, it was when you said SR was coming on, who is the fourth, uh, that I was kind of like, I don't care what the YouTube strategy is. I think I you know, like if somebody pitched me on a channel idea and I thought the strategy was great, that could be a reason I would join them. I joined because the talent in the room, though. I was like, I don't we all know enough about YouTube that I'm not that that worried about us figuring it out. I just really believe in James, really believe in Jesse, really believe in SR. And so I'm like, the talent is in the room, we'll figure it out. Like, I don't have any doubts about that. So that's kind of what was the determining factor for me, more so even than the idea of what speed will be, was just like, I just know with these four guys, we've all been doing this so long that like we will figure it out.

SPEAKER_04:

It might take us some time, but and I think that that gave us the ability to like like Zach said, speed is very different than it was when I pitched it to him that first time. And I think one of the reasons that it feels like it is starting to work a little bit is because we the four of us can evolve pretty quickly, and we talk about it a lot, but like I think it's we're sort of like building it as we go, we're like throwing the road in front of us as we drive, and I think that because of that and our ability to adapt and like our faith in each other, like pulling it off. Like, I think that's the reason that like it's not planned, it's just kind of happening.

SPEAKER_02:

One of the things that I remember having an early conversation with you guys about was um not pooping on donut when you left. Because it's such an easy thing to do. You're you know, you you leave a place that you work on, you're like, that place was garbage or whatever. You didn't do that. As a matter of fact, I think the video you did was almost a love letter to Donut in a in a lot of ways, which definitely could endear you to a lot of people because you could get uh mixed into the drama of what happened or whatever, and there were certainly a lot of channels that covered it, which was kind of crazy. But um you really just had a genuinely cool video that I when I watched it, I was like, Yeah, that's exactly the way you know you leave something like that. Because you just don't want to burn bridges regardless of anything. And I know you've been back to do some collabs and stuff, but um what was what's your mindset about that? Because again, it is a different place now than it was, and that video again, I still think is an in so many ways. I learned a lot of things in watching it. Just a really well done video. Um, what was the thought process behind how that you guys came up with that particular video?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, when you get a divorce, you don't start being mean to your kids. Okay, fair. Fair. And uh I think that you know the other guys will agree too. At this point, like donut is still probably the coolest thing that we've ever done, and we're extremely proud of all of the work that we did there. And I don't think that it would do us any good, or like do like the legacy of what we built any good to like you know, like taint it with whatever happened at the end of our relationship with like the people who ended up buying it, or like the people who ended up being in charge, you know. So I think like Donut was a project that we worked on that I think we did a really great job on. And so, you know, it's I just want to like keep it as that, and then that video is sort of like I think we are pretty good at storytelling, like we really like it, and I think there Jesse and I had a very unique POV of Donut because we were there from the very beginning, you know, like in a lot of ways, Jesse and I started Donut, and so we wanted to, and there's a lot of guys who were there before we started doing Up to Speed who would tell a totally different story of like what Donut was, and then there was a bunch of people who showed up after like we were already doing in like season three of High Low that have a totally different perspective of what Donut was and is, and like that's their people, that's their story. But I think Jesse and I were so involved in everything up until we left that we wanted to like lock it down so we never had to talk about it ever again. And well, no, in like a way, like we didn't have to like be like, no, actually, here's what happened, right? Like, we were like, hey, here's what happened. Yeah, here's our story, here's the thing that we spent the last nine years doing, and so like this is canon, and we didn't think anyone else was gonna ever do it. So we were just like, and we didn't want to do it, like I wouldn't do it now, but like a year ago, it was like very appropriate for us to do it, and it was just like a love letter to this thing that we did, and like, okay, cool, canon, let's like move on.

SPEAKER_02:

I was going back and forth with Jesse on email. I think I think James, you might be on it too, because initially, when you put it out, it wasn't doing well, but again, it was your first video ever. So you guys were panicking a little bit. Um, I think you were comparing yourself to uh big time a little bit. Uh, I think we could say that. What I think the funniest and probably worst thing you did was change the name of your channel briefly. Uh, and then we had you turn it back. So tell me what the mindset was. Because by the time you guys had done that, I heard about it after the fact, and I was like, no, no, no, go back. And I explained how search works. Tell me what was going on in your mind when you're like, okay, we gotta do this, we gotta do this.

SPEAKER_00:

James is a classic uh 30 minutes into upload panic type guy, by the way. Every video, every video, nothing's changed, Travis. Uh and this was just the first video.

SPEAKER_02:

There wasn't, there was no, there was nothing else there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, so we put out the first video, uh, and I mean, obviously, we're nervous about it, and then it wasn't performing very well. Um, because we didn't like throw from a donut video into our video or anything.

SPEAKER_01:

So, like it was just blank slate the algorithm.

SPEAKER_04:

Hello, new channel. And like at one point, like 80% of our views, or like 60% of our views, were coming from like my Instagram story. And so, like, it was doing okay, very underwhelming. And uh, we put it out on a Thursday, and Jesse and I had already like like I had like called him and I was like, you know what, man, we did this once, we're gonna do it again, like brick by brick. We'll just like build, build, build. We got this, and then the next morning I woke up and the graph was like straight up, and it just felt like it felt like we were on a desert island and we saw a helicopter. Like it was just like so much relief. Um, and it ended up performing really well, but like it was just like it needed our guys to find it, and it really in that moment, like, really, it was yeah, we were on an island, and the the rescue team was our guys, it was our audience, and so like our audience finally found us, and they were like, You're good, and we're like, Oh, great, and uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and and props to you, Travis, because I I don't remember when exactly it was that we talked to you, but uh it was while it was still doing bad, and I said it was don't worry about it, it's gonna do fine, and then like a day later, you email me go, look at this. Yeah, yeah. So Travis had faith.

SPEAKER_04:

Um, I definitely said out loud to somebody, I think I've ruined my life. Was that when you changed the channel back to your name? Or was that a tough three days? But I think we needed it, it humbled us a little bit. And so, like, I think we've been approaching every video, remembering that feeling.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, first ones are scary anyway. So let's talk a bit about the strategy now. Like, speed is this interesting channel that in its name you would think is car related. And you do still do car stuff. Let's be clear, you still do do some car stuff, but you're able to do stuff that has nothing to do with cars. And I think in a vacuum, if someone were to come to me and say, I have this popular car channel, but I'm gonna do a video about like pants or something. I'm thinking, bro, if you really want to hurt yourself in life and never want to live again, you can do that. But somehow you guys have videos that perform very well about things that have nothing to do with cars. So let's talk about how you approach a subject that's so far from what your normal core audience is to find a new audience that would be interested in these things. What's the strategy behind all that?

SPEAKER_00:

I would say for us, um number one, I kind of we're very lucky to have an established audience uh to begin with. I think that's the only thing that allows us to do this to a certain extent, and to have uh personality like James. Uh but uh I would say our strategy as far as coming into this stuff is just being inspired by people. Because I think something that's lacking in YouTube or that you see across YouTube is, and we found ourselves in this situation where you're making it for the audience so much or for the algorithm so much that you don't even care about like the thing you're making. You're just making it because you know it's a good title, you know it's gonna perform well, there's all these other things influencing you, but you yourself are like not that interested or inspired to make this video. And after uh a long, you know, like years and years working in YouTube, I think that can lead to burnout. I think we all feel that way. So we're like, look, if you if you feel really inspired by this subject or this thing where you think it's interesting, and that could be me, it could be Jesse, it could be James, could be SR, uh, we kind of like bring it to the table. We're like, I've been reading about this, or like I've been kind of getting into this. Like, could we make a video about that? James really wants to make a video about snowboarding right now because he doesn't know how and he wants to learn how. We will never make that video until we think there's a YouTube appropriate format and there is a title. Interesting. But I think there's been so much about working title backwards on YouTube and packaging backwards that you can get really lost in that. And so we're trying to kind of go back to how you probably feel when you're making your first YouTube videos, which is you have this idea, you're not even thinking about title and thumbnail because you don't know that that's important. And you're just focused on the content of the video, this thing that you really like, and you want to make this thing, this video, and your mistake is that you give it a terrible title and thumbnail, and over time you learn, oh, I need good packaging. So we're trying to kind of go back to that like initial inspired feeling. And then we will still never make the video if we can't come up with a good title and thumbnail. Like right now, we have no title and thumbnail for James's snowboarding video, so it's right now it's not gonna get made. But maybe it does. So like we keep thinking. So it's kind of this like stay inspired, and we do believe the algorithm has I think it's gotten better at determining like a video that's quality content and getting it to the people who want to see it. So as long as you uh feel good about like as long as we feel good about it, it's coming from like an inspired place, then we'll make it after. So that's like step one, and then step two is like, well, how does this work on YouTube? Like, let's use all the stuff that we know to make this work on YouTube. And that's to us, maybe it's not optimal, you know, like maybe there is a way we could be getting more views, but it's more sustainable, and we just feel like we're less likely to burn out, we're less likely to get sick of what we're making. And so that's kind of like I does that make sense? That's like kind of our strategy, I think, for coming up with content.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's more of a long play, yeah, if you will.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and I think um it shows in the content because if you again, if you if you just look at the channel, like I'm for example, I'm looking at have a good summer guaranteed. I no way that works on a content. You're the thumbnail is if for people watching on YouTube, you're gonna see this on the thumbnail on YouTube. James just laying on some grass. That's it. And it just says do these six things. It's like, what is this? What is this video even? It's more of a vibe like I really want to know why this video why you guys think this video works on on this channel.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh this was a James, this was James came with the inspiration. You were very you were talking about summer a lot and were really inspired and want to make a video about it.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I think it was I was pretty stoked about just spending the summer with the boys. And uh I think it came from a place of like as an adult, I've definitely missed entire summers uh or entire seasons because you can as an adult. And I think um it was just like thinking that like summer is a thing that should be celebrated and And there's just like a ton of stuff going on and trying. I think in general, a lot of our content is just like trying to encourage people to try. And I think that it's very easy to um sort of get tunnel vision and focus on everything that's like shitty. Um and so I think uh encouraging the audience to like just put a little effort into something and like you'll have a great time. And so like the summer video was really just sort of like uh summer is awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

Take take advantage of it. And I have to say, that one was coming on the heels. We had just done a similar essay, a love letter to cars, a love letter to old cars. Because I think James, again, this was one that was kind of on the burner. James has got his summer idea, right? We're like, okay, well, can this be YouTube optimized? Like, how is this gonna work? Because, like you're saying, it's him laying on the grass, you're like, what is this? Uh, but then we put that one out, and it was kind of this heartfelt video essay format, and it did really well. So that kind of was like, All right, James, let's make your summer video, you know. Like, we've we've seen one case that it can work, we'll give this one a shot.

SPEAKER_04:

And I would say those are like letter from the editor type things. Like, we kind of think of speed as a magazine. So, like, speed is a uh GQ type magazine, and it's been that way from the beginning. Um, I think it's like a men's lifestyle magazine or like a men's style magazine, but like cars are included in men's style, and it's kind of wild that GQ doesn't have cars in it. Um, and so I think in a lot of ways, like again, it needs to be optimized for YouTube, but as far as like the channel's voice, um, as long as we can see it in the same issue of a magazine, then I think um we're willing to like talk about it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02:

I've never heard anyone talk about their channels in magazines. Very interesting because as you say that I look at it, I go, Yeah, I actually can see that. I can totally see that vibe. It's really interesting. Um again, now there's like a Levi, is everything you need to know. And I know you guys probably like, oh, I didn't do that well. It's almost a half a million views. Yeah, you keep it formed, dude.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, talk about one of our like two million view views.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, pick one that crushed, dude. I'd love to talk about those.

SPEAKER_02:

Bro, you're talking about pants, for God's sakes. You only got almost a half a million views. It's probably gonna continue to do well over time. And by the way, that summer video is probably gonna get views every summer. You'll be the Mariah character.

SPEAKER_04:

I'd say, is a big one for us.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, I really think it's gonna do well every year. But like, where did the pants thing come from? I just think that's so funny. Levi's everything you need to know.

SPEAKER_04:

I think that one was honestly like a safe play. I think that one was sort of like um us regressing a little bit and being like, I'll just tell the history of a thing. And instead of history of a car thing, I'll tell the history of a clothes thing. And I think our audience has evolved, or maybe the general YouTube audience in general has evolved a little bit, and they're like, No, you can't just do that anymore. You have to do that plus another thing. So if you look at like the Jaguar video or the Nissan video, like I think we can do very historical heavy stuff, but we need a stronger point of view, and we need sort of like I think the audience is asking for like, why did you make this? You know, and it can't just be like, well, because it's there, dude. It's gotta be, I think you gotta tie it back into something that's sort of happening or like so could be affecting them currently, is my best understanding right now.

SPEAKER_02:

And then you have that testing the same products from 1975 and 2025, which two million views. What's the let's talk about that? Can you take me into the sit-down conversation of the pitch of this video and then everything from pitching it to how it went out?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that one started with a video that's coming out this week about camping with equipment from the 1920s, 1970s, and 2025. Because basically, well, we had the dress better video, had a lot of success, the bicycle video, the bike build had a good amount of success. So we're trying to find these interests that our audience has that we can make videos about that align with our interests, and one of those is like outdoors stuff, right? Camping, things like that. We know that like the overlanding community, there's like good crossover with car content and actually outdoorsmanship. So we're like, let's make this cool camping video. And as we were researching it and finding all the gear and stuff, this kind of other video like premise started to emerge, like another kind of thing of inspiration where it's like just looking at the gear, like we would come across certain things that like we don't need for camping, like some tools or stuff, like as on eBay looking for this old vintage stuff, and we're like, Oh, why don't we just make a comparison video? It's way cheaper than this huge camping video, and we'll just test our audience. It was almost just meant to be a test. Like, how interested are they in seeing the technological change of kind of guy stuff over the last hundred years? And it's a lot easier, we'll shoot in the garage, we don't have to go out and camp, we don't have to buy a bunch of stuff, we can just buy like small things. So it was very much an experiment. Um, and then when it blew up, we were all I think on on Slack, I was like, I don't understand YouTube. I fully admit, like, I thought this was gonna be like a five of ten. It was an experiment. We were gonna read some comments, and then it was like it was a one of ten. It was crazy, but it is such a straightforward, clear, YouTube-built premise, and the video itself, the content itself was good.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think the it was a good play to have Coke uh as the like the primary thing because there's everyone knows Coke, right? So it's an interesting thought right off the bat. He's like, is he gonna drink 1975?

SPEAKER_04:

And again, that's like a little thing that isn't even acknowledged in the video, really, but it is very much in the public zeitgeist and like sort of like the ether where it's like the whole maha thing, and Coke has like corn syrup, and we're like bringing it back to like cane sugar, and so like I'm sure there are a number of people who are like, Oh yeah, I'm gonna watch this, like either pissed about it or something, but it's like it's there, you know. And I think that whenever we can kind of tap into something that's like there, like I think our Carhartt video tapped, it wasn't like about it, but it was like kind of there. It was like during the whole stolen valor, you can't wear work wear conversation on the internet, and so like we didn't make a video about that conversation on the internet, but we made a video during it that the everyone involved in that conversation might be interested in.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh Jesse, what's the most stressful part of this process when you're making one of these videos?

SPEAKER_01:

It's a great question. Um I mean, for for me personally, it's usually just trying to make sure that everything stays in sync from like a production and coordination standpoint, um, that we have all the pieces in place that the sponsors um are lined up appropriately, that we get the ad spots shot and plugged into it, and the thumbnail, um, you know, just like making sure that all of the different pieces that combine to make a successful YouTube video coalesce together because I have faith in James uh and his ability to um, you know, really carry the video um from a personality standpoint and from Zach, uh, you know, making sure that the format is is dialed in, like we were saying, like the team is there, and it's just like kind of making sure that we all doing everything that I can to make sure that we have a good game, if you will. I think like that's the most stressful thing because it's sort of like week in and week out. Um, and so just trying to maintain the correct like equilibrium so that we're all like functioning at our best, I think, is like probably the most stressful part rather than anything specific with each individual video.

SPEAKER_00:

We also slep all thumbnail duties onto Jesse almost every video and put that stress on him.

SPEAKER_02:

What is something that a super fan would love to know about what's going on behind the scenes of speed that like you guys really haven't mentioned before? What would be something interesting or funny, or you guys have like a ritual you do, or is there just something like an inside joke you guys have, or something interesting like that? We just got a dog. Oh hey, really? What can we have mascot?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah, we have a mascot now. So all of our merch, the tag for the speed. He's chilling. The tag for the speed merch is a Doberman. Okay. Um, and so now it's life imitating art. I got a Doberman Pincher on Friday or Saturday. Oh, so don't kidnap him.

SPEAKER_02:

The merch happened before the dog. Yes, it did. Wow. That's interesting. So is he just trying to double down on the branding? What's going on? Yeah, basically. It's like this brand, this is a brand play we're trying to do here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. I mean, I love dogs. I absolutely adore dogs. Uh, look at that. Uh that beautiful dog. Look at that. Look at that. What's her what's their name? Kobe. Kobe, like like the beef. Yep. Or the Laker. Or the Laker, yeah. I mean, you know, okay, sure. Uh beautiful. He came with the name. He's a rescue. Um, but it's not a small dog. Dobrin's are not small dogs. No.

SPEAKER_01:

75 pounds.

SPEAKER_02:

My gosh. Sweet, uh, look. All right. So um, before we kind of uh wrap this up, I do want to talk a little bit about some of the things about YouTube that you guys like, and then we'll talk about some things you wish would change. So, what's your favorite YouTube thing right now, whether it be a channel, uh maybe uh a feature, you know, something like that. What's your favorite thing? We'll go around the room. We'll start with Zach. What's your like favorite YouTube thing right now?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I'm on the spot. My favorite thing about YouTube. I mean, like I was saying earlier, I do think for better and for worse, the algorithm's gotten better at just finding good content. I don't know if you've like I've noticed I get a lot more videos with like 1200 views in my feed. And I think that's because the algorithm's gotten better at knowing what I like to watch. It's gotten better at recognizing what's a good video. And so that's scary because I think it's harder potentially to have inertia as a bigger channel because YouTube's like, we will punish you if you make bad content. But it is nice because you can make something that you believe is like just a holistically good video, and you can rely a little less on the packaging, I think, than you had to maybe five or six years ago, because the algor algorithm has like figured out viewers better, has figured out how to recognize good content. So I would say I've just noticed that trend over the last few years, and as scary as that can be, I think we're good at making good content, and you know it it it just means you can't use the hacks or the cheats as much anymore. And to me, I'd rather be in that environment. So that's kind of my favorite thing I've noticed going on.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I agree about the algorithm thing because ironically, um, about two hours before this uh podcast episode, I recorded another episode with a creator I only learned about a week and a half ago, but I became kind of obsessed with them. I had no idea they existed. All of a sudden it came up my homepage, and then hours later I'm like going through all their stuff, and I'm like, I need to have this person on the podcast. Which, if you're watching this podcast, that episode will be next week. So make sure you tune in for that. Um, what about you, Jesse? What's like your favorite thing about YouTube?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I think there's sort of two sides uh to the coin, I guess, is what I'll I'll caveat uh this with. But I do appreciate that YouTube is seems to be constantly innovating. Um, in particular, it seems this year more so than past years. There's uh you know a glut of new features um that they're trying out between collabs, you know, TBD, we'll see how like the brand new brand slot um dynamic insertions works. Um communities, you know, again, we'll see how it goes, but it's clear that they're continuing to try things to stay relevant um and be you know the best platform that they can be for audiences. So I I don't I I appreciate that that we're like in a uh a platform with like seemingly a forward uh looking executive um behind it. What do you think, James?

SPEAKER_04:

Um I think sort of like to echo Zach's point, and I think like the what I'm gonna say is allowed because of what they were saying. Like, I think that we are in a very like pendulum swingy transition time, I think, in a lot of places. And I think we got to a point uh in like 2021, 2022, probably, where like everyone knew the rules on like how to do YouTube. It's like here's how you make a thumbnail, and here's how you edit it, and here's how you talk when you're doing the video, and here's like how you take this idea and then you make it a YouTube idea. And I think you know, together the audience and like a new crop of creators have decided that that's not gonna be the way we're gonna do it anymore, and that means that we get to figure out like a new way, and I think that just because of how things react, that I think that new way is slower, I think like more artistic, more cinematic, better written, and like Zach said, without a lot of the hacks, and I think that like a lot of the things that used to be like rules are no longer the case. Like, we make a big deal about the fact that like we're not just making car content, but like I don't think if we made car content, we would be successful. I think people would get sick of that, and I think that I said this on when we were on the phone last week. Like, anytime an executive tells you that you need to do something, is like, hey, you know, like you really should do a niche content, like niche content is really what is well. I remember at the beginning of Donut pitching to executives and telling them what niche content was, and they were like, Oh, interesting, but now they're telling us that we have to do it. And it's like, well, as soon as you say that we have to do it, then it's cooked, and we have to figure out the next thing to do because like our idea is to figure out what to make, and so which being niche is still valid advice in a lot of situations, um, but I think that like I think you know, like there is like a certain freedom and a certain excitement to the fact that like kind of nobody knows what you're supposed to do right now, and I think that there's a lot of people figuring it out together and an audience that's like very ready to look at a bunch of different things, which is pretty pretty exciting environment to create in.

SPEAKER_02:

Before I ask you what you you don't like about YouTube, uh, I want to bring up a point. I know that some people are probably watching this going, you know, for so the super fans are gonna love hearing some of this stuff, but I also think there's people that are creators that listen to podcasts going, okay, this is great. So they were a big channel and went and made another big channel. There is no guarantee on YouTube. There are plenty of people who have left big channels to try to make their own channel and then nothing happened. I just want to be very clear about this. One of the reasons that this this channel succeeded isn't because they came from a big channel, it's because they know all the things that they learned while they were there to then put into place from ground zero uh those same strategies. It's super important to understand that. And the best way I can explain this is to say the word Dunkleman. And for those who know who Dunkleman is, uh, you'll realize that, oh yeah, this guy used to be the host on American Idol. That is a guaranteed win. Do you know he was doing like Uber last year? Um, like there is no guarantee. You can come from the biggest platform on the face of the planet and then try something else and it doesn't work. So this was never guaranteed. Uh, just to be very clear, some people have a miss, you know, kind of a thought of like, oh, well, they've always been big. Nah, it's not how it works.

SPEAKER_00:

Travis, I'm not gonna put anyone on blast, but I would look at those channels. Like some, you know, you've seen the channels that go from a million to 50,000, or you see people who break out on their own, and it it's I would look at those being like, this could be us. I would look almost as like a like to scare me into like working harder. Like, you know, I know this is not guaranteed.

SPEAKER_02:

No, it's not, but you guys are doing a great job. All right, so tell me you can you don't have to say hate, you could say what I would like to see in improvement. However, you want to say it, it could be something you hate. Tell me something you really don't like about YouTube, and it also could be something self-inflicted. So, for example, I think for a lot of creators, people hate one of uh 10 of 10s. They could say, I don't even like to know that it's a 10 of 10. I wish I didn't know that. So what it could be anything. What do you really dislike about YouTube? We'll start with Jesse first.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh god. I mean, I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have the 10 of 10 list. Oh. You like that?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh can I make mine just can I just steal yours, Travis, with the 10 of 10? Um I do think that the 10 of 10 is uh potentially damaging if you're not digging into the analytics enough yourself because we have had so many what's actually been worse for us is we've had a lot of like two, three, one of tens, and they've stayed that way through our next upload. So in your memory, it's kind of like, oh, that was like a successful video. But if you actually go back and look at it, it plateaued really hard. So it hit our core audience, and then nobody else in the world cared about it. And you can kind of fall into this trap and say, Well, that was a success successful video, but actually you can compare it to another video that was a seven of ten and that one went on to get more views. And so it actually, unless you know, it'd be nice if there's like a click-down menu that let you really say, like, hey, I want to see my top ten, but like give me this for like 90 days, or give me this for whatever amount of days. And so you can really fall into this trap where you your idea of which videos were and weren't successful can be really off. Uh so yeah, YouTube should introduce something where you can control the time windows better. I like that you can compare two videos curves, but we need like five. I need to see I gotta see.

SPEAKER_04:

90 days would be sick because like I think that seeing it uh in like since your last upload or whatever, like I think that contributes to people having like such a narrow scope and creating like the same thing for the same 300,000 people or whatever that just watch it immediately. Like our biggest video, like our our video biggest videos that have like the most views, but also like brought in the most subscribers were like six out of ten or lower. Or lower for like a long time. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, Leica was our worst performing video out of the 10 graph, and it stayed. I mean, it was like nine eight of ten by the time we uploaded the next video, and now it's well over a million views. Like if we compare it to a lot of our other videos, it's done a lot better. So yeah, uh that is a YouTube feature that could be better, but also I think it's just as a creator digging in deeper to the analytics and really understanding what's going on. What about you, John? That's mine.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I I know I don't mind. I think it sort of uh ties into uh my biggest stressors, um which I think is as I was saying, you know, there's like you know, two sides of the coin to like you have to be good at so many different things and specialties to be good at YouTube now, between you know, just making the video, which comprises you know how you shoot it, how you cut it, how you perform in it, what the title and um format are, but then also like all the extraneous stuff, you know, like engaging with your community either on or off platform, you know, having a presence on different social media platforms. You should really have like a clip strategy, you know, so that you're showing up in people's vertical formats, you know, interfacing with brands and agencies and blah blah blah. There's just like so many hats um to not only wear, but if you want to be successful, to be good at. Um, and I think that that's just like a lot to balance and manage for anybody. I feel I can't imagine being a solo creator um doing all of this because I feel like all of us are already sort of like, you know, balancing, keeping our our minds uh sane. Um and so I think like that is the biggest like downside, I would say it's not necessarily like a critique of the platform itself, because I know that they're doing what they need to do to you know work in the larger um ecosystem. Um, so I guess it's just a critique of how things are. Um, but I think like that's the that's the hardest slash worst thing to me. What do you got, James?

SPEAKER_04:

Um I think it'd be cool if there's more of like a curation element to it. Like I think we all started making stuff like when Vimeo was really big, and I think like staff picks was a huge thing, and I know that uh that has to look different at YouTube just because of the scale. But if there was some way to like, oh, I like this creator, like a soft collab situation where it's like, oh, uh, I'm not making videos with this guy, but I f with him. Yeah, I really like this guy, like uh like a shout-out almost. Or like just like I don't know, I think just like a stronger if you like this, then you'll like this. Kind of I don't know, just I think curation in general is a thing that we abandoned too quickly under the like with the promise of like algorithmic things, and I think I don't think it's been I think it's missed.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh all right, two more things, and then we're out for this uh podcast. I love what we've been talking about. Um I I want you each to tell me a YouTube channel that you watched that maybe isn't like a huge channel, something that it could be a guilty pleasure, um, or it could be a surprise, but like who's your favorite uh YouTuber that you like to watch right now? Um Zach, let's start with you.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, I gotta go to my homepage. I mean, first things that uh jump out would probably be oh man, I want to give like a good answer on one of these like smaller channels.

SPEAKER_02:

I I love the small channel shout out. That's good.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I mean for a long time I was really into Van Nystat's videos. Yeah, Van's great. Um his stuff was his like especially his like early stuff was really good. His stuff now is good as well, but um you can tell that he's he's like putting actually he slowed down his cadence, and I think that's helped. Um I really enjoy Dan Mace's stuff for a long time, but he goes, he's working for Mr. Beast now, I think. Um yeah, those are probably the two. Go to the other guys. Maybe I'll I'll I'll have one in a sec.

SPEAKER_02:

Who do you watch uh for fun, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, someone who I've been really getting a kick out of uh recently is Annie Austin. Um he does some really funny videos that are like, where do all of Grand Theft Auto's power lines go?

SPEAKER_04:

Are the airports in Grand Theft Auto efficient? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and it's it's really absurdist. Um you know, just well who cares, but it it's it's fascinating, and he uh is really funny and has like a great sense of humor. I also think that he does an excellent job weaving his ad reads into the content. It's a really specific thing that I've noticed of his. Um yeah, I'll try to think of somebody else, maybe James.

SPEAKER_04:

You can think Van Nystat is a huge influence. Uh I like this channel, Iron Snail, that makes uh menswear uh content. It's very good. Uh I like frugal aesthetic quite a bit. Um and then right now I really like Will Tennyson, and he might be the only YouTube I watch right now. Oh, interesting. Like he's the only huh? I said interesting. I haven't heard of that one. Will Tennyson? Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he's great. He's great.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh fitness like bodybuilding stuff. Uh, and he's just like very good at YouTube and very entertaining. I'll have to check him out. Which like goes against everything I've said on this entire podcast because he is extremely niche and just like plays the rules like super well. But he's also kind of like subversive humor, and he just kills it, he nails it.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, we have one last thing we're gonna do. Uh, I've never tried to do this before. This could this could crash and burn, but I think it's gonna be interesting. I'm all about the content, so worst case scenario, it'll be funny. Uh, again, you guys started out um coming from Donut and then having the knowledge that you had, but also had a little bit of a budget to start this channel. You had so had some things backing you up. Somewhat. None?

SPEAKER_01:

You said zero? We had our own savings. Yeah, we had your own savings.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. All right, that's fair then. I want you to start a new channel. You're gonna get I'm gonna give you guys two minutes to talk about a new channel that has nothing to do with cars, and you have to tell me what the first what the name of the channel is gonna be and the video. You guys are gonna talk real time to figure it out. You're you're your group, you have no budget, you're just three four, well, three guys, just three guys, because we don't have uh the editor here. And I want to hear real time you guys come up with that idea and you can talk real time. I'm gonna start the timer here in a second. You ready? This is a funny experiment. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting because I wanted people to hear like what this might sound like if they were sitting in the room with you. Again, nothing related to stuff you've already done, so it's gotta be a new niche. Ready? Go.

SPEAKER_00:

All right. Well, I think we gotta pick a niche. Do I have to be in it or can we get other people? It's this can be we can hire.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we don't have any money.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't have any money?

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, for a long time I've been saying golf.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I was gonna say golf. That's why I asked if I had to be in it.

SPEAKER_00:

Golf, high high CPMs, and I think, you know, good good is doing good stuff, but I I think there's room for somebody to really go in and do kind of what donuts are for cars, but with golf.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, I would 100% do a golf channel.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I think you start.

SPEAKER_04:

It's also fun.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, it's fun. You get to go outside. You'd have to get like a deal with a golf course. That's kind of cool with you shooting certain stuff. I would start, I'd go super educational. So like I think you should you could take uh you know the things that like the sim rigs where there's some that can just use like LiDAR off your phone, but then there's like$15,000 ones, uh shot tracer type things. You could do a comparison of those.

SPEAKER_02:

One minute left, you need a channel name and a video name. Oh, channel name. Channel name and a video name. Video concept. We got 50 seconds left. Thwack. Thlack. I like video name. Like what the concept topic is for the video. 45 seconds.

SPEAKER_01:

We could do uh classic YouTube format. Cheap versus I would cheap versus expensive.

SPEAKER_04:

I would do like cheap versus expensive like starter golf.

SPEAKER_00:

I would do like$10 golf ball tracker versus$15,000 golf ball tracker. And you could just shoot that at a driving range, and you could have a bunch of different ones. You could dive into the tech a little bit to fill out the video. Um and you could just do that at a driving range, so you didn't have to like or in your backyard, maybe even. I would try to do it somewhere where you could shoot the ball and then go see if it landed where the tracker said that it was, like in theory.

SPEAKER_02:

Five seconds. Alright, so one. Okay, so the name of the channel is ThWAC. Thwack.

SPEAKER_00:

And the first video is ten dollar golf ball tracer versus fifteen thousand dollar tracer. I don't know if traces are.

SPEAKER_02:

You were doing that because you're going to a golf. So you don't even have to spend the money on the fifteen thousand dollar tracer, what you're saying, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. You go to a uh place that has this.

SPEAKER_04:

And you probably you probably do one to three in the middle of those. Yeah, yeah. But it's you call out the two.

SPEAKER_00:

Also, Travis, we are not uh above buying and returning products.

SPEAKER_02:

That's the YouTube return policy. I know all about that. I mean, I don't know anything about that. I'm a pure innocent boy. I don't know anything about that. Okay. Um thank you guys for coming on through. If you're new to speed, you can check them out. There'll be a link in the description as well as the show notes if you're listening to audio podcast. You can check them there. They got lots of cool things coming, so make sure you don't miss that. And of course, we got more episodes here on the podcast channel, and we'll see you in the next one.