The Future of the Creator Economy, With Samir Chaudry

Samir Chaudry (0:00)

What we're actually doing as creatives, artists, what we are trying to do with our expression, this makes somebody feel something. I think you can get numb to that with the opportunity to reach millions of people. That becomes oftentimes like the highlight of everything that we talk about versus the depth of culture.

Laurie Segall (0:25)

I'm Laurie Segall, and you're listening to Mostly Human, a tech podcast through a human lens.

Samir, I'm so excited to be here with you. I feel like I usually interview like hardcore tech dudes sometimes. And next week, I'm interviewing like a humanoid robot. So, I feel like this is just such a...

Samir Chaudry (0:44)

This won't be that different.

Laurie Segall (0:45)

This is...

This is such a breath of fresh air. Well, I was looking and I've obviously followed your work for a while. Ten years ago, you started a YouTube channel. And I would say it'd be easy to say the rest is history. But like maybe that's not the point of it. Maybe history is the reason why you're doing and what you've kind of built your career on, which is really opening yourself to the process and showing people and telling people how.

Samir Chaudry (1:14)

Yeah.

Laurie Segall (1:15)

So I want to talk about what they announced today, but I'd love to reflect a little bit on the last ten years.

It's so easy to say, oh, yeah, and then it was a success. Is there something that sticks out to you that you wish people knew when talking about your success as a creator?

Samir Chaudry (1:32)

I mean, we talk a lot about our stories. So if you like, if you follow us, you've heard a lot of the story. I've been on the platform for 15 years, started my first YouTube channel in 2011 I would say the only thing is, this is a very unique time in entertainment, where part of the beauty is that I don't have to ask anyone to make a show. I can just make a show. And that was such an intoxicating experience and still is.

But what that comes with is that there's no buddy who's going to tell you the framework of like, here's your season. You start this day, you end this day, and then you take a break. And so there's, you're living in this like, indefinite season of content, right? That I've been living in for 15 years. And that naturally comes with ups and downs and a rollercoaster of like, people being interested in what you're doing, not being interested, you having the energy to do it, you not having the energy. And so there's these waves that you experience as a human, but you're living inside of this self-imposed, indefinite season of content.

So I think that's one of the most interesting things about this era of entertainment. And then from our own experience, I would say like, more, I've been doing this 15 years and probably it's been 50-50 of it working and it not working. Meaning like being able to make a career out of it and just trying. And what I would say is like, even if it stopped working tomorrow, I would still make videos on YouTube. I think it's one of the most wonderful expressions. And even if 10 people watch, it's this unbelievable way to connect with like-minded people. And that's what I experienced in 2011 when I uploaded my first video, and that's why I would still do it.

Laurie Segall (3:15)

Yeah. It certainly seems like this moment of chaos. I love chaos. I think chaos, it's like so full of opportunity. I remember I got my start when the I, this is going to age me, so apologies. But when the iPhone had come out, the App Store had launched, it was like 2009, we were in a recession. It wasn't cool to go to Wall Street anymore. And all of a sudden, you had these weirdos hanging out, saying, oh, why not sleep in a stranger's home Airbnb? Why not get in a stranger's car Uber? Why can't we pay with our mobile devices square?

Going from traditional media, CNN, and 60 Minutes, and then building out my own thing, I can see that it feels, and you've been in this so much longer, and you have paved away, but it feels like chaos in this moment of the decline of traditional institutions, the creator world blowing up in such a fascinating way. Where do you think the biggest opportunity is now?

What advice would you give to folks who are looking at this moment and saying, I'm not even sure how, where, and what?