A leaked internal guidebook from MrBeast is making its rounds in the tech industry. Tech industry employees and investors dig into YouTubers’ views on hiring, management, and more. Is MrBeast the ultimate “founder mode” leader?
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MrBeast is the most popular YouTuber in the world. He is also Silicon Valley’s hottest new thought leader.
A leaked workplace guide by the 26-year-old creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has been circulating in the tech world in recent weeks, making rounds on X, LinkedIn, and other social platforms. At one point, it was featured as a top article on startup accelerator Y Combinator’s Hacker News website, as founders, tech executives, and investors gleaned insights from the 36-page document.
In a guidebook titled “How to Succeed in MrBeast Productions,” reviewed by Business Insider with two former MrBeast staffers, Donaldson takes a deep dive into the topics that business people care about most. He writes about how to identify your company’s most productive employees and why it’s important to be “obsessive” about completing tasks. He also expressed his views on efficient management. (You can read the complete guide here.)
The YouTuber’s approach to leadership quickly drew comparisons to “founder mode” on social media. This is a trending concept that advocates for managers to be more hands-on in their companies. The idea came from an interview with Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky and was popularized in a September blog post by Y Combinator’s Paul Graham.
“MrBeast’s memo is a clear manifestation of founder mode,” says Tom Alder, who writes a weekly growth hack newsletter called Strategy Breakdowns.
Donaldson’s guide “demonstrates a passion and hardcore mindset that companies that are not founder-led rarely have,” Alder said.
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Hardcore founders who write like real people
MrBeast’s guidebook is the latest “hardcore” corporate document hot in the technology world. Netflix’s culture memo once became a hot topic among tech workers, and Jeff Bezos’ ‘Always Day One’ credo has influenced the corporate philosophy of other big tech companies, including TikTok owner ByteDance gave.
“Leaked internal emails and memos are religious documents for the tech industry,” Alder said. “It is a product of a specific point in time, and becomes more persuasive over time as companies become more prolific.”
Of course, not everyone was on board with MrBeast’s workplace manifesto.
One commenter on Y Combinator’s post called it “the crazy drivel of a sweatshop boss/wannabe cult leader.”
Donaldson’s business practices have also come under intense scrutiny recently, particularly regarding filming an upcoming show with Amazon.
But the wide popularity of MrBeast’s guides among tech entrepreneurs and startup founders shows how influencers and the creator economy have become legitimate business figures in the tech and media industries in just a few years. I am.
Not only is Donaldson a top YouTuber (with 317 million subscribers and counting), he’s also branched out beyond social media into several business ventures, including merchandise and products . He is aiming to earn $700 million in 2024, according to a series of court documents from earlier this year.
“To me, this is just another sign that the YouTube creator world has now reached an ignition moment where they have to think about these kinds of things to build a big business,” said the founder of executive search firm Content Ink. , said John McCullough. Why we love MrBeast Onboarding Guide.
Keep it casual while seeking extraordinary work
Donaldson, who has expressed admiration for technological visionaries like Steve Jobs, gave the guidebook a casual tone that feels different from other leaked corporate documents. .
Yes, MrBeast is “obsessive, learns from his mistakes, is coachable, intelligent, makes no excuses, believes in Youtube, understands the value of this company, and is the best in the world at what he does.” I’m looking for. ” Donaldson wrote in his guidebook. But he also doesn’t care about workplace etiquette like executives at large companies have to.
Rachel Roberts Mattox, brand developer and marketing advisor, said of the Mr. Because I can see it.”
“He provides employees with a list of benefits they can enjoy, including hybrid work, flexible schedules, and unlimited paid time off, while explaining how to ‘get along’ with other departments to optimize productivity.” We’re not selling to people,” Mattox said. “Quite the opposite. He’s saying, if you’re okay with unabashed micromanagement and extreme accountability, rather than single-minded obsession, then leave now.”
Industry insiders told BI that Donaldson’s casual, unpretentious writing style was a big factor in the article’s popularity in the tech industry.
“It feels authentic,” said Mark Cohen, an early technology investor at Unbundled VC. “It feels like it was written by an individual rather than a company. That way it gets the message across.”
“I really liked how graphic the documents were,” said Abhishek Sharma, senior product marketing manager at AI fintech startup Rafa.ai. “If you look at other companies’ documents, they’re very fluffy, very corporate jargon, very nice, great looking visuals. And this was very much a Google Doc.”
