Summary

Billionaires admire MrBeast for his long-term vision, intense focus, strategic growth, and ability to do what others won't, which aligns with their own entrepreneurial values.

Abstract

The article delves into the reasons behind MrBeast's appeal to billionaires, emphasizing his commitment to long-term success over short-term gains. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has a track record of thinking decades ahead, as evidenced by his "time capsule" videos. His approach to content creation is marked by a grand vision, unwavering focus, and an intensity that includes working in "nightmare mode" — 100 days of non-stop work followed by a single day of fun. He prioritizes growth and invests all earnings back into his business, much like a tech founder. His videos, which cost around $1.5 million each, are designed to be the best possible, ensuring high viewership and engagement. MrBeast's strategy of intentionally tackling hard-to-make videos has built a competitive moat around him, comprising unparalleled knowledge and financial commitment. His insatiable hunger for improvement and perfection, akin to that of sports legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, drives him to constantly learn and scale his operations through effective delegation. The article also touches on his disregard for others' opinions, a trait that has allowed him to pursue his passion despite early criticism. Billionaires see a reflection of their own entrepreneurial spirits in MrBeast's approach to business and content creation.

Opinions

MrBeast's long-term thinking and avoidance of divisive content to protect his brand are seen as wise strategic choices.
His grand vision of becoming the biggest YouTuber and communicating this to his team is crucial for inspiring others and achieving seemingly impossible goals.
The intense work ethic, termed "nightmare mode," demonstrates an extraordinary level of commitment and focus on producing high-quality content.
MrBeast's reinvestment of all earnings into his business for growth reflects a tech founder's mindset, prioritizing scale and market dominance.
By choosing to do what others won't, such as creating videos on a massive scale, MrBeast has differentiated himself and built a protective moat around his brand.
The article suggests that MrBeast's relentless pursuit of perfection and continuous improvement is comparable to the drive of legendary athletes.
Effective delegation is highlighted as a key factor in MrBeast's ability to scale his operations and maintain high standards of content production.
The article conveys that MrBeast's success is not a matter of luck but a result of his dedication, resilience, and strategic approach to content creation and business.
Billionaires admire MrBeast because they see their own entrepreneurial traits in his ambitious vision, work ethic, and ability to innovate and dominate his field.

Why Billionaires Love MrBeast

Elon Musk promised him Twitter

Photo by Yaroslav Muzychenko on Unsplash

Long-term over short-term

He recorded ‘time capsule’ videos when he had 8,000 subscribers.

In these, he’s talking to himself 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and 20 years into the future. All his actions are born out of this kind of long-term thinking.

He purposely leaves ‘opportunities’ and ‘money’ to focus on the LT.

He understands that outrage is the best way to get views in the short term.

But it erodes your brand in the long term. So, he sacrifices views in the short term by never engaging in divisive or political topics.

It’s also evident in his long-term relationships. He still works with Adam, the guy who gave him his first brand deal years ago.

When asked why he’s able to maintain long-term relationships in the business, this was his reply:

I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna be here in 10 years.

How does he think in 10-year terms?

Grand Vision

He didn’t want to make money from YouTube.

He wanted to be the biggest YouTuber of all time. And he would communicate this to his employees every week:

I’m gonna be the biggest YouTuber of all time.

You can only convince others to do ‘impossible’ things if you can communicate your grand vision. He looks up to Jobs and Musk in this regard. Literally has their posters in his bedroom!

Yeah but everyone wants to be the best. How did he become the best?

Focus and Intensity

Ever heard of ‘nightmare mode’?

I didn’t think so because he coined the term for himself.

He went on ‘nightmare mode’, which comprised working non-stop for 100 days without any distractions or ‘fun’.

Then, 1 day of fun, and another 100 days of work. 1 day of fun! (Out of 201 days) Read that multiple times.

That level of intensity can only exist with laser-like focus. And he was focused on a singular thing -

MAKE THE BEST VIDEOS POSSIBLE

Everything else was irrelevant. He understands that you lose if you don’t have that kind of focus. And that’s his company’s North Star.

That’s what drives the culture within his organization. Make the best videos possible

But how do you do it?

Growth over everything

He got $10,000 in his first brand deal. He gave it all away to a homeless man in that video alone. And he’s done this ever since. To this day, he invests every dollar back into the business.

He operates like a tech founder in this regard. Like his predecessors, he understands that when you have the best hand in the game, you go all in.

Now, each of his videos costs around $1.5M. That may seem like a lot for a YouTube video (and it is!) but not if it’s getting 200M views.

Brands pay $6M for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl. That commercial is viewed by less than 100M people. He gets twice as many views with a watch time of 15 mins for 1/4th the cost.

And that isn’t even a fair comparison. His videos should be compared to TV shows. GOT got approximately 40M viewers for each episode in the final season.

And it cost them roughly $15M an episode. That’s why he’s solely focused on growth.

There’s no point in taking your chips off the table when you have the best hand in the game of attention.

How does he ensure that no one can compete with him in this game?

By intentionally doing hard things

There’s a reason not one creator makes videos of his scale. No one even dares to because they’re freaking hard to make.

This is a guy who counted to 100k for a video. It took 24 hours and has 29M views.

That’s just ridiculous! Obviously, there must be easier ways to get views.

And that’s the point. He intentionally does hard things because there is no competition in that domain. Everyone else is busy making easy videos.

It reminds me of Ryan Holiday’s ‘The Obstacle is the Way’.

As a result, he’s built a Moat around him.

The moat is two-fold:

Knowledge

No one knows more about making viral videos than him and his team. He’s worked and improved for 14 years every day for 16 hours.

You can’t compete with that.

2. Money

The scale of his videos is impossible to replicate without the financial commitment. No creator makes the kind of money he does.

And what’s crazy is that he hasn’t even started. He has just started to properly monetize his attention through consumer goods.

Feastables, his chocolate brand, will do over $200M in sales this year!

It wouldn’t surprise me if Feastables does $1B in sales by the end of 2025.

He intends to funnel all the profits from these ‘side businesses’ into his videos.

Why though? Why is he doing this?

Insatiable Hunger

He has a weird relationship with perfection. He knows he can never make the perfect video because it doesn’t exist.

But each new video can be better than the previous one. He can always learn and improve.

The GOATs have always loved learning and obsessed over it.

Most basketball players ‘ease up’ after reaching the NBA. Not Jordan. Not Kobe. They had that insatiable hunger.

Similarly, most YouTubers ‘ease up’ after reaching a million subscribers or making a few million dollars. Not him.

If Jordan/Kobe could play forever, they would. That’s Mr. Beast.

He’s not playing for some result. The play is the result.

And if you’re playing at that scale you can’t do it alone. This is what separates him from other content creators too.

Scale and Delegation

Again, he thinks like an entrepreneur here. Most content creators struggle with delegation and therefore can’t scale.

He has perfect clarity over the importance of delegation. He explains it so simply and beautifully

I can only spend 30% of my time editing a video. No matter how good I am, I won’t be able to beat someone who spends 100% of their time doing it. So, I hire them.

The same applies to every job he has to do. It’s impossible to scale if you don’t think like that; if you want to keep everything to yourself.

Ok. I get it. But what’s the first step?

Complete disregard for other people’s opinions

He decided to be a YouTuber when he was 11.

No one considered it cool at that time. He was regarded as a ‘freak’.

By everyone.

You can’t imagine what that’s like. Being 11 and being shit on by everyone else around you. Most people don’t have the guts to handle that and still follow their obsession.

No one’s calling him a freak now.

Now, they’ve reverted to calling him ‘lucky’ and privileged. It makes me laugh and be furious at the same time when I see that.

Luck? You go and sacrifice every waking hour to a singular thing.

Privilege? You go and start with zero dollars and create a billion-dollar empire while keeping your humility.

And he’s not even in the first quarter yet. I can’t wait to watch him take over everything. Yes, everything!

Attention is the ultimate leverage.

And he’s playing the game of infinite leverage.

So, why DO Billionaires love him?

Because they recognize themselves in HIM.

They recognize the BEST of themselves in HIM.

Fruit