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How We Left BuzzFeed, from 4 Different Perspectives

Feb 27, 2020
- Today I will tell you how the Try Guys became independent, from my perspective. - From my perspective. - From my perspective. - And the perspective is not stupid. I'm not kidding. (constant, upbeat music) - Before we explain why we're leaving BuzzFeed, we want to tell you about our flash sale. This Cyber ​​Monday, get 25% off everything at tryguys.com and up to 50% off select items! Alright guys, go ahead, you have a video to make! (calm, steady music) We

left

BuzzFeed, when did we leave BuzzFeed? Are we leaving BuzzFeed on April 7? Or April 11. - Mid-April of a year that was 2018? - Some of you may not know this, but I

left

BuzzFeed three months before everyone else, in January 2018. - April 2018. - I don't remember the time. (constant music) - After four years of working at BuzzFeed, we had a great time but we were under contract.
how we left buzzfeed from 4 different perspectives
Those contracts were expiring. - We were, well, should we stay or go? - I think we all planned to leave at some point. - The best way to grow was to leave and strike out on my own. - More autonomy, more creative control, ownership over my own work, flexibility in my schedule. - Very focused on starting my type of independent career. - Frankly, they didn't want to pay us enough. (laughs) (upbeat, steady music) - Whose idea was it to start an independent business? I'm not really sure. - We had many conversations about what the future of the Try Guys will be and, really, we were at a point where we were never going to make a video together again. -Zach was the one who initially pushed and explored the idea of ​​what this whole operation would be like. - I asked all the boys to meet together.
how we left buzzfeed from 4 different perspectives

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how we left buzzfeed from 4 different perspectives...

Let us all get together and talk about: What do we want and what do we see the possibilities being? - And then I would give credit to Ned for putting numbers to ideas. - We all went to Zach's house and I walked the team through a spreadsheet of everything I thought we could do. -He loves spreadsheets. Ned loves spreadsheets. - I like making spreadsheets. - Is it going to be more economically beneficial? More creatively satisfying? So I guess Ned. - I guess Ned, I don't know. - But it was my idea. -Zach will be very angry if he hears me say Ned. -Whose were they, whose idea did they say it was? - You will see it in the video. - They said it was Ned's idea. - I don't know if others can talk as much about what starting a business entails. - The foundation of the company, there are so many things that go into creating a company that are even outside my scope of experience. - Company fundamentals involve a lot of horrible, boring nonsense. - First you have to come up with the name of the company, the corporate structure and the ownership situation.
how we left buzzfeed from 4 different perspectives
So you got your payroll, you got your health insurance, you got your 401K. Those types of general benefits to add to our employees, so that people feel happy, satisfied. Obviously you should also get good snacks. - We thought: we will call our company that! And then right after saying, oh, no, our company shouldn't be called that, it should be called that. So we literally had to file paperwork to cancel previous paperwork. - You put all that in a document and then you fill out some forms, you submit it to the state, you submit it to the federal government. - It's horrible to start a company! (upbeat music)-I was filming a feature film and Ned was dealing with his new house and his newly born baby.
how we left buzzfeed from 4 different perspectives
Keith and Zach were here and put together a lot of the basics for the channel's first videos and all the equipment we needed. - Our first standing desk! - You look ridiculous! - You look ridiculous! - There were so many things we were used to that I think we took for granted and that's why we had to start from scratch. It was like, okay, what broken cameras and lights do you personally have? Oh, I think we're going to need this lens, we're going to need this crazy tripod that will work. - And we were literally working on a house that Ned was still moving out of.
I arrived and there was a baby, not just a baby, Wes is a baby. And we're trying to work with a baby. He is a small baby. He is like. (upbeat music) - The colors! The test boys' colors. The colors more or less came from Eugene. - I sort of created the theoretical four-color palette that eventually became our channel art and much of our merchandise. - Give us sex Zach, give us sex. - Sex? - We have some color affinities. I like red because it rhymes with Ned. -Ned always loves red because it rhymes with his name. -Apparently the fact that his name rhymes with Ned is something we should be concerned about. - Keith likes blue squares. -Even though he has completely abandoned that love.
I haven't seen that guy wear blue plaid in over a year! And then we're left with like, okay, we could do purple, we could do yellow, we could do green. Eugene said I can't be yellow because that's racist! I said that's a fair point! - I chose purple because it is the gayest color. And it turns out it's a very royal color too, so she's a super gay queen! - And then I was left with the option between green and yellow. I think yellow doesn't suit me. So I chose green. I feel good about that choice. (upbeat rock music) - Was the Taco Bell video first?
Because no, no. -The first videos we filmed were the fatherhood series, because we had no money or equipment and the most important thing that happened to us, or really to Ned, was that his baby was born and born, Wes. We clearly messed with that because Keith is in a diaper for half of that video. (applause) - The ring baby! (applause) - After so much stress dealing with this departure from Buzzfeed, I was very excited to be on set filming with the other guys again. - It was like old times, right? We were like handing out cameras.
We were like we were running with each other. We just didn't have enough staff, so everyone was doing every job. -It's a good thing we filmed it when we did because she liked it, she actually had the baby about a week later. (baby screaming) (soft, steady music) - Wow! When the channel first premiered there was so much anticipation and excitement! - The day we launched it was crazy! I mean, really everything leading up to the launch was very stressful! - When the channel went live, it was a huge feeling of relief. It was a good year, almost half a year, in which we were quiet about what we were working on. - I like all these questions on Twitter, guys!
Where are the test guys? You're done? Are they already friends? And in the meantime I'm working harder on this than ever before! And I have so many exciting things coming up that you don't know it yet! You just don't know! - It was crazy because we had actually done two channel intros, one for a

different

name and one for the Try Guys. Because literally, until the night before, we didn't know if we were going to be the Try Guys. Hence all the paperwork about what company name we would have. Horrible, boring, shit. (slow classical music) - The first subscriber was me!
And we were all, we were all in the room and I realized we had no subscribers. I was the first subscriber, but then I unsubscribed because I didn't want to reveal the cover. Then Zach will say that he is the first subscriber, because he saw it go from zero to one. I'm telling you, about a month and a half before that, when we created the channel, I subscribed just to make sure it was working and then I unsubscribed. - It was me. (soft, steady music) - Oh, God, I don't want to throw any videos under the bus.
Because if it's a video I didn't make, I probably shouldn't answer that one. - You know, I'm not a big fan of the Barkchshler. (dramatic music) - Probably the Barkchshler. (dramatic music) - I didn't watch all the episodes of Barkchshler. (dramatic music) - I just don't care that much about dogs! Then sue me. It's just not my trip. -He is the only test boy without dogs! There's no point in judging dogs. - They are difficult, you grow up, they love you unconditionally, because they are dogs. (constant classical music) - The best video on our channel is the saga of Eugene sitting on the lap.
It's pure joy, it's chaotic-good on the alignment map. It's like coming out of chaotic good, it's like madness-good. I feel like all the fans liked the joke. It was like a giant inside joke and it's a beautiful piece of art. - All the videos with Wes are probably my favorite, but I think my favorite has to be, the Try Guys meeting Ned's baby or Eugene taking care of Wes. - Do you want to hug him? - No, i do not do it. - Well. Being able to show what my world was like day in and day out and then exposing these other three guys to that was really special. - In this new channel we work a lot together but we can also do projects that show our personal styles and loves.
And I think Candid Competition is my crazy humor taken to the nth degree. - I think my favorite video is probably my presentation. Mainly because it not only allowed me to express myself to the online audience through the filmmaking style, voice and acting that I prefer. It was really wonderful to see that it had a big impact for many young people, especially those who struggle with their identity. So I was very fortunate to be in a position where I was able to create that. (constant music) - It's been a whirlwind, it's truly been one of the greatest and most rewarding things I've ever been able to do. -He feels great, it's incredible!
We have a solid staff, there are like 15 people in this house with only one bathroom. (laughing) - I'm so happy, I feel so proud. - It's wonderful to be able to own and operate your own business. - Being able to do it with my best friends and my new best friends, all the people we work and collaborate with. - We really are a very well-oiled machine and it also seems that we are big but small. We can still have little happy hours where we all get together. We make jokes as a great team. - To have the ability to say, hey, if we want to start a podcast, we just start a podcast.
Or if we want to tour, we just like to make it happen. - And also do it with you, being on this journey with everyone who watched and supported, both directly on our Patreon, but also just with your views and with your love. - And I don't think we would have been able to do that if we were still working for another company. Because there is much more protocol implemented. And here, guess who creates the protocol? These guys! Guess who runs HR? Nobody! We don't have HR. Shots for everyone! (upbeat classical music) - The goal I have for our channel is to be able to expand even beyond ourselves.
Because I think what we're trying to put out into the world is a message of inclusivity but also of boldness to explore things that scare you or that you're uncomfortable with. And I don't think that's limited to the four Try Guys. I think that's something enormously expansive. And something that should be expressed from other people's perspective. - But this year I want to get into more scripted videos on the channel. I've been trying to incorporate those elements into our unscripted work, but yeah, I'm going to do some scripted pieces in this bitch. - We will have

different

programs, each of those programs will be on a different day of the week.
We are looking to bring it to Netflix. We are looking to bring it to television. We are looking to do everything we can. - My goal for our channel next year by this time is to have over 10 million subscribers because I know we have 25 million different independent viewers watching our content every 90 days, so why do we only have 6 million subscribers? What are you all doing? My goal is to be bigger, I mean, there's no reason we should have less subscribers than Jake Paul! There is no reason to have fewer subscribers than James Charles! There is no reason to have fewer subscribers than several people who have more! - You know if you subscribe maybe we'll make another season of The Barkchshler! (dramatic music) - We are a production company!
We are four! We should have forty million subscribers, right? What do you want? I'm eating so much! I have to go to the doctor a lot more! Just to get blood tests done and make sure I'm not killing myself!

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