How Cleo Abram Dominated YouTube in 1 Year

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00:00 Who is Cleo Abram?
04:06 Achieving her YouTube dream so quickly
05:04 Launching a show, not a channel
12:22 How Cleo thinks of her video ideas
17:29 Cleo’s idea checklist
25:45 The case for simplicity
28:03 Watching Cleo’s video about CERN
33:35 EARTHQUAKE
34:50 Back to CERN
41:15 Cleo vs Huge If True
45:10 Cleo’s team
51:14 Shorts
1:08:35 Thumbnails
1:14:20 What set Cleo up for success?
1:16:42 What she wasn’t prepared for
1:18:03 How Cleo came up with the concept for Huge If True
1:21:45 Why not pitch the show to Vox?
1:27:43 Working at Vox
1:40:33 Advertising as a journalist
1:45:20 Journalism vs optimism
1:54:46 Would Cleo take a Netflix deal?
2:04:04 Cleo’s thoughts on AI and pessimism
2:06:45 When will Cleo stop making Huge If True?
2:10:08 Working with agents
2:14:22 Looking to the future

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ABOUT US
We’re Colin and Samir, creators based out of Los Angeles California. We make videos about the creator economy, and the lessons we’ve learned over 10 years of being on YouTube. We also interview creators and try to get to the bottom of what’s working on YouTube and where the creator economy is headed.

[CleoAbram]

Thanks for having me! I love this show and am so excited to be a part of it.

[angryconsultant]

A Vox journalist leaving Vox is the equivalent of an ML Engineer leaving ChatGPT. The money flows

[Sdot-odjf]

Okay, I had no idea who this person was, but then remembered watching her video about the internet/cloud and teaching my sons using her video. She’s an excellent story teller and is a great communicator / educator.

[matthewthompson]

there's a book called Hidden Manifestation by Oliver Mercer, and it talks about how using some secret techniques you can attract almost everything in life it's not some bullshit law of attraction, it's the real deal

[RockyXu]

Treating YouTube as a TV show is the most underrated but effective strategy ever! Cleo is a living proof! 🎉

[gemgh]

the slow zoom on Samir for the earthquake was hilarious, I thought he was struggling to follow what Cleo was saying! (I guess he was)

[brentwildeboer]

this gotta be the most sensible collab I've ever seen.
It just makes sense.

[swoozie]

33:39 is me every time someone starts talking.

That aside - it was awesome to hear Cleo break down her animation cuz I’ve always wondered!

[SaltAndVi]

I remember seeing one of her videos a while back, and immediately noticed how well produced the entire video was. I just assumed she had been around for a while now on YT, but was never recommended her channel. Crazy how fast her growth has been!

[EpicSpaceman]

Thanks so much for the kind words about my channel at the end! So pleased you’re enjoying my videos and thank you for this fascinating chat with Cleo, it was full of wonderful insights.

[Hermes-hyhg]

Video idea: "How Ronaldo dominated Youtube in an hour"

[StrangerThanFictionSTF]

Cleo Abram's channel is the perfect example of why the story is always bigger than the person/personality. She has singlehandedly made science interesting for millions across the world. Massive respect!

[AdamPhillipsGrowth]

I listened to this in segments and it's the first time I've actively sought out a youtube video I was previously watching just so I could finish it. Fantastic content!

[Jaymationstudios]

Video idea: “An Unfiltered Conversation with GAWX Art”

[Finaius]

I loved her TikTok videos even before she started her yt channel. Cleo was among the inspirations for me to start as well! 🎉

[ParkerFloris]

I just clicked and I already know this is going to be one of your best sit-downs yet!

[bryantlhoward]

She's articulate. She's beautiful. She addresses interesting topics. Mystery solved. End video.

[shoopwoop]

For some reason i thought i had seen this before, Jon Youshaei's interview hit on the lot of the same stuff, but i always appreciate reminders/longer interviews

[Chemiolis]

Really enjoyed this interview, can see how thoughtful she is in transferring information even in her regular speech. Also very interesting to hear about how she structures her work and company! Made me inspirational around the intros part, might have to put some of the takeaways to work for myself ;). (This was perfect to listen to while doing mind-numbing clip cutting work)

[BigHeadBob]

33:38 had my dying. I was thinking Samir is really zoning out lol