I’ve got a confession to make.
I’m not comfortable watching myself in videos. All I do is focusing on the mistakes I make or the silly faces I make. The reason is the moment I hit the record button, I feel like a nervous wreck. I have many videos saved on my phone that I haven’t been able to upload yet.
And I know I’m not alone.
But here’s the question: is it a good idea to start a YouTube channel to grow your startup?
Imagine beating SEO experts and landing on Google’s first page as a beginner.
This is what you can do with YouTube. And it’s not just about making viral videos like Mr. Beast or launching your midlife-crisis podcast. It can be a great channel for promoting your product.
You may have tried starting a YouTube channel but ditched the idea after a few tries. Yet deep down you know you might be missing out on a massive opportunity to grow.
I don’t want you to lose that opportunity.
So that’s I studied the YouTube strategy of successful founders. Here’s how they make it work.
- Evaboot
Evaboot is a LinkedIn lead extraction tool, created by Jean-Baptiste Jezequel (JB) and Robin Zouein. In just two years, they’ve hit $2 million in annual revenue. JB mentioned their YouTube channel had a significant impact, bringing in 20-30% of their signups.
So how do they do it?
They take advantage of the growing prevalence of YouTube videos in Google search results. For example, two of their videos rank on the first page for the search “extract leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator.”
They also use their YouTube videos to give an additional boost to their articles. For example in this long-form article, “How To Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator To Generate Leads?” they embed separate video explainers for each section, like how to use advanced search filters. And then pin the article link in the top comment on the video.
- FlorinPop
FlorinPop, the creator of iCodeThis, grew his learning platform to 50K users and made $50K in just 11 months by Feb 2024.
Florin started posting YouTube videos about coding in 2019. He didn’t have too much traction at first, but things really took off when he started doing coding challenges, like 10 JavaScript Projects in 10 Hours. That video alone has 2.8M views, and within six months, it gained him 20k new subscribers.
He didn’t stop there. Florin shared his videos on Twitter, giving them an extra push. He created a tweet listing the tech skills people could learn from his channel and added a link to his YouTube channel with a “Subscribe” CTA as a follow up link.
- Data Fetcher
One of the greatest myths among founders?
That you need a fancy production setup to be successful in YouTube.
Data Fetcher is a no-code tool for Airtable that generates $23K per month. Founder Andy Cloke said that around 35% of his customers come through their YouTube videos or blog posts, and this proportion has steadily increased over time.
Andy discovered YouTube as a marketing tool by accident. He recorded a simple screen-recorded tutorial to answer a question on an Airtable forum. No fancy editing. Just him, his screen, and his voice. After posting it, a few people started following his channel, and some even became paying customers.
Now, whenever Andy releases new features, he creates a blog post and a YouTube video to explain it.
- SlideBean
Jose Cayasso, or “Caya,” founded SlideBean, a presentation software company that hit $4.3M in revenue in 2023. YouTube has been one of their key growth channels.
As many other founders, Caya started their YouTube channel to promote their product and get sign ups.
They experimented with different styles—from sitcom-like content to explainer videos similar to Scott Galloway’s. Their breakthrough came during the pandemic with the “Startup Forensics” series, where they dive deep into the stories of tech companies. Eventually, everyone started making those types of videos, so they shifted focus to telling stories about the broader impact of tech and startups on society.
Caya says it’s all about putting content out there: “If you’re an entrepreneur in this day and age you sort of have to be a little bit of a content creator in one platform. Founders want real help from real founders who’ve been through the same.”
Making YouTube videos doesn’t have to be a full-time job or cost a fortune. Today, your phone, a decent mic, and some good lighting is all you need to get started.
So if you’ve been holding back because of the initial awkwardness, take the leap! You might be surprised at the results.