James Pumphrey and Jesse Wood helped build Donut Media into one of the most influential YouTube brands of the last decade. Then they walked away and started over. In this episode, they join us to break down what they learned building inside a YouTube incubator, what changes when a channel becomes a company, and what they’re applying now as the co-founders of Speeed. We dive into the structure of great YouTube channels, the importance of writing and formats, why entertainment has to come before everything else, and the nine principles they use to evaluate whether a YouTube media business actually works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices