![]() ![]() There’s lots of factors! First and foremost, all our courses are taught by real experts. How are you creating that learning experience? Today, our mission is to be the best education platform in the world by enhancing the learning experience for students who aspire to be content creators or startup execs. There were a lot of pivots, but the success comes from Jesse and Kong knowing the target audience–people who don’t want to work that corporate job, who want to be their own boss–because Jesse and Kong were those people. But then the idea grew to: “what if we made viral videos for not just other YouTubers, but for anyone, anywhere?”. When Kong and Jesse saw the results in Simple Pickup, the initial idea was: “what if we made viral videos for other Youtube channels?” So we started working with six other Youtube channels in the LA area. ![]() A lot of people think working for a start-up means focusing on one mission, but it’s really about testing a bunch of things and finding that one idea that changes the world the way you want it to. A lot of people would have stuck in to get that degree certified on paper, but Kong’s philosophy was: instead of getting a degree that doesn’t mean anything to me, we’re gonna focus on the company and be 6 or 7 months ahead of everyone else.īut ultimately, there is no way to really prepare for running your first company until you just do it. They grew to a couple million subscribers all by themselves actually! Once the money was rolling in, Kong and Jesse dropped out of school with 6 or 7 months until graduation. Simple Pickup was the first real company that they started that gained traction. So from the start, the two already had a lot of side projects going - mostly selling textbooks and sassy sport apparel about another college team. I remember Jesse telling me that he was enrolled in an entrepreneurship class teaching him how to write emails with good manners. But they felt their classes weren’t teaching them anything they could learn in real life. Kong and Jesse were both business majors in college. Sounds like Kong knew what he was talking about! Did he or Jesse have any prior entrepreneurship experience? The environment allows you to be constantly evolving and adapting. People emphasize how much you learn in start-ups, but it’s true. There is no way I could have imagined doing all this if I had stuck with a regular job as a designer. In the beginning at Simple Pickup, I was ordering people’s lunches - I would literally ask: “Do you want fries with that?” But 4 years later, I’m not just designing, but also managing market campaigns, emailing 3,000+ people, and writing courses with Youtubers. I took the risk and it was so worthwhile. But in Kong’s letter he said: “Look, you’re gonna be able to grow at a startup than any other job. I graduated from UCLA totally ready to work that 9 to 5, low-salary job in a marketing agency or for a corporate brand. The personal risk was my own career trajectory. ![]() I’m all about this! And while it felt very fulfilling to help these men, making the transition to Jumpcut allowed me to impact a greater audience that I related to - especially those seeking a nontraditional career path but unsure of where to start. Simple Pickup is targeted to help men gain confidence, make friends, talk to women, and be happy. It was a mixture of believing in Jumpcut’s mission and taking a personal risk. Kong actually wrote a letter and taped it to the door of my room to persuade me to join! I was already working with some of the founders–Kong and Jesse–first as a graphic designer and later as lead copywriter for Simple Pickup, their Youtube channel when they pitched Jumpcut to me. I reached out to Kel to discuss her journey with Jumpcut and what she sees in the overlap between entertainment and innovation. Kel Livson (UCLA ‘14) is the Head of Content at Jumpcut Inc., a startup known as the “Netflix of Education” that creates captivating online courses for aspiring content creators and startup founders. Silicon Beach (Part 2): Jumpcut’s Kel Livson ![]()
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