Oliver Gilpin, a British entrepreneur and founder of Telos Media, shares insights from scaling successful YouTube animation channels. He reveals how he manages dozens of channels independently while employing a talented team of over 80. Oliver discusses his unique hiring practices, emphasizing the importance of passionate talent and strategic hiring through academic connections. He also provides an exclusive look at the financials behind his faceless animation projects, showcasing revenue strategies and his innovative compensation methods that drive team motivation.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Costly First Channel Failure
Oliver lost about $30,000 on his first animation channel called Otherworldly History.
That failure taught him to avoid overly original formats and copy proven successful concepts instead.
insights INSIGHT
Pick Proven Niches, Then Out-Execute
Oliver found a proven niche (country balls) on Reddit and YouTube before launching Mr Spherical.
Executing with higher quality, consistency, and budget turned a niche into rapid growth (1M subs in a year).
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Recruit Managers From Existing Small Channels
Use tools like Channel Crawler and SocialBlade to find small YouTube creators in target countries as hiring leads.
Target creators with 5k–200k subs who show obsession and can be hired as channel managers or animators.
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Oliver Gilpin is a British entrepreneur, building Telos Media. A holding company scaling a new YouTube channel every month. With the creative vision of his business partner Alvaro Calmet - they've gone from 0 to 10M subs in 2.5 years, earning $1m per year, with 90 team members.
In this episode, I talk to him about:
1. How he runs so many channels without being involved with any of them…
2. Oliver’s hiring secrets to find operators who will run his YouTube channels for him
3. The exact company structure behind all of his channels (with over 80 employees)
4. And for the first time ever, Oliver opens up his books and shares all of the financials behind running a faceless animation channel
RESSOURCES mentioned in the episode:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SaeCWdnXe4dzwvcT7DwieyknbHsrLZ20?usp=sharing
https://nowcreatives.notion.site/YouTube-Team-Compensation-Methods-Tips-and-Principles-a7534f08a68649458c2d9527c6e9d8b4
🖥️ Follow Oliver and his work online:
https://twitter.com/oligilpin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-gilpin/
Telos.so
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:16 - Dropping out of high school to start an agency
00:04:06 - Why start an animation channel?
00:05:42 - Oliver’s first faceless channel - $30,000 Mistake
00:07:15 - Oliver's 2nd Channel (and most successful)
00:09:44 - The 5 animation channels Oliver is running
00:12:29 - How to build a faceless animation team
00:14:03 - What to look for when hiring an operator
00:15:44 - Hiring tactics to find A+ talent oversees
00:24:58 - First key hires for YouTube Automation
00:26:06 - Org chart for Oliver's 30 YouTube channels
00:28:28 - How Oliver thinks about profit share and incentives for his employees
00:31:59 - Hiring Strategy #2
00:34:04 - Oliver's systems to manage a team of 80 employees
00:35:30 - What does Oliver do all day?
00:39:09 - How much money Oliver makes
00:40:51 - Starting 1 channel every month in 2024
00:45:01 - Breaking down the economics of his youtube channels
00:48:37 - Revenue from Merch
00:50:41 - Managing 25 Foreign Language Channels
00:53:32 - How to start a faceless animation channel 101
00:56:28 - Oliver's Mission - What drives him
ABOUT THE PODCAST:
Backstage Career is a podcast where I interview the linchpins who are working behind the scenes with some of the biggest creators and entrepreneurs out there!
My goal with these interviews is to give you an idea of what it’s like to work with these influential people, and to help you land a job working with someone you look up to and want to apprentice under.
🎯 Upcoming Interviews Target List:
👉 Tim Ferriss' research assistant
👉 GaryVee's DRock
👉 Patrick Bet David's Content Strategist
👉 Jaime the producer of the Joe Rogan Experience
👉 The Content Strategist for MrBeast
👉 Alex Banayan Author of "The Third Door"
👉 Ryan Holiday who apprenticed under Robert Greene
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