Kevin Espiritu is the founder and CEO of Epic Gardening, which is, by multiple measures, one of the largest brands in gardening on the planet.What started in 2013 as a blog has since evolved into a gardening empire spanning YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, 4,500 gardening stores, and three gardening books.

Epic raised a $17.5m Series A from The Chernin Group in 2021, and according to external sources did $27 million in revenue in 2022.

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Timestamps:

• (00:00) Intro
• (04:03) Sponsor: Attio
• (05:09) A deep dive on the history of YouTube
• (12:04) The YouTube algorithm and meta game
• (40:17) Using Reddit to drive initial blog traffic
• (46:56) How creator-led businesses have negative CAC
• (47:12) Why creator businesses must be very small or very large
• (49:38) How YouTube is changing today
• (50:00) Acquiring a gardening blog for $1k from an Indian VC
• (52:43) His process for doing acquisitions
• (53:38) Launching his first product
• (57:54) His biggest mistakes launching new products
• (58:30) Buying his own warehouse
• (59:04) Non-intuitive ways a product can influence your cost structure
• (1:03:00) Kevin’s approach to hiring
• (1:04:40) Why he raised a Series A as a YouTube creator
• (1:05:27) How to approach investing in AI
• (1:19:53) Why Kevin wrote three books
• (1:23:26) Why more people will grow food at home
• (1:25:20) How he approaches celebrity partnerships

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Referenced:

• Epic Homesteading: Your Guide to Self-Sufficiency on a Modern, High-Tech, Backyard Homestead https://www.amazon.com/Epic-Homesteading-Self-Sufficiency-High-Tech-Homestead/dp/0760383766
• MrBeast https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast
• MrBeast's Feastables https://feastables.com/
• Logan Paul x KSI PRIME https://drinkprime.com/
• MatPat of @GameTheory https://www.youtube.com/channelUCo_IB5145EVNcf8hw1Kku7w
• Michelle Phan https://www.youtube.com/user/michellephan
• Ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/ by Michelle Phan
• Matthew Beem https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR_J_SntqJh5eXw66d5hJxA
• The Chernin Group https://tcg.co/

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Where to find Kevin / Epic Gardening

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevinEspiritu

YouTube 1: https://www.youtube.com/user/kevinmespiritu

YouTube 2: https://www.youtube.com/@epicgardening

Where to find Turner:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/