Good Morning Hank, it’s Tuesday So one thing people might not know
is that over 100 people work full time with us
between our educational media company Complexly and our
e-commerce company DFTBA.com and these people range from
20-somethings to grandparents from warehouse managers
to customer service representatives to sound designers.
So until recently all of these people were ultimately led by CEO Hank Green.
But then Hank, you got fired by cancer. One day cancer called and was like,
hey for the next several months you’re not gonna do anything
but undergo rigorous and grueling treatments to deal with me.
And you were like ok, but I’m still gonna make ads for
the Awesome Socks Club and the Crash Course Coin
and sometimes I’m gonna wanna shoot SciShow just cause like that’s,
the mood I’m in, and I’m gonna tweet 72 times per hour,
and call my brother daily to pitch new business ideas
and make astonishingly brilliant Vlogbrothers videos
even when I don’t feel well and I’m gonna write long and beautiful emails
to my brother about why I believe that humanity is basically worth it
all while experiencing a bunch of novel and extremely unpleasant varieties of pain.
So anyways, you got fired. And then as a result I kind
of got hired as the CEO.
A prospect that nobody was excited about. You know like,
historically I’m not great at meetings. Usually when I attend a meeting
I just kind of stare at my socks, which are awesome by the way,
and then eventually I might say something like you know if 10 people attend
a 30 minute meeting it’s actually a 300 minute meeting which
makes me think about how human life and attention are overwhelmingly
the most valued resources in the history of our planet and that’s like 300 minutes
of human soul life just gone.
And that it turns out is like, not the vibe for most meetings.
Also I can’t really read a spreadsheet which significantly limits my business capacity,
and I wouldn’t say that I’m like renowned for my leadership skills.
Like, there's a reason that most of my career has been spent here,
in the basement, alone, typing.
Also, and this turns out to be critically important,
I wasn’t familiar with any of the TLA’s the three letter acronyms of business,
like CAC which is customer acquisition cost.
Or LTV or ROI or ROE which turns out
to be something different than ROI and yet Hank,
I kind of love being the part time, temporary, reluctant marginally
competent CEO of these two extraordinary companies.
Like, I would say this regardless Hank, because I don't want to make you
feel bad while you’re going through cancer treatment.
But I genuinely don’t resent having this opportunity to be unexpectedly promoted
for a brief period of time.
Now I will be very happy to hand the reins back to you and eventually other CEOs
who can lead these companies better than I ever could,
but I love this.
Like, I really love the people we work with and I love the stuff they make.
I love EONS.
I love Journey to the Microcosmos. I love Crash Course and SciShow.
These are all things I watch every day on YouTube, but now as a result of this promotion,
I actually understand a little bit about how they happen.
And I love the stuff we make about DFTBA.
Nathan Zed’s Good Enough hoodies and Ariel Bisett’s I’m thinking about books
shirt and Tyler Thrasher’s Cicada plushie and Kurzgesagt’s timeline of complex life.
This stuff is awesome, and not to sound like a CEO
but I am so grateful to the team at DFTBA,
who on a recent visit, taught me how the warehouse works
and how to pack up Awesome Coffee for subscribers.
Right, that reminds me, the Awesome Coffee Club
is accepting new members right now, it’s the best coffee in the world,
but also the Awesome Socks Club is open right now,
which only happens like twice a year.
It’s open for a week.
Game changing socks. And I think we all know
I can’t sell socks like Hank can, but Oh, my god they’re so comfortable.
You don't even feel the toe seam.
Style, impeccable fit, incredible mission, charitable.
But the biggest reason I’ve been able to embrace and enjoy this job despite
its many meetings is that I love our Why’s.
Every company has why, right? A problem they’re trying to solve
a hole in the marketplace they’re trying to fill.
And our why’s in my opinion anyway, are the best.
We’re trying to connect creators to fans,
we’re trying to lower barriers to education and we’re trying to expand access to healthcare.
And having those great why’s makes me feel fired up.
It understands why I have to go to meetings.
It makes that human shared time not feel wasted but well-used.
We are working albeit in small and insufficient ways on the injustice
that college costs in the United States are so high.
And on the injustice that global maternal mortality rates are so high.
So yeah, I’m not gonna say like, thank you for the job Hank,
because you don't want me to have it, and I also don’t want to have it,
but I am really grateful to you and the people you work with
for building such extraordinary companies that have such wonderful why’s.
And my biggest conclusion from this whole affair so far Hank
is that being the tail to your comet is the world’s best job.
So thank you.
And Hank,
I happen to know that you pre-made a Vlogbrothers video because
you knew that you were gonna be too sick this week to make one,
which is unnecessary, but I also know that no matter
how many times I and all of Nerdfighteria tell you that you don’t have to
make a video every week, you respond by saying.
Stop telling me that I can’t do what I love doing and want to do.
So thank you for doing what you love doing
and what you want to do, and I will see you on Friday.