- Today, I'll tell you how the Try Guys
became independent,
from my perspective.
- From my perspective.
- And the not stupid perspective.
No, I'm kidding.
(steady upbeat music)
- Before we explain why we left BuzzFeed,
we wanna tell you about our flash sale.
This Cyber Monday, get 25% off everything
on tryguys.com, and up to 50% off select items!
All right, boys, go on,
you have a video to do!
(steady calm music)
We left BuzzFeed,
when did we leave BuzzFeed?
We left BuzzFeed April 7th?
Or April 11th.
- Mid-April of a year that was 2018?
- Some of you might not know this but
I left BuzzFeed three months before
the other guys, in January 2018.
- April 2018.
- I don't remember time.
(steady music)
- After four years of working at BuzzFeed,
we had a great time but we were on contract.
Those contracts were expiring.
- We were, well, should we stay or go?
- I think all of us had been planning on leaving
at some point.
- The best way to grow was to leave
and to strike out on my own.
- More autonomy, more creative control,
ownership over my own work, flexibility in my schedule.
- Very much focused on getting
my sort of independent career started.
- Quite frankly, they didn't wanna pay us enough.
(laughing)
(upbeat steady music)
- Whose idea was it to start an independent company?
I'm not really sure.
- We had a lot of talks about what is gonna be
the future of the Try Guys,
and really, we were at a point where we were
never gonna make a video together ever again.
- Zach was the one who was initially really pushing
and exploring the idea of what this whole operation
would look like.
- I requested with all the guys
that we take a meeting together.
That we all get in a room and talk about,
What do we want and what do we see
the possibilities being?
- And then I would give credit to Ned
for actually putting numbers to ideas.
- We all went to Zach's place and I walked the team
through a spreadsheet of everything
that I thought we could do.
- He fucking loves spreadsheets.
Ned loves spreadsheets so much.
- I like doing spreadsheets.
- Is it going to be more financially beneficial?
More creatively fulfilling?
So I guess Ned.
- So I guess Ned, I don't know.
- But it was my idea.
- Zach's gonna be so mad if he hears me say Ned.
- Who'd they, whose idea did they say it was?
- [Crewman] You'll see in the video.
- They said it was Ned's idea.
- I don't know if the other guys can talk
so much about what goes into starting a company.
- The basis of the company,
there's so many things that go into creating a company
that are even outside of my realm of expertise.
- The basics of the company involve a lot of
horrible, boring, bullshit.
- First you have to come up with the company name
and a corporate structure
and a,
ownership situation.
So then you got your payroll,
you got your health insurance, you got your 401K.
Those kind of general benefits
to add for our employees,
to make people feel happy, satisfied.
Obviously you got to get good snacks as well.
- We were like, we'll name our company this!
And then right after we're like oh, no our company
should not be named that, it should be named this.
So then we had to literally file paperwork to cancel
previous paper work.
- You put all that on a document and then you fill
out some forms, put it to the state, put it to the
federal government.
- It is awful, to start a company!
(upbeat music)
- I was off shooting a feature and Ned
was dealing with his new house and baby that was
just born.
Keith and Zach both were here and put together
a lot of the basics for the first videos
in the channel and all of the equipment
that we needed.
- Our first standing desk!
- [Keith] You look ridiculous!
- You look ridiculous!
- There were so many things that we were used to
having that I think we took for granted and so
we had to start from scratch.
It was like, okay,
what cameras and broken lights
do you all personally own?
Oh, I think we're going to need this lens,
we're going to need this janky tripod will work.
- And we were literally working out of a house that
Ned was still moving out of.
I showed up and there's an infant, not just a
baby, Wes is an infant.
And we're trying to do work around an infant.
That's a tiny baby.
Like, he's like.
(upbeat music)
- The colors!
The try guys' colors.
The colors more or less came from Eugene.
- I sort of created the four color theory pallette
that eventually became our channel art and a lot
of our merchandise.
- Give us sex Zach, give us sex.
- [Zach] Sex?
- We have some color affinities.
I like red because it rhymes with Ned.
- Ned always loves red
because it rhymes with his name.
- Apparently, the fact that his name rhymes with Ned
is something that we should care about.
- Keith likes blue squares.
- Even though he's totally abandoned that love.
I haven't seen that boy wear blue squares for
over a year!
And then we were left with like, okay, we could
do purple, we could do yellow, we could do green.
Eugene said I can't be yellow because that's racist!
I said that's a fair point!
- I picked purple because it's the gayest color.
And it also happens to be a very royal color,
so it's a super gay queen!
- And then, I was left with the choice
between green and yellow.
I think yellow doesn't look good on me.
So I chose green.
I feel good about that choice.
(upbeat rock music)
- Was the first thing the Taco Bell video?
Because, no, no.
- The first videos we filmed were the
parenthood series, because we didn't have any
money and we didn't have any equipment and the
most important thing happening to us, or really to
Ned was his baby coming and being born, Wes.
We clearly messed with that because Keith is like,
in a diaper half that video.
(cheering)
- [Male Voice] The ring baby!
(cheering)
- After so much stress about navigating this leaving
of Buzzfeed, it was so excited to actually be on
set filming with the other guys again.
- It was like, like the good old days, right?
We were like handing off cameras.
We were like running sound with each other.
We just didn't have enough staff, so everyone
was doing every job.
- It's a good thing we filmed it when we did
because she like, actually had the baby like
a week or so later.
(baby screaming)
(gentle steady music)
- Wow! When the channel first premiered there was
so much anticipation and excitement!
- The day we launched was crazy!
I mean, really just everything leading up to the
launch was so stressful!
- When the channel went live,
it was a huge sense of relief.
It was a good, nearly half year of us being quiet
about what we were working on.
- All these questions on Twitter like, guys!
Where are the Try Guys?
Are you done?
Are you friends anymore?
And meanwhile I'm working harder on this
than I ever worked before!
And I'm, I have so much cool stuff coming,
you just don't know yet! You just don't know!
- It was crazy because we had actually made two channel
intros, one for a different name, and one for
the Try Guys.
Because literally until the night before, we didn't
know if we were going to be the Try Guys.
Hence, all of the paperwork about what company name
we would have.
Horrible, boring, bullshit.
(slow classical music)
- The first subscriber was me!
And we were all, we were all hanging out in
the room and I realized that we had no subscribers
- I was the first subscriber, but then I unsubscribed
because I didn't want to blow the cover.
So Zach will say he's the fist subscriber, cause
he saw it go from zero to one.
I'm telling you, about a month and a half before that
when we actually created the channel, I subscribed
just to make sure it was working and then unsubscribed.
- It was me.
(gentle steady music)
- Wow, God, I don't want
to throw any video under the bus.
Cause if it's a video I didn't make, I probably
shouldn't answer that one.
- You know, I'm not a big fan of the Barkchshler.
(dramatic music)
- Probably the Barkchshler.
(dramatic music)
- I didn't watch every episode of the Barkchshler.
(dramatic music)
- I just don't care about dogs that much!
So sue me.
I just, it's not my journey.
- He's the only Try Guy without dogs!
It makes no sense why he'd be judging dogs.
- They're difficult, you grow,
they love you unconditionally, because they're dogs.
(steady classical music)
- The best video on our channel is the lap-sitting
saga of Eugene.
It is pure joy, it is chaotic-good on the
alignment chart.
It is like off the chaotic-good,
it is like, insanity-good.
I feel like all the fans like,
were in on the joke.
It was just like a giant inside joke
and it's a beautiful piece of art.
- All of the videos with Wes are probably my favorite,
but I think my favorite has to be, either the
Try Guys meeting Ned's baby,
or Eugene babysitting Wes.
- Do you want to hold him?
- No, I don't.
- Okay.
Being able to show what my world was day in,
day out, and then expose these three other guys
to that was really special.
- On this new channel we worked together a lot
but we also get to make projects that kinda
showcase our personal styles and loves.
And I think Candid Competition is just like,
my wacky humor taken to the enth degree.
- I think my favorite video is probably my
coming out video.
Mainly because, it not only allowed me to sort
of express myself to the online audience
through the film making style and voice
and performance that I prefer.
It was really wonderful to see that it
had a lot of impact for a lot of young people
out there, especially who are struggling with
their identity.
So I was very fortunate to be in a position
that I was able to create that.
(steady music)
- It's been such a whirlwind, it really has been
one of the greatest and most rewarding things
I have ever gotten to do.
- It feels great, it's awesome!
We have a robust staff, there's like 15 people in this
single bathroom home.
(laughing)
- I am so happy, I feel so proud.
- It feels amazing to be able to own
and operate your own company.
- Being able to do it with my best friends
and my new best friends, all the people that we
work with and collaborate with.
- We really are a really well-oiled machine
and it also feels like we're big but small.
We're still able to have like little happy
hours where we all get together.
We make jokes as a big team.
- To have the ability to say, hey if we want
to start a podcast, we just start a podcast.
Or if we want to go on a tour, we just like
make that happen.
- And also doing it with you guys, being on this
journey with everyone whose watched and supported,
both directly on our Patreon, but also just
with your views and with your love.
- And I don't think we would have been able to do
that if we were still working for a different company.
Because, there's a lot more protocol in place.
And here, guess who creates the protocol?
These guys!
Guess who runs HR?
Nobody!
We don't have HR.
Shots for everybody!
(upbeat classical music)
- The goal I have for our channel is to be able
to expand even beyond us.
Because I think that what we're trying to put
out in the world is a message of inclusivity
but also daringness to explore things that you
are afraid of or uncomfortable with.
And I don't think that's limited
to the four Try Guys.
I think that is something that is vastly expansive.
And something that should be expressed
from other people's perspectives.
- But this year I want to get into more scripted
videos on the channel.
I've been trying to bring those elements into
our unscripted work, but yeah, I'm going to make
some scripted pieces up in this bitch.
- We're going to have different shows,
we're going to have each of those shows be on
a different day of the week.
We're looking to take to Netflix.
We're looking to take to TV.
We're looking to do everything we possibly can.
- My goal for our channel by this time next year
is to have over 10 million subscribers
because I know we have 25 million different independent
viewers watching our content every 90 days,
so why we only got 6 million subscribers?
What you all doing?
My goal is to be bigger,
I mean, there is no reason we should have less
subscribers than Jake Paul!
No reason to have less subscribers than James Charles!
No reason to have less subscribers than,
several people who have more!
- You know if you subscribe maybe we'll make
another season of The Barkchshler!
(dramatic music)
- We're a production company!
There's four of us!
We should have forty million subscribers, right?
What do you want?
I'm eating so much!
I have to go to the doctors so much more!
Just to get blood tests to make sure
I'm not killing myself!