Aaron Maney: Creator and entrepreneur behind the tech YouTube channel Mrwhosetheboss, with over 8 million subscribers and one of the UK's most successful YouTubers.
What this episode covers
Aaron Maney recounts going from a bullied, chess-playing teenager handed a low-end smartphone to one of the UK's biggest tech YouTubers. He describes the obsessive daily-upload period that led to a breakdown on camera and a shift from working hard to working smart by studying retention data. The conversation with Steven Bartlett ranges across confidence, gratitude, cosmetic surgery, money's diminishing returns, and the toll of social media notifications. Aaron and Steven dig into maintaining quality relationships under extreme ambition, including Aaron's long-distance relationship and his framework-driven approach to time. The episode closes with Aaron's philosophy of incompletable goals and concrete YouTube growth advice about episodic, interlinked content.
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Lost Connections
Johann Hari
“then i read lost connections by johanna hari and it shows that a lot of the reason why we're getting more and more depressed and socially anxious”— Steven Bartlett
Hot Ones
First We Feast
“have you watched hot ones yes the wings the wings show yeah and the reason it's so interesting is that you know the wings are getting hotter each time”— Aaron Maney
Marvel Cinematic Universe films
Marvel Studios
“i did a big watch through of the marvel films okay start to finish the whole universe and i realized that like these movies are self-contained episodes”— Aaron Maney
ZTE Blade
ZTE
“it was how to optimize the zte blade which is the phone app okay i'm just gonna say yeah and and is that still on online yeah”— Aaron Maney
Big reveals from this episode
- Aaron made one video every single day for at least six months after graduating and broke down crying on camera from exhaustion.
- He reveals he got surgery to fix a crooked nose that had made him hide at certain angles from people.
- The breakdown was a pivot point that shifted his mindset from hard work to smart work, focusing on retention graphs and click-through rates.
- Aaron's girlfriend lives in Indonesia and the closed border during the pandemic strained the relationship to small talk.
- His growth timeline: seven years to 1M subscribers, then 1 year to 2M, 8 months to 3M, 6 months to 4M, 3 months to 5M.
- Aaron estimates a serious romantic relationship would cost him five million-plus a year in missed meetings and opportunities.
- He believes his professional goal of becoming synonymous with tech is intentionally incompletable and achieving it would do almost nothing for him.
Worth remembering
- Aaron's first video was a tutorial on how to optimize the ZTE Blade smartphone.
- He was thrilled when his first video hit 5,000 views, and a friend refused to believe it was really his.
- As a teen he was managing director of his school's Young Enterprise team and built a stylus to pitch to Tesco.
- Steven cites a 100-year study showing men with relationships lived about 10 years longer and were healthier and happier.
- A $170,000 phone Steven received was a Samsung with a gold brick attached, and the brick blocked the cameras.
- At the time of recording Aaron ran the channel with a total team of only two people.
- Aaron refuses paid reviews because taking money makes a review non-objective, but will review products for free.
- A full watch-through of the Marvel films inspired Aaron to make his videos interlinked episodes in a shared universe.
- Aaron practices dopamine detoxes, depriving himself of all stimulation including music, phone and internet for periods.