#but teaching (while more boring) is ultimately better for the future. jobs n opportunities n shit ynow

[dorianwolfforest]

finally got around to setting up studying stuff and oh man. english teacher dorian. dorian, teacher of youths. im going to be the annoying teacher that only allows english to be spoken during lessons. im gonna make them read books several times. get grammar pop quizzed, child.

[thepapermixtape]

Silicon Beach (Part 2): Jumpcut’s Kel Livson

By: Connie Lu

Kel Livson (UCLA ‘14) is the Head of Content at Jumpcut Inc., a startup known as the “Netflix of Education” that creates captivating online courses for aspiring content creators and startup founders.  

I reached out to Kel to discuss her journey with Jumpcut and what she sees in the overlap between entertainment and innovation.

P E R S O N A L

How did you first hear about Jumpcut?

I was already working with some of the founders--Kong and Jesse--first as a graphic designer and later as lead copywriter for Simple Pickup, their Youtube channel when they pitched Jumpcut to me. Kong actually wrote a letter and taped it to the door of my room to persuade me to join!

Wow. What finally convinced you?

It was a mixture of believing in Jumpcut’s mission and taking a personal risk. Simple Pickup is targeted to help men gain confidence, make friends, talk to women, and be happy. I’m all about this! And while it felt very fulfilling to help these men, making the transition to Jumpcut allowed me to impact a greater audience that I related to - especially those seeking a nontraditional career path but unsure of where to start.

The personal risk was my own career trajectory. I graduated from UCLA totally ready to work that 9 to 5, low-salary job in a marketing agency or for a corporate brand. I didn���t mind it at all. But in Kong’s letter he said:  “Look, you’re gonna be able to grow at a startup than any other job. Trust me for 1 year.”

And one year later?

I took the risk and it was so worthwhile. I learned so much. In the beginning at Simple Pickup, I was ordering people’s lunches - I would literally ask: “Do you want fries with that?” But 4 years later, I’m not just designing, but also managing market campaigns, emailing 3,000+ people, and writing courses with Youtubers. There is no way I could have imagined doing all this if I had stuck with a regular job as a designer.

People emphasize how much you learn in start-ups, but it’s true. The environment allows you to be constantly evolving and adapting.

J U M P C U T

Sounds like Kong knew what he was talking about! Did he or Jesse have any prior entrepreneurship experience?

Kong and Jesse were both business majors in college. But they felt their classes weren’t teaching them anything they could learn in real life. I remember Jesse telling me that he was enrolled in an entrepreneurship class teaching him how to write emails with good manners. So from the start, the two already had a lot of side projects going - mostly selling textbooks and sassy sport apparel about another college team. Simple Pickup was the first real company that they started that gained traction. They grew to a couple million subscribers all by themselves actually! Once the money was rolling in, Kong and Jesse dropped out of school with 6 or 7 months until graduation. A lot of people would have stuck in to get that degree certified on paper, but Kong’s philosophy was: instead of getting a degree that doesn’t mean anything to me, we’re gonna focus on the company and be 6 or 7 months ahead of everyone else. But ultimately, there is no way to really prepare for running your first company until you just do it.

And how did Jumpcut evolve?

It was a constant iteration process. A lot of people think working for a start-up means focusing on one mission, but it’s really about testing a bunch of things and finding that one idea that changes the world the way you want it to. When Kong and Jesse saw the results in Simple Pickup, the initial idea was: “what if we made viral videos for other Youtube channels?” So we started working with six other Youtube channels in the LA area. But then the idea grew to: “what if we made viral videos for not just other YouTubers, but for anyone, anywhere?”. There were a lot of pivots, but the success comes from Jesse and Kong knowing the target audience--people who don’t want to work that corporate job, who want to be their own boss--because Jesse and Kong were those people. Today, our mission is to be the best education platform in the world by enhancing the learning experience for students who aspire to be content creators or startup execs.

How are you creating that learning experience?

There’s lots of factors! First and foremost, all our courses are taught by real experts. A class on growing your Youtube audience, for example, is always taught by actual Youtube influencers with the stats to back it up. Our bonus classes on vlogging, comedy, and even Youtube legalities are taught by names you might recognize such as David So from DavidsoComedy, Joe Jo and Bart Kwan from JKFilms, and much more. For the course on how to found your own startup, we have Justin Kan, the founder of Twitch--a company almost worth one billion right now--teaching it, along with lessons from over 25 startup founders in Silicon Valley!

Second, our videos stand out visually. I’m currently leading the production process and I can tell you we take the “Netflix for Education” motto seriously. Our lectures have stories, characters, beautiful footage and editing -- it feels like watching a documentary. And our startup series is going to have cinematography that’s 10x better than anything we’ve done before. Jumpcut really believes in improving quality to make learning a more entertaining experience.

Lastly, we focus on student-course interaction. It’s not hard for self-starters to learn; those are the 1% who don’t need Jumpcut. But for the 99% of people who aren’t motivated by a boring lecture--like Jesse and Kong--we’ve developed features to engage our students so they can apply what they’ve learned. I’m particularly proud of our Peer Review system, which guarantees ratings and reviews for students when they submit a Youtube video assignment for review.  Posting to Facebook or Reddit for feedback isn’t as immediate or qualified, since you don’t have that forum of like-minded individuals. One of our sayings here is, “In life if you want to get value, you have to give value,” and I think that’s so true, whether in your job or relationships. Our bootcamps also let students give and receive, since the course incorporates daily challenges that hold a group of team members accountable for completing assignments. Working together not only connects the learning experience, but also gives them a set network in their niche to help each other out as they continue their trajectory.

T E C H  &  E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Jumpcut’s roots in Youtube make it a real gamechanger. What makes the company so unique from other traditional start-ups in Silicon Valley?

I like to think Jesse and Kong’s success in Youtube helped us show our credibility in getting results. Instead of theoretical graphs and charts, we had an actual, profiting company to show to incubators and investors. And now we’re backed by Y Combinator!

With the advent of new tech like VR/AR/360, the applications to film are endless. What do you see in the future of Jumpcut?

I’m mind-blown at the rate at which our tech has advanced! It’s crazy and I’ve had the awesome opportunity to experience VR at this year’s VRLA convention. However, I believe

you should only leverage new tech if the tech has a purpose, no matter how cool it sounds. For instance, VR in a classroom doesn’t really enhance the learning experience compared to watching it already. So currently, AR/VR hasn’t found a space at Jumpcut yet. But I do hope that we eventually find that space.

On the topic of tech though, I do believe that we’ll be seeing more opportunities opening up. Social media wasn’t present 20 years ago; today, there are new Influencers on new platforms creating new jobs. Creating your own job - even that concept is relatively new. And 10 years from now, there will be careers and ways to make money that don’t exist today. Jumpcut is all about helping you create your own path, so I’m excited to see how far we expand.

To give you an example, there’s a guy on Youtube who makes puppets. Fucking puppets! And no one who would normally give him the time of the day maybe a decade ago are binge watching his channel. This is what the internet gives us. A place to share our craftsmanship, however silly and unmarketable it may seem. If this guy can make a living, I’m sure you can turn your hobby into something career-wise too.

C U L T U R E

So anyone can make money doing anything. What might this mean for us as a society?

For better or worse, our standards are going to be higher. 10 years ago, I would watch a TV show and think it’s great. Now I have an unlimited number of shows on Netflix or an unlimited number of influencers to follow. Choosing between them refines your taste so we might be becoming more spoiled. But it also forces the creators to be constantly aware of their market and up the content quality.

Your work at Jumpcut means interacting with a lot of different people from different backgrounds. What have been some highlights?

I am lucky to interview our teachers and testimonials. One woman who founded Scale.api told me: “You should always make sure you’re the dumbest person in the room.” This really struck with me because it’s a spin off of “You’re the average of the 5 people you hang out with.” It made me realize that maybe I’m not the dumbest person in certain situations and that I can try hanging out with different people.

Another highlight has been our Jumpcut meetups, which we host in L.A.  It’s incredible to see our users show up and be excited about what they’re pursuing. Seeing the impact on their lives is what gets me going at work, knowing that their entire career paths might be changed because of one thing I did.

What advice do you have to current and post-grad Bruins?

For current students, I would say spend more time on projects and meeting people. I regret being so focused on school; not one employer so far has asked for my GPA. Even if you’re an engineer, many companies like Google and Facebook are now prioritizing your GitHub over your resume. I was a DESMA (Design and Media Arts) major, so everyone around me was talented, creative, and motivated. It’s a rare environment that you take for granted until you’ve graduated. Nowhere else, except maybe at a startup, are you surrounded by that much ambition. The reality is that many people in the world do not give a shit about their lives.

For the post-grads, seriously evaluate the career trajectory you’re on. Ask yourself: “Is this what I really want to do? Is this something I feel fulfilled by?” It might be cliche but life is short. It’s a disservice to yourself to come to work--that’s 8 hours everyday for your life!--doing something that you don’t care about.

I think the fear is: “the things that do make me happy are silly and I can’t make a career out of it”. But the possibility is out there - you’re just scared because it’ll be hard to earn it. What we teach at Jumpcut is that you only need one thousand true fans to make a good amount of money. 1,000 really isn’t a lot of people, but it’s enough to take that chance. A lot of people will say the alternative is living safe, but it’s really living in fear. Which isn’t how anyone should live. And I know, because it took me more than Kong’s letter to be convinced; I had several personal conversations and a whole lot of doubt to sort through before I made the jump. In short, let happiness--not fear--dictate your life.

All photos courtesy of Jumpcut

For more information on Jumpcut or on Kel, check out: http://www.jumpcut.com/ https://app.jumpcut.com/course/viral-entrepreneur-academy https://www.facebook.com/jumpcuthq/ https://www.facebook.com/kel.livson https://www.instagram.com/jumpcuthq/