Matthew Patrick’s most unique achievement isn’t just growing his YouTube account into a multi-channel media business with over 40 million subscribers(MatPat). He’s also selling his company and successfully transitioning away from a career that was so hard to leave, both emotionally and logistically.
A Surprising Decision to Step Away
In an emotional video posted earlier this year, Patrick – known as MatPat online – shocked viewers with his decision to leave his illustrious career. He explained, “I don’t love late nights. I don’t love that [my wife] Steph and I have been work-first for over a decade, where I’m sitting down at dinner with my best friend, and we’re talking about business logistics… I miss the days when I could sit on the couch with her and play video games, and it’s not for content.”
The Challenges of Selling a YouTube Channel
When other YouTubers quit, they usually stop uploading videos and move on to other pursuits. Exits remain notoriously tricky, even for YouTubers big enough to consider selling their channels. Their businesses are considered risky to buyers because they depend on the whims of social platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Additionally, creators are central to their companies’ brands, making it hard for buyers to gauge their involvement in the channel’s success.
MatPat’s Successful Transition
Yet MatPat got the media company Lunar X to take over his company, Theorist Media, in a transition process that took a few years to complete and gave him enough money to retire. (He won’t disclose the exact amount.)
“We had conversations with ten different companies,” MatPat told TechCrunch. We ended up just going with a product that liked us for the brand and recognized that we had spent the last ten years developing an excellent, recognizable, very beloved brand.”
The Sustainability of a YouTube Career
Turning YouTube into a full-time career is a dream, but it’s not sustainable forever. As the creator economy matures, Theorist – which employs 22 full-time staff and around 20 freelancers – is being viewed as a blueprint for how creators can make this sort of business transition.
“Creator media companies are so key person-led that it’s a vulnerability,” Hank Green, a longtime creator and entrepreneur, told TechCrunch. “When you die or want to retire, it just ends, and that’s sad. It’s like, did I build a thing that will outlast me, that I can take a break for the first time in 10 years?”
Assessing Theorist’s Potential for Transition
For example, Green’s oldest channel, Vlogbrothers, probably couldn’t be acquired. It’s a seventeen-year-long series in which he and his brother John make videos back and forth. You can’t take the titular brothers out of Vlogbrothers.
“Even that was part of the valuation process,” MatPat said. “How person-centric is Theorist, and if we as a company acquire them, are we beholden to that?”
Positioning Theorist for Success
However, according to MatPat, Theorist was well-positioned to transition to new hosts because the formats of its shows are more easily reproducible. Though MatPat’s personality drove the channel’s initial popularity, the formats of his videos made it a bit easier to onboard new hosts. On Game Theory, his main channel, MatPat, analyzes video games deeply and makes explainer videos about his theories. But with the right writers, another host can mimic the format and quality of his videos.
“It’s an unproven ecosystem right now. We were one of the space’s first successful acquisitions and transitions,” he said. “But we know that after our acquisition, we got a lot of calls from other YouTubers who are looking to sell.”
Lobbying for Creators
Though MatPat retired from YouTube, he’s still pretty busy. He’s been spending a lot of time on Capitol Hill. Now that he isn’t making videos anymore, he wants to use his position as one of the most successful YouTubers ever to educate legislators about what creators need as small businesses.
“It’s weird to be in a position where I, YouTuber MatPat, who just had this big exit from the platform and is very well known in this space, am suddenly like, no man in Washington, being a literal salesperson for a $250 billion industry,” he said.
Educating Legislators MatPatÂ
He’s more than happy to take a hit to the ego for the sake of his industry. MatPat and his wife Stephanie – co-owner and COO of Theorist Media – feel strongly that their representatives must understand how creator businesses operate. According to Goldman Sachs, the creator economy could be worth half a trillion dollars by 2027. Oxford Economics estimates that YouTube’s creative ecosystem supported over 390,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2022.
“We’re trying to educate lawmakers about the creator economy, that it’s an actual job, and that we are small businesses. As a result, certain tax codes and things apply to small businesses,” Patrick told TechCrunch. Even when you talk to accountants, they’re like, well, are you? Because there’s no clear indicator on tax forms—like, what is a creator business?”
Challenges in Regulation
Legislators are notoriously behind when it comes to technology. It’s hard for some elected officials to conceptualize how Facebook makes money, let alone how creators use social media platforms to start multi-million-dollar businesses. When TechCrunch met MatPat at Vidcon, he had recently returned from a trip to Capitol Hill, where he realized how far we must go.
Vulnerabilities in the Creator Economy
Creators and businesses are vulnerable without much regulatory oversight or understanding of their work. Being a self-employed business owner is hard, but being financially dependent on big tech platforms further complicates things. Even a tiny algorithm change can impact a creator’s ability to reach an audience; fewer views mean less money. Regarding brand deals and partnerships, there are no industry standards for pay.
“This isn’t just relevant to New York and California. The biggest creators are coming from all parts of the US,” MatPat said. “When we were on Capitol Hill, we were meeting with our local district representative, and we were like, ‘Hey, are you aware that the largest YouTuber in the world is in your state?’ and she’s like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s MacBeast, right?'”
Importance of Policy Changes MatPatÂ
Even small policy changes can make a big difference for creators.
“Right now, no designation and official government records say, ‘I am a content creator by trade. I make a bulk of my income through creating video, social content, whatever that is,'” he said. “Then a lawmaker can see, ‘Oh, my district in the middle of Iowa has a lot of content creators; this is an important part of my constituency.'”
Legitimizing the Creator Industry MatPatÂ
The creator industry is often delegitimized—making online videos sounds like a hobby rather than a career. More children say their dream job is to be a YouTuber, but only a tiny fraction of aspiring creators will make enough money to stay afloat. However, MatPat sees it: Aspiring creators can learn many transferable skills from YouTube.
The Value of Transferable Skills MatPatÂ
“I think it is valid, and I encourage anyone to start a YouTube channel with the hope of becoming a successful YouTuber because the skills you get from doing that apply to so many different worlds,” MatPat said. Creators must master public speaking, scriptwriting, video editing, filming, social media marketing, data analysis, and more. “One of the things I’m hopeful for is that people figure out that there are transferable skills, where it’s like, maybe I wasn’t doing this exact job, but I learned all of these things by doing YouTube, which applies.”
