Simone Jetsch is a YouTuber known for making videos about her inventions, particularly "shitty robots". She discusses the challenges of balancing ego and humility in her work and the importance of staying passionate about what she does. She talks about how her YouTube channel took off unexpectedly and how she has been able to transition to working full-time on her channel. She emphasizes the need to establish boundaries and not pigeonhole herself in one type of content. She also discusses her plans for the future, including diversifying her business and not relying solely on YouTube. She mentions her anxieties around shipping a fully-fledged product and the challenges of merging her brand as a creator of "shitty things" with creating a high-quality product.

- The speaker discusses their vulnerability and how they use jokes and punchlines to protect themselves.
- They explain that building "shitty robots" was a way for them to approach robotics without being criticized.
- They talk about creating a product that takes itself seriously and the challenges of communicating its value without sounding pretentious.
- The speaker is motivated to keep going because the product helped them personally and fulfills a childhood dream of making products.
- They describe the product as a calendar that helps with habit tracking and commitment.
- The speaker discusses the differences between their creative and entrepreneurial work, with the content/social media side being more stressful.
- They talk about the fear of stepping away from their work and the realization that it can still thrive without constant attention.
- The conversation touches on the speaker's problem-solving approach and their shift towards projects that spark curiosity and exploration.

- The speaker had a brain tumor and underwent brain surgery a year ago.
- They decided to share their story online to process and make sense of the experience.
- Sharing their story provided a sense of control and empowerment.
- The support received from people online was helpful and made the process more bearable.
- They also connected with others who had gone through similar experiences.
- The speaker returned to their normal life and work quickly after surgery.
- They appreciate the understanding and support from their subscribers.
- The speaker advises asking for support and help during difficult times.
- Practical gestures of support, such as providing food and pajamas, were greatly appreciated.

- The speaker received practical help from others during a difficult time, which made a significant impact.
- The experience of facing mortality led to a perspective shift and a focus on spending time on things that truly matter.
- The speaker gave themselves permission to try new things and step away from their previous successful work.
- Health issues remain a challenge, but the speaker is inspired and excited about their current projects.
- The speaker values the importance of play and giving oneself permission to explore without guilt.
- The speaker believes that focusing on what brings joy and comes easily is often the path to success.
- Society's emphasis on hard work and struggle may contribute to undervaluing what comes naturally.

- The speaker discusses the concept of work and how it can be easy or hard
- They mention a 7-week course on easy work and encourage finding tasks that come easily
- They discuss the balance between short-term pleasure and long-term satisfaction in work
- The speaker talks about their own discipline and how it has changed over time
- They prioritize self-care and certain habits like sleep, exercise, and meditation
- The speaker discusses the importance of prioritizing tasks and not having a strict schedule
- They address questions about dealing with imposter syndrome, favorite robots, and boredom in creativity
- The speaker reflects on what they wish they knew when starting their career and mentions their parents' support
- They mention the potential career paths they would have pursued if their toothbrush helmet video didn't go viral
- The speaker talks about their best version of themselves being when they feel grounded, happy, and surrounded by people they like

- Simone Jetsch is a YouTuber known for her "shitty robots" videos.
- She discusses the challenges of balancing ego and humility in her work and staying passionate.
- Her YouTube channel unexpectedly took off and she now works full-time on it.
- She emphasizes the importance of establishing boundaries and not limiting herself to one type of content.
- She plans to diversify her business and not rely solely on YouTube.
- She talks about anxieties around shipping a high-quality product while being known for "shitty things".

Simone Giertz describes herself as a maker/robotics enthusiast/non-engineer. She’s also known as the Queen of Shitty Robots. She runs a YouTube channel about those robots and is a cohost on Tested with Adam Savage from MythBusters.

https://www.youtube.com/simonegiertz
https://twitter.com/SimoneGiertz
https://www.patreon.com/simonegiertz

Tested with Adam Savage - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA

The YC Podcast is hosted by Craig Cannon.

https://twitter.com/craigcannon

Y Combinator invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups (recently 200), twice a year. 

Learn more about YC and apply for funding here: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

***

Topics

00:00 - Intro

1:10 - "Whatever feeds the ego kills the soul."

3:50 - Maintaining passion for your work

6:45 - Building a sustainable business as a creator

8:30 - Shipping a real product - The Every Day Calendar

17:30 - Being scared to step away

19:00 - Generating ideas

20:15 - Finding out she had a brain tumor, having surgery, and sharing it

25:30 - Returning to work after brain surgery

27:30 - Learnings from taking time off

28:30 - Asking for help

30:00 - Evaluating how she's spending her time

31:45 - Giving herself permission to try other things

33:50 - Challenges as a creator and entrepreneur

35:30 - Not feeling guilty about play and pursuing the things you enjoy

40:30 - Becoming less disciplined in certain areas over time

42:15 - Ali asks - How to get started when dealing with imposters syndrome?

42:35 - beep boop asks - What's your favorite robot?

43:15 - Beste asks - Are there any moments where she is bored and feels like giving up on creating new things?

44:25 - Khawar Shehzad asks - What thing do you wish you knew when you started your career?

45:35 - Olaf Doschke asks - What would have happened if Simone's toothbrush helmet wouldn't have gone viral?

48:05 - Johnathan Nader asks - What is the best version of yourself?

All right, Simone Jetsch, welcome to the podcast.

I'm really excited to be invited to Y Combinator.

I've followed you for a very long time and I'm like, this is where it happens.

Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed that YouTube entrepreneurship would lead you here.

Well, it's been a pass, but it led me here, and I'm very happy about it.

Peter Collins So for people who don't know you, you are the self-proclaimed builder of shitty robots slash YouTuber.

I mean the Queen of Shitty Robots was the dubious title the internet gave me.

Yeah, it started as people calling me the Queen of slash R slash Shitty Robots on Reddit.

And then kind of the slash R dropped somewhere along the way.

All I'm trying to say is that I did not come up with that title myself because I'm a very humble person.

Which obviously led you to making videos about yourself on YouTube.

It's just a parade of humility, my whole YouTube channel.

But yeah, I'm an inventor and YouTuber is generally the title I describe myself with.

So I want to start with a quote from your mom.

And she says, according to you, whatever feeds the ego kills the soul.

And I thought that was hilarious given your occupation at the moment.

Like she's a TV host back in Sweden and has worked as a TV host for.

And it's kind of hard to have, or you're trying to find a balance of having a job that does have a lot of ego in it, but at the same time, like not letting it make you an asshole.

Right, But and moreover, there's the trick of like staying in love with the thing you're doing.

Because now like your first video, well, your first video I saw was in Swedish and then like your second video was 30 seconds long, right?

And then you become famous for something like that.

Yeah, I mean, the first project I had that kind of went viral was the toothbrush helmet, which is a skateboard helmet, has a robot arm and the forehead kind of like a unicorn horn and a toothbrush at the end of it and it brushes my teeth.

And that was the first like shitty robot project that I published and it kind of like I think within 4 months after that I started working full time with my YouTube channel which is crazy.

It was I mean I was in a phase in my life where I could make that transition because I was living in San Francisco.

I was working as an intern at an electronics company and my visa was expiring so I was moving home and I'd kind of planned to go home and maybe do some freelance work.

And I was moving in with my mom and just trying to like, I just wanted to bring down my costs as much as possible so that I could really spend time just exploring things that I was interested in.

That was kind of like me creating this leap year type environment for myself.

So it was very easy for me to make the transition.

Like it was never that I was like, I'm gonna quit my job and I'm gonna start working full time with YouTube.

I was more like, I'm just like freelancing and kind of like giving some Arduino workshops and trying to get around with that.

And then like the YouTube channel just kind of snowballed.

Was it obvious to you early on that that's where you were drawn to or were you just all about dabbling in the beginning and like trying stuff out?

I was, I mean, I was going full force at it and I was really enjoying it.

Like I felt, I've had a lot of different jobs and in like a lot of different fields and it always felt like trying on a bunch of different pants and being like, oh these kind of fit, like I can wear them but they're like also like a little bit crawling up my butt and like these ones, I don't know.

Like they're not the most flattering and putting on the pants of like having a build YouTube channel was just like, okay, this is perfect.

And now how do you keep that like passion for it going?

Because like what we were talking about before is it can be a real grind.

Yeah, it's, I mean, I think for me, it's kind of 2 sides of it.

1 is like really establishing boundaries.

Because it's, I mean, it's when your job in part is documenting your life and telling stories of your life, it's really hard to like, not let it seep in.

Like, it feels like a leaking ship, and you're constantly trying to like, patch it up to make sure you have free time and like other spaces where you don't have to, like, don't have work seep in.

So establishing boundaries really early on was was 1 of those things like just to make sure I still enjoyed it.

And that was like, part of that was never committing to an uploading schedule, which a lot of YouTubers have where it's like, I make videos every week or every 2 weeks or every day.

And I was like, no, I don't want to put myself in that position because like, who knows?

Like I want to be able to spend time on a lot of different things.

And the other 1, and that I've kind of been working towards lately, and this last year, is making sure that I don't, like, you don't feel pigeonholed in this specific type of content.

So I was mostly making shitty robot videos.

And there was like this format of like, where I made, like, everything was kind of surrounded a gif.

Like I would always make a project that like the end product was always a gif.

And that was always what I was thinking of initially.

Whereas I was coming up with the idea And I was like, what if I don't want to make shitty robots 1 day?

And feeling like you have to do something kind of puts you off it a little bit.

So I started doing other types of content and trying it out and seeing how people reacted.

And people have been so tolerant and so accepting and like I have the really like such a good audience and they're just very down for anything.

So that was a part like feeling like I can like that my YouTube channel is more like a journal of personal interest than a specific topic.

Because then you can like, how are you going to run out of things then?

Like anything that you're interested in, you can make content about.

I guess, provided that you want to put your life out there.

Like you can, yeah, you can make content about your life, but you can also just make content about like plants.

Like if I wake up and I'm like, fuck, orchids are rad.

Like that's going to be, I'm not planning to make content about orchids.

But when it comes to, yeah, exactly that, right?

Like thinking about shifting gears at some point, or even thinking about shifting platforms at some point, as like an individual creator on 1 of these platforms, establishing yourself as an entrepreneur, like, how do you think about like planning for the future?

I mean, for me, it was very early, like really trying to keep things flexible in terms of what I do on YouTube.

But also, like, I just would I just want to make sure that if I wake up in the morning or 1 day and I'm like, no, I don't want to do YouTube again, I have other options.

Like you just want to make sure that you have other doors so you can go through if you want to.

And also to build a sustainable business because it's really brittle to kind of put all your eggs into 1 platform basket.

Because like who knows what's gonna happen with YouTube.

In 2 years it might not be a thing or like something changes.

So I've just been trying to find many legs to, or all these different legs to stand on business-wise.

And a part of that is like, I give a lot of talks and like that, which has been great.

And that's kind of a standalone, I mean, YouTube helps support that.

Like, they're all kind of supporting each other, but they're also separate.

Another part is starting a product design company and actually inventing things and actually releasing products which has been great and super challenging and fun.

Yeah, just to make sure that you diversify And also like I don't think I'm going to make videos until I'm like 55.

55 year old Simone or 55 year old me is just going to be like nah I don't feel it anymore.

And so when it comes to, there's a lot of stuff that I wanted to cover, but you mentioned product design.

So like when it comes to product design, what were the challenges that you had to overcome?

Because I knew you had certain, I mean perhaps like anxieties around actually shipping like a fully fledged beautiful product like you demoed on Kickstarter right.

And so how did you how did you cross that bridge.

So I mean mostly or you mean because I've mostly made shitty robots.

So in the way the way you've talked about in the past is basically like well if I make like shitty robots that's like I just put it out there and I can't fail.

Yeah, no, it's definitely, and I mean, we're still working towards shipping the early birds, but we have a factory spooled up.

I'm still waiting for things to get really painful because hardware development and product design is really painful, manufacturing is painful.

But so far I'm like, when is it going to hit?

There's definitely been some moments where you're like, how are we?

But so far I have a great team that I'm working together and it's been fairly knock on wood, smooth.

But I think I was mostly just nervous of like, how do you merge?

Like kind of, I don't want to talk about the brand of, but like the brand of somebody who only makes shitty things and actually trying to make a product that's really well-finished and high end, but also a product that takes itself very seriously.

Like that was my main, like there's a vulnerability, but in trying to put something out there where you're like, this is something that I actually think could help people because also like You protect yourself with jokes and you protect yourself with punchlines.

I'm always like protecting myself by being the first person to the joke.

And there's like, it's kind of self deprecating in many ways.

And building shitty robots was this like way of approaching a very intimidating field, which is robotics that I was really interested in, but I haven't gone to school for.

And I was like, oh, if I only try to build shitty things, then nobody can make a joke on my expense, really.

And making a product that takes itself really seriously and that it's kind of like lifestyle self-improvement, I was like, how do I communicate around this that doesn't sound super lofty?

And yeah, that was definitely a challenge.

But also I'm like, I'm allowed to make things that I think are pretty and I'm allowed to like stand by a thing and be like, I think I really like this and I like this thing that I made instead of just being like, it's all shit.

Well, I think that's like, that to me is the default like, you know, East Coast criticism of California and like having come from the East Coast and then coming over here, There's all that earnestness like built in here.

But, you know, some of the things are genuinely good.

There's kind of like this polish on top of a lot of stuff that's like, oh my God, you want to put a screwdriver in your ear.

And like, And it's funny you talk about it that way because it's also within a category of stuff that you're like, oh man, here we go.

But it's, yeah, so that was definitely, yeah, it was scary.

It was surprising how scary it was and where it's like, yeah, just being like, I think that this is good and standing by that and not being like, jokes, jokes, jokes, ha ha.

Just that I really, I mean, it was a product that helped me a lot and that I found great use for it myself.

And also because I've dreamt about making products ever since I was a kid.

And this was kind of something that I'd made and that I hadn't seen anybody else make it in this way.

And yeah, I was like, we should try and do it.

So just to give it a quick summary for people, like what is it and why is it important?

It is unfortunately a thing that's very difficult to explain without visual aid.

But it's a, I've tried to find like the elevator pitch, but I'm always like, God damn it, I'll just show you photos.

And then I like opening my phone and scrolling and being like, wait, wait, just a minute.

Like essentially it's, I was always, When I've tried to add new habits or make sure that I do something, I'm always doing like the notepad crosses, like you make a grid and you're like filling out these little crosses and making these gold star systems for yourself or these trackers and stuff like that.

And I was looking at, could you make something better than that or something that feels a little bit more sacred than that.

Because like a notepad, you can always put in a drawer.

So I just wanted to make a Goldstar system that has the exact same job as crossing out boxes.

So it's essentially a calendar that has 365 days on it.

And it's almost like this kind of art piece or like this.

And it's just like visual reminder to stay committed to, to the thing that you promised yourself to do.

So that was why I built it initially, because I was starting to feel kind of burnout.

And I had just some bad projects that I was in and I was like, okay, I need to find ways to support myself.

And I was like just trying to find a way to like keep myself on track.

Because this is, there are so many commonalities to me between like, you know, quote, like creatives and entrepreneurs and like this burnout problem is 1 of the biggest ones, right?

And then, you know, like things are shifting now that the culture isn't just about Like, man, I'm on the grind.

But so when you think about like, so now you're doing both basically, right?

So you have your like total, I mean, it is entrepreneurial, but like the creative outlet of making all your videos and then your entrepreneurial outlet.

Are you noticing differences between how you're working on both of these things?

I mean, I feel like it's almost, for me it's the calendar project or the product design or entrepreneurial side has in some ways been almost less of a headache, but that's also because I, I'm only, or I mean, I'm like floating around in the project, but I'm mostly the creative lead where I'm like, this is what I want the product to be making my, my heavy lifting was in, designing it or helping with the design effort and also making that campaign

So now when it's like setting up manufacturing and stuff like that, like I'm in on all of it but I'm not the person making the phone calls.

So it's in some ways been like just from the way that we've structured the company, it's been less of a headache and the, like the content social media side is more stressful.

It's like having like a, what's it called?

And you're constantly feeling, you're like putting out content and then you feel like your life bar is just like, or you're like,

So just the constant effort of that, I feel like.

But I'm starting to have more, a better distance to it.

Through meditation, through like a metric through just being more grown up

no just I mean making because it's like in the beginning you when when you start kind of building your platforms online, it just felt like if I didn't constantly feed this fire that I've like really worked my ass off to start, it would go out.

And you realize, and now, because if I had some health issues, I've been forced to take time off, and I've been gone for a while, and you realize that you can kind of come back, and it's still there.

If you build it to a certain level, it's not really gonna go away just like that, just because you're not constantly feeding it.

It's like that fear pops up seemingly for people of all shapes and sizes that like the fear that whatever they have was a fluke and it's just going to go away.

Like it's sort of imposter syndrome, but it's, it's kind of something else.

Like I've noticed like a pretty intense risk aversion among a lot of tech employees because They're like, oh, I'm in a sweet spot right now.

Not realizing that they could leave and go join another big tech company if their thing never worked out.

And it's obviously a downside of like high cost of living.

I mean, it's like it's your baby or it's something you've put so much effort and work into and you're really worried that if you're gonna step away from it it's gonna die.

Yeah but I think stepping away from it is is really smart like with the way you've talked about some the video stuff before and even earlier when you were like, I think about like a gif first when I make a video.

Like I think a lot of people are just like, oh, I'm gonna be a YouTuber.

And I'm just gonna like jump in and like I'll put my face on the video and that's it.

Like just see the subscribers like go up.

But that like product first and not only just product first but like marketing first thinking is really interesting.

But it's not also it's kind of it wasn't a master plan.

It just I mean that was a methodology that kind of evolved as I was doing it or a methodology that I noticed that I had been using, like without consciously noticing that.

I mean, in kind of, but it's also like I was mostly making gifts And the first video that I uploaded was 7 seconds, like of the toothbrush helmet.

So that was basically just like almost uploading a gift to YouTube.

But then people started requesting getting more like information about the build.

And then I did where I like released a short video that was kind of the GIF version of it, and then also like a longer video where I kind of explained what I'd done or like me playing around more with the machine.

So it was more like, there was never a master plan.

But like, which is fair, like you just keep doing what you have fun with and what works, but like, I guess what I'm curious about is your like problem finding mechanism.

Yeah, I mean it was, yeah, cause that was also 1 of the approaches of being like, what is something I struggle with?

And it was like waking up in the morning and it's like what's like the craziest solution or like a really weird kind of out there solution you could do to solve that and I did made like an alarm clock the slapping in the face with a rubber hand.

But now I'm not as much doing like problem solving shitty robots.

It's more like the sentiment I'm more going for now is like any idea or project or thing I want to build where I'm like, huh, I wonder how that would like work out or what that would look like.

And that's like, I mean, I painted a mural in my workshop only using my feet and like a climbing harness and like kind of rappelling down on the wall and having paint on my boots and like that was just like I wonder what that would be like.

And that's kind of the, yeah, the types of projects that I'm currently going for that I'm interested in.

But even, would you say you're scratching the same itch with your personal health vlogging stuff?

Because I feel like it is, it's a lot of an insight into just, whoa, what would it be like to be that person going through this experience?

No, that wasn't really, yeah, so backstory.

A year ago, or a year and a month ago, I found out that I had a brain tumor.

And I actually today is the 1 year anniversary of my brain surgery.

But yeah, so I went through brain surgery and I decided fairly early on to try and share parts of the story.

And It wasn't, yeah, it wasn't like, you know, honestly, it was, there was a week after I found out where I was like trying to like digest what was happening myself and where I was like, should I, like, how do I tell people this?

And I just felt like screaming from the top of a mountain and being like, this terrifying thing is happening to me.

Like, it was really, it was awful to try and keep it and not tell people and keep it secret.

Like I just couldn't like it, there was no, I 100% wanted to tell people what was happening.

And I think in part, it was like, it was a way for me to process it myself.

Yeah, for me to try and make sense of it.

Because suddenly, like, it wasn't just this thing that happened to me.

It was this thing that was happening to me.

But I could kind of feel like I could control how I could tell the story and how I could tell people what was happening.

And there was just something that was very empowering, which is a very lofty word, but there was something that really felt cathartic to be able to be like, cause it kind of like, I got to not just be like a victim of this thing.

I'm just wondering about the public element because I've in personal experiences like definitely handled them through journaling, right?

So it's like, when you put it down on paper in some way, you're like, oh, that's maybe not as big as I thought it was, or I have like a stronger grasp of it.

Yeah, there was definitely, I mean, I was like, when I was kind of thinking about it, I was also like, there was this whole aspect of being like, am I trying to commodify this like pain or trying to make it into a business?

Am I trying to like, make people feel sorry for me?

Like I was definitely trying to examine it and being like, why do I really feel like I was telling people or what I wanted to tell people?

I mean, I've always been a compulsive oversharer.

I've always liked sharing things and personal things and not like I mean, I don't think I'm always other than my health issues.

Like, it's not like I'm telling people about like, my relationship status or about my family or about other things.

Like, it's pretty much just like me playing around with different things and like random stories.

So it's not like I'm like a vlogger in that sense where I'm like really sharing a bunch of details about my life.

But With this, it was really like, I just really wanted to tell people and I'm so happy that I did, because it's also in part, as much as the relationship you have with the people who follow you can seem like it's just like a surface level thing or it's not really real, but the support I got from people was such a real human support and in this way where it genuinely made the process a lot more bearable because of the support I got from people online.

And in part that was like, yeah, just people, like having a lot of people like root for you and cheer for you meant a lot, but also having people who'd gone through similar experiences reach out and sharing what it was like for them.

And it's like, because you can talk to doctors all you want, but most doctors have not gone through brain surgery,

See all Y Combinator transcripts on Youtube

Simone Giertz on Her Robots and Returning to Work After Brain Surgery