On Entrepreneurship & Success

  1. On Overnight Success: "There's no such thing as an overnight success... The worst thing is to have a hit early on because then you think it's easy, you get lazy, but it is a very long-term commitment." [1]
  2. The Recipe for Success: "Success for an entrepreneur equals: Vision + Ambition + Execution + Persistence + Luck + Timing + Focus + Resilience. These are required ingredients for success." [2]
  3. The Entrepreneur's Mindset: "You're in the trenches, alone. You're being fired at. If you don't avoid the fire or fire back, you die. It's similar at a startup where you have to keep plugging away, but you hit walls all the time so you have to find ways out of the maze." [2]
  4. On Being a Reluctant Entrepreneur: "I was more of a reluctant entrepreneur because... I kind of narrowed and realized, hey if you really want to walk to the beat of your own drums, you can't expect a given corporation, a given employer, to derail what they're doing because of your principles... You need to do it yourself." [3]
  5. The Genesis of WatchMojo: "That's basically the genesis of WatchMojo, which was a means to an end. It wasn't so much about I want to be telling stories through video or about YouTube, those were all the means to the end of just being able to treat employees the way I felt I wanted to be treated." [3]
  6. On Taking Risks: "I said to myself, 'Now is the time.' There's no ideal time to take that kind of risk." [4]
  7. The Importance of Getting Out There: “I think the Internet allows you to think that you can just sit at your desk and you have this boundaryless opportunity to go out and build a business, that is global in nature. And you can absolutely do that, but you really do need to get out there and meet people.” [5][6]
  8. On Finding Your Calling: "You have to ask yourself am I willing to do this for free in my spare time and make a lot of sacrifices over a considerable amount of time if the answer is no don't do it." [1]
  9. Success is Subjective: "Success is: relative, fluid, and subjective." [4]
  10. The Underdog Advantage: "9/11 made all prospects — media or finance — challenging... it was just one in many events that led me to being an outsider and underdog — and that creates a lot of entrepreneurs. We have a chip on our shoulder." [2]

On Business Strategy & Growth

  1. Patience and Sustainability: "Patience/persistence is key: Things that scale overnight are not necessarily sustainable, and things that are sustainable take time to scale." [2]
  2. The Reality of Startups: "Everything will take longer, cost more… and generate less revenue at a slower pace — and that's ok." [2]
  3. On Being Ahead of the Market: "I think it's important to be one step or two step ahead of a market but if you're eight steps ahead of market you're... way too early." [1]
  4. Bootstrapping and Creativity: "By virtue of bootstrapping... if you don't have money... you have to be creative... let's just contact the department of tourism." [1]
  5. Vision vs. Mission: "The vision is like the why, the thing that doesn't change, and the mission is like the how, how you accomplish that. So for me, admittedly, in that vision, you know, I would say our statement of purpose is here to serve but our vision was always to inform and entertain." [3]
  6. Finding Your Competitive Advantage: "You probably have something, a skill and interest where you are like the Tiger Woods, the LeBron James, the Michael Jordan of that field... that is what you should focus on because you're going to lap others." [3]
  7. The Power of Evergreen Content: "I was a big believer in this concept of evergreen content that was timeless that had shelf life because content creation is hard." [3]
  8. Strategy for Viewership: His primary strategy for viewership comes down to two things: discovery and search. "Discovery is [when] somebody doesn't necessarily know what they're looking for... The second part, search, comes down to being 'well-positioned to serve them.'" [7]
  9. Horizontal to Vertical Strategy: "We are casting a wide net to have as many partnerships... to stabilize. And then we'll figure out okay this is the real bridge... Starting horizontal, finding your footing, and going vertical." [1][4]
  10. On Venture Capital: "One of the many reasons I didn't raise venture capital was because I couldn't feel comfortable that I would be able to stick to those admittedly naively idealistic principles that I had when I started a business." [8]

On Content & Media

  1. The WatchMojo Thumbnail Strategy: "We ended up creating content that would get clicks, but people would watch, and because we're doing top 10 lists, which were 10 minutes people would spend a lot of time on our videos, so we ended up building up so much watch time, which was the number one metric on YouTube algorithm." [7]
  2. The Shift from Text to Video: "Ashkan saw the shift in online storytelling at the time from text to videos. 'I'm not a video editor. What I was good at [was] storytelling. I was good at sales. I was good at marketing. I was good at partnerships. So I said, you know what? Let's create a company that's going to basically inform and entertain its audience.'" [7]
  3. The Importance of Watch Time: By creating longer, engaging top 10 lists, WatchMojo focused on accumulating watch time, which Karbasfrooshan identified as the key metric for the YouTube algorithm. [7]
  4. Why Top 10 Lists Work: The format provides structure, manages expectations, and encourages viewers to watch until the end to see the number one pick.
  5. On Staying Fresh in Media: "You have to recognize that media is the opposite of other sectors... you have to be open to younger generations... and be comfortable enough to give the mic to others and let basically others run with it." [8]
  6. The Value of 'Infotainment': WatchMojo's content sits at the intersection of information and entertainment, a category Karbasfrooshan has termed 'infotainment'. [5][6]
  7. Content That Solves a Pain Point: "Discovery is [when] somebody doesn't necessarily know what they're looking for, but they're trying to solve a pain point, a question, and that could be just passing time, being entertained, or they want to find some information that they don't know the answer to." [7]
  8. Authenticity in Content: WatchMojo chose not to heavily rely on influencer-driven content, recognizing that many fans appreciate a more direct, topic-focused approach. [7]
  9. Adapting to Challenges: During the pandemic, the rise in both content consumption and production presented both an opportunity and a challenge, forcing them to adapt. [7]
  10. The News Business is Thankless: "I love news but I would never want to be in the news business because I hate news. It's a thankless job." [3]

On Principles & Personal Philosophy

  1. Don't Get Emotionally Attached: "No sacred cows: Don't get emotionally attached to anything." [2]
  2. It's Not About You: "People have their own challenges and demons, and when bad things happen, it's easy to internalize it and think you are the target or cause of things, generally, you are not." [2]
  3. On Creating Value: "From the get-go, it was always about how can I channel this position that I have to create value. And then if I create value I'm not worried I will be able to derive value back for myself and my family." [3]
  4. The 'King Solomon Complex': "I realized I was drawn to try to solve those problems... I call it my King Solomon complex, you know, I legitimately want to solve people's pain points." [3]
  5. Business as a Tool: "Business is a tool, it gets a bad rep, but if your intentions are good, it's a very powerful skill set to have." [3]
  6. Aligning with Principles: "You realize before long that either you're aligned in terms of principles or you're not aligned in terms of principles with the organizations you work for." [3]
  7. Best Ideas Can Come from Anywhere: A key learning is that the best ideas can originate from anyone within the organization, regardless of their position. [2]
  8. Don't Expect Others to Share Your Values: "People don't share your values and principles. Don't set yourself up to disappoint." [2]
  9. The Intersection of Creativity and Business: "I'm so privileged at that intersection of business and creativity that some people may hate... I love it." [8]
  10. On Addressing Criticism: When criticized for monetizing videos about deceased celebrities, he chose to address the concern by incorporating philanthropy, demonstrating a commitment to aligning actions with stakeholder values. [3]

Learnings from His Journey

  1. From Finance to Media: A finance degree provided him with the tools for logical debate and understanding the bottom line, but his passion for storytelling and a mismatch with corporate culture led him to media. [2][3]
  2. Experience at AskMen: Working at AskMen provided invaluable experience in content creation, partnership sales, and understanding audience insecurities, which became a foundation for WatchMojo. [7]
  3. The Dot-Com Bubble Burst: Graduating in 1999, the dot-com crash eliminated many traditional finance jobs, pushing him towards the burgeoning internet industry. [7]
  4. Non-Compete Led to Innovation: A non-compete agreement after leaving AskMen prevented him from creating another online men's magazine, forcing him to innovate and pivot to video. [7]
  5. Persistence is #1: "Persistence is key you know without persistence is the number one thing in anything." [1]
  6. Life is Short: "There's no excuses, life is short, and if your business, if you personally are not where you would like to be... [take action]." [8]
  7. The Power of Interviews: Conducting interviews early in his career helped him establish rapport and build bridges across different industries. [4]
  8. Human Insecurities Drive Action: "All humans are driven by insecurities, and starting my career in finance and media post 9/11 meant a series of rejections at best and being ignored at worse." This fueled his drive. [2]
  9. Embrace Your Strengths, Acknowledge Your Weaknesses: "I open an Ikea box... I sweat, I panic... But you throw me in the jungle and you say get out alive, I'm like okay I'll get out and I'll get all the wolves and the bears to join my posse." [3]
  10. The 10-Year Overnight Success: The title of his book encapsulates his core belief that true, sustainable success is built over a long period of dedicated effort, not in a fleeting moment. [5][6]

Learn more:

  1. WatchMojo Founder on the Best Youtube Content - Ashkan Karbasfrooshan - Innovation City Podcast
  2. Ashkan Karbasfrooshan of WatchMojo: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A Founder | by Charlie Katz | Authority Magazine | Medium
  3. The #1 Thing to Focus on in Business | Interview With Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, Founder, WatchMojo - YouTube
  4. Ashkan Karbasfrooshan (WatchMojo) on Innovation City | Miami, Florida
  5. The Entrepreneur's Mojo with Ashkan Karbasfrooshan – May 16, 2017 - Startup Canada
  6. Startup Canada Podcast: WatchMojo founder on growing a digital empire | BetaKit
  7. Ashkan Karbasfrooshan On WatchMojo Strategy & Brand Journey - Net Influencer
  8. Ashkan Karbasfrooshan - Founder of WatchMojo.com - YouTube