Episode 89: Steve Chen - Co-Founder & former CTO of YouTube - Lessons Learned From Building YouTube

EU-Startups Podcast

In this episode, we catch up with Steve Chen, Co-Founder & former CTO of YouTube. Steve shares his insights and lessons learned from building YouTube. He shares his perspective on selling YouTube to Google for $1.65B and talks about his journey from Silicon Valley to Asia. Steve spills the beans on the evolution of YouTube from a dating platform to a video giant, and the challenges faced during its rapid growth. He shares his insights on the impact of user-generated content, the future of video formats, and offers advice for aspiring founders. Steve also reflects on the importance of innovation and the changing landscape of entrepreneurship globally ahead of coming to Europe to attend VDS, one of Southern Europe’s leading international tech events with a goal to transform Valencia into a global tech hub and much more. Takeaways 1.You won’t believe it—YouTube started as a dating site! And then pivoted into the world’s leading video platform. The first version of your product is never the final one. Keep building. 2.Finding the right product-market fit was the key to YouTube's explosive growth—it should be every startup’s North Star. 3.Behind YouTube’s rapid scaling were intense technical hurdles. Keep going. It's never going to be easy. Don't resign from something great just because it's difficult. 4.YouTube pioneered the user-generated content wave that changed how we all consume content and media forever. 5.Global entrepreneurship is on the rise, we need new hotspots to emerge, Silicon Valley cannot be the only place to watch. You can catch up with Steve Chen at VDS, one of Southern Europe’s most prominent international tech events, happening on October 23-24 at the iconic City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. Steve will be sharing the stage with renowned business leaders like Randi Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO of Zuckerberg Media and HUG, and Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs, Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, along with many other top figures from major companies and venture capital firms. EU-Startups Podcast is brought to you by Vanta. Compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, with Vanta it can be super simple. Trusted by over 7,000 companies, Vanta automates the pricey, time-consuming process of prepping for ISO 27001,SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, and more. Learn more here: http://vanta.com/eustartups