Interview
Simone Giertz on Her Robots and Returning to Work After Brain Surgery
Y CombinatorSimone Giertz, Adam Savage, Craig Cannon, Ali, beep boop, Beste, Khawar Shehzad, Olaf Doschke, Johnathan Nader
- Simone Yetch expects to transition away from making YouTube videos by age 55, anticipating that the platform may evolve or cease to exist, and plans to diversify her business with multiple revenue streams including a color-matching car paint project targeted for mid-June release.
- Following radiation treatment for a brain tumor, Yetch plans to return to her workshop for product building and manufacturing, aiming to fulfill a lifelong dream of product design (specifically mentioning a desire to work at IDEO) while managing ongoing health issues through pacing, medical adherence, and setting boundaries regarding work hours.
- Yetch intends to shift her content strategy from "shitty robot videos" to a journal-style channel covering diverse interests like orchids and various creative projects, while maintaining a standalone business model that includes giving talks and selling products like a 365-day commitment calendar.
- She plans to support her creative lead role with a team to handle administrative and manufacturing back-end tasks, while relying on her parents' television industry experience for legal and media guidance to maintain control over her story and brand transitions.
- Yetch anticipates manufacturing challenges for her product design company and notes that she has not made a "shitty robot" in the past year, expecting to continue this shift if she discovers exciting new ideas rather than relying on established formats.
- She projects that her YouTube channel may not vanish immediately despite reduced constant feeding and expects her team and Patreon community to be supportive of time off, allowing her to prioritize health and personal well-being over saturating the algorithm with 24-hour content cycles.
- Yetch expresses a desire to spend time on personal interests and people around her, expecting to maintain creative inspiration and high work enjoyment despite health-related challenges by giving herself permission to explore projects without defined end goals.
- She indicates a plan to manage her time by working approximately 8 hours a day rather than attempting to satiate the algorithm indefinitely, aiming to keep a "good life on the side" while ensuring she creates more than she consumes during periods of boredom.