Kevin Espiritu is the founder and CEO of Epic Gardening, which is, by multiple measures, one of the largest brands in gardening on the planet.What started in 2013 as a blog has since evolved into a gardening empire spanning YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, 4,500 gardening stores, and three gardening books.

Epic raised a $17.5m Series A from The Chernin Group in 2021, and according to external sources did $27 million in revenue in 2022.

— — — —

Brought to you by Attio, the next generation of CRM. It’s powerful, flexible and easily configures to the unique way your startup runs, whatever your go-to-market motion. The next era deserves a better CRM. Join OpenAI, Replicate, ElevenLabs and more at https://bit.ly/AttioThePeel

— — — —

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(04:03) Sponsor: Attio
(05:09) A deep dive on the history of YouTube
(12:04) The YouTube algorithm and meta game
(40:17) Using Reddit to drive initial blog traffic
(46:56) How creator-led businesses have negative CAC
(47:12) Why creator businesses must be very small or very large
(49:38) How YouTube is changing today
(50:00) Acquiring a gardening blog for $1k from an Indian VC
(52:43) His process for doing acquisitions
(53:38) Launching his first product
(57:54) His biggest mistakes launching new products
(58:30) Buying his own warehouse
(59:04) Non-intuitive ways a product can influence your cost structure
(1:03:00) Kevin’s approach to hiring
(1:04:40) Why he raised a Series A as a YouTube creator
(1:05:27) How to approach investing in AI
(1:19:53) Why Kevin wrote three books
(1:23:26) Why more people will grow food at home
(1:25:20) How he approaches celebrity partnerships

— — — —

Referenced:

Epic Homesteading: Your Guide to Self-Sufficiency on a Modern, High-Tech, Backyard Homestead https://www.amazon.com/Epic-Homesteading-Self-Sufficiency-High-Tech-Homestead/dp/0760383766
MrBeast https://www.youtube.com/@MrBeast
MrBeast's Feastables https://feastables.com/
Logan Paul x KSI PRIME https://drinkprime.com/
MatPat of @GameTheory https://www.youtube.com/channelUCo_IB5145EVNcf8hw1Kku7w
Michelle Phan https://www.youtube.com/user/michellephan
Ipsy: https://www.ipsy.com/ by Michelle Phan
Matthew Beem https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR_J_SntqJh5eXw66d5hJxA
The Chernin Group https://tcg.co/

— — — —

Where to find Kevin / Epic Gardening

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevinEspiritu

YouTube 1: https://www.youtube.com/user/kevinmespiritu

YouTube 2: https://www.youtube.com/@epicgardening

Where to find Turner:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/

Epic Gardening's $100+ Million YouTube Playbook with Kevin Espiritu, Founder and CEO

The Peel with Turner Novak