There’s a misconception that a successful launch video needs to cost tens of thousands of dollars and feel like a high production commercial. But Farza Majeed has a radically different approach.
Farza is the founder of Hey Clicky and previously Buildspace, one of the largest online schools for people building their own ideas. He’s been making videos for over a decade and his posts regularly get millions of views. He’s found a way to turn launch videos into an everyday part of his process and today he’s going to share his playbook.
In this episode of Startup School, Farza sat down with YC’s Aaron Epstein to break down why every demo should be treated as a launch, how to script a video that sounds completely off the cuff, and which channels actually convert – including why a 20,000-view YouTube video can beat 3 million views on Twitter.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
Chapters:
00:00 – A different approach to launching
02:56 – Demos, not launches
04:35 – The Hey Clicky launch video
06:58 – Why views don’t matter
08:34 – The "did my eyes stop" test
09:58 – Scripting videos that sound unscripted
12:14 – The screen-aware dictation video
14:01 – "The worst video we’ve ever done"
17:25 – The Zip School videos that got 23 likes
20:30 – The 21 million view video
22:15 – Studying Reels for templates
24:53 – "Everything we built this week"
28:11 – You have to be cringe first
31:02 – Which channels actually convert
33:21 – Making videos for Twitter vs. Instagram
35:20 – The no-hands video
37:07 – Beats, not cuts
39:01 – Why the first hire was a filmmaker
40:49 – The gear, and why audio matters most
42:31 – The most important part of the stack is a person
45:41 – The 30-day challenge for the audience
