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Hank Green's Million Dollar Ideas

2021-11-09 · letter vlog · John · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Projects · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, fundraising ask, community lore

John contrasts his rare ideas with Hank's constant 'million dollar ideas', admits his dubious filter was wrong about 2D Glasses, which showed Hank that ideas can become things, and about the Awesome Socks Club, which raised over $700,000 for charity in its first year.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — John's one idea every five years versus Hank's million-dollar ideas, good and terrible

  • ★★ John says he has about one idea every five years: Vlogbrothers in 2006, Crash Course five years later, The Anthropocene Reviewed five years after, and he awaits his fourth. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers, Crash Course, The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)
  • ★★ John says Hank has an idea every 20 seconds and has called some 7,000 times saying he has a million-dollar idea; a million dollars per idea would give John about $7 billion, nearly 3% of Jeff Bezos’ wealth. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John says that with ideas in general, Hank's job is to be extremely enthusiastic and his own is to be extremely dubious. — 00:00:29 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John says Hank has had many wonderful ideas, from VidCon to SciShow to Subbable, and helped make amazing things. — 00:00:29 · Hank Green, VidCon, SciShow, Subbable
  • ★★ John says Hank has also had terrible ideas, such as Surprisingly Edible, a store selling only things that don't look edible, and Pelifans, an Only Fans for pelicans. (playful) — 00:00:29 · Hank Green

00:00:58 — John's dubious filter; his first failure, 2D Glasses, showed Hank that ideas can become things

  • ★★ John says a Hank idea that survives his anxious, dubious filter is a great one, and he has approved almost all of Hank's best ideas, almost without exception. — 00:00:58 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says his first failure was in 2009: Hank pitched glasses that render 3D movies in 2D for people who get headaches, and John called it the worst idea he'd ever heard. — 00:00:58 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says he was right that 2D glasses didn't make a million dollars but wrong otherwise: they were very successful and changed both brothers' lives, because Hank realized his ideas could become things. — 00:01:46 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says if the idea of 2D glasses could become 2D glasses, then a conference could become VidCon, an educational video company Complexly, and John with a mustache a t-shirt. — 00:01:46 · VidCon, Complexly

00:02:16 — The sock subscription John doubted: over $700,000 raised, his favorite socks

  • ★★ John recalls Hank and people at DFTBA.com pitching a sock subscription a couple of years ago, with all profit to stronger health systems in poor communities; John said it was not a million-dollar idea. — 00:02:16 · Hank Green, DFTBA Records, Awesome Socks Club
  • ★★★ John says the Awesome Socks Club raised over $700,000 for charity in its first year. — 00:02:45 · Awesome Socks Club
  • ★★ John says he was wrong about the sock club, or hopefully soon will be, and wishes being wrong were always this lovely. (hedged) — 00:02:45 · Awesome Socks Club
  • ★★ John says that besides supporting an important cause, Awesome Socks Club socks are his favorite socks. — 00:02:45 · Awesome Socks Club
  • ★ John says that, for reasons he won't go into, he is currently wearing a boot, but the socks keep him fashionable. (playful) — 00:02:45

00:03:21 — Sign-up pitch, not sponsored, sign-off and a P.S. on Surprisingly Edible

  • ★★ John hopes this is the year Hank proves him fully wrong and the club becomes a literal million-dollar idea, because it does a lot of good. (hedged) — 00:03:21 · Awesome Socks Club, Hank Green
  • ★★★ John tells viewers to sign up at AwesomeSocks.Club, open only for the next few days. — 00:03:21 · Awesome Socks Club
  • ★ John says the video is not sponsored: nobody paid for it. (playful) — 00:03:21
  • ★ In a P.S., John says being wrong about the socks doesn't make him wrong about Surprisingly Edible, which is still not a good idea. (playful) — 00:03:45

Humor (significant)

  • John counts the money he'd have at a million dollars for each of Hank's 7,000 million-dollar ideas. — 00:00:29

    “I would have like $7 billion, or nearly 3% of Jeff Bezos' wealth.”

  • Among Hank's terrible ideas, John lists Pelifans, a pelican version of OnlyFans. — 00:00:58

    “Pelifans, Hank’s Only Fans for pelicans.”

  • John begins the usual sponsorship disclosure. — 00:03:21

    “This is the part where I disclose it's a sponsored video, but no, it's not a sponsored video.”

  • In a P.S., John refuses to concede anything beyond the socks. — 00:03:45

    “does not mean that I am wrong about Surprisingly Edible, which continues to not be a good idea.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: 2D Glasses · Awesome Socks Club

Also: People: Jeff Bezos

Projects: Complexly · Crash Course · DFTBA Records · Pelifans · SciShow · Subbable · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast) · VidCon

Concepts: 3D film

Also centred on 2D Glasses: 2D Glasses! Take the Headache out of 3D · John Green Answers the Most Searched Hank Green Questions

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2021-11-09 – 2021-11-23.