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We Just Sold Our Company for $0

2026-02-04 · announcement · Hank · 8:20 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Projects · mode: Announcements · tags: self promotion, fundraising ask

Hank tells John that Complexly, which grew from John's 2010 Gchat proposal for a fun French Revolution video and $10,000 of Hank's money, relaunched as a nonprofit on January 1, 2026: the brothers donated all their shares and its savings so that it adds more value than it captures and lasts, and he asks viewers for tax-deductible donations.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Origin of Crash Course: Hank's emails, John's Gchat proposal, the $10,000 seed

  • ★ Hank says he has over 44,000 emails containing the phrase 'Crash Course', but the first mention of what became Crash Course does not contain it. — 00:00:00 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says that in an early email naming the project he preferred 'Crash Course' over his second favourite name, 'Cram'. — 00:00:13 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ Hank says the first mention of Crash Course, long before launch, is a Gchat in which John said he wanted to make a hilarious, fun video with many visual aids covering the whole French Revolution. — 00:00:29 · John Green, Crash Course · first in: 2021-06-25, The Surprising Origin of Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says his earlier tellings made it sound like John had an idea for a video, but John was clearly proposing a big idea: they discussed finding time, taking investment and dropping VidCon. — 00:00:38 · John Green, VidCon

  • ★★★ Hank quotes John in the chat, while they worked out funding and time: the ideas interested him, not the payoff. — 00:01:10 · John Green

    “the ideas interest me ultimately, not the payoff.”

  • ★★★ Hank offered the $20,000 he had just made in affiliate marketing; John took $10,000, which funded the initial test episodes of Crash Course and became the seed of Complexly. — 00:01:17 · John Green, Crash Course, Complexly

00:01:27 — Complexly relaunches as a nonprofit on January 1, 2026: buyout offers declined, why a different path

  • ★★ Hank says that thanks to a later YouTube grant they never had to take investment, and until January 1, 2026 they owned 100% of Complexly. — 00:01:27 · YouTube, Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says Complexly today is an organization of over 70 people. — 00:01:35 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course is an educational video resource used in nearly every high school in America. — 00:01:40 · Crash Course, United States
  • ★★★ Hank announces that, as of January 1, 2026, Complexly has relaunched as a nonprofit organization, which he and John had kept secret for about a month. — 00:02:02 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says many would-be buyers offered compelling prices; the brothers listened, partly for the money and partly in case capital and selling to schools would maximize the mission's impact. (hedged) — 00:02:13 · Complexly
  • ★★★ Hank says conversations with Julie, Complexly's CEO, and others showed that a different path was right to ensure people today and forever can access the content. — 00:02:37 · Complexly
  • ★★★ Hank says finding information has never been easy but knowing what to trust has never been harder: everything is louder, algorithms sort us into bubbles, guardrails are thin. — 00:02:52
  • ★★ Hank says Complexly answers this with educational content of high standards that still competes for attention, and is well positioned to do more. — 00:03:05 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says that messaging in 2010 they clearly did not think it was a little idea, but had no idea how it would grow or how much impact it would have. — 00:03:14 · John Green

00:03:24 — The brothers donate their shares; why nonprofits exist; Hank on the board, John founder emeritus

  • ★★ Hank says he has not been CEO for over two years; the organization of dozens of people is bigger than the brothers, who already do not oversee most decisions. — 00:03:24 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says he has always felt Complexly was a project of Nerdfighteria rather than of Hank and John Green; it never quite felt like theirs. — 00:03:47 · Complexly, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ Hank announces the brothers have donated all their shares to the new nonprofit to make Complexly stronger and built to last for generations, prioritizing the biggest impact on the most people. — 00:04:04 · Complexly
  • ★★★ Hank argues nonprofits exist because markets do some very important things poorly. — 00:04:23
  • ★★★ Hank says Complexly gets many views but earns far less than traditional television; high-quality educational content is expensive, so it has long relied on grants and audience support. — 00:04:26 · Complexly
  • ★★★ Hank says he stays on as content strategist and host and has joined Complexly's new board of directors; as of January 1 the brothers no longer own it, the public does. — 00:04:44 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says John will be founder emeritus, a role they will figure out, promising there will be things for him to do. (playful) — 00:04:58 · John Green, Complexly
  • ★★ Hank is excited but a little scared to give away the brothers' ultimate control of Complexly, and expects a very cool group of people to be amazing stewards. — 00:05:06 · Complexly

00:05:36 — Adding more value than it captures; thanks for audience support given without tax deductions

  • ★★★ Hank is proudest that Complexly always sought to add far more value than it captures: rather than a subscription platform or sale to an ed tech company, it stayed open to every learner. — 00:05:36 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says that from the first conversation the ideas were more interesting than the payoff, which is more the model of a nonprofit than of a for-profit. — 00:06:06
  • ★★★ Hank thanks viewers who for years knowingly gave a for-profit company money with no tax deduction, through Patreon, the Crash Course Coin, the Learnathon and SciShow fundraisers. — 00:06:23 · Crash Course coin, SciShow, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says he and John never took profit distributions from Complexly, saving the money in the company or paying team bonuses, and are donating its saved money to the new organization too. — 00:06:50 · John Green, Complexly

00:07:04 — Asks: major donors email Hank, donate at complexly.org, newsletter, Dear Hank and John Patreon

  • ★★★ Hank says donations will now be tax deductible and, noting that as chairman of the board he is to help drum up larger donations, asks those who could give a fair amount to help found the nonprofit to email him at the address in the description. — 00:07:10
  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers to go to complexly.org to be among the first to make a tax-deductible donation, and to sign up for its newsletter. — 00:07:33 · Complexly
  • ★★ Hank says supporters of the Dear Hank and John Patreon can keep giving; that money continues to support Complexly's educational mission. — 00:07:58 · Dear Hank and John, Complexly

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a channel comment answering a viewer, Hank says the nonprofit path for educational creators feels case by case, but educational media is a clear public good. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Complexly · Nonprofit organization

Also: People: Julie

Projects: Ask Hank Anything · Bizarre Beasts · Crash Course · Dear Hank and John · Endlings · Eons · SciShow · Study Hall · VidCon

Works: Crash Course coin

Organizations: Patreon

Concepts: echo chamber · educational technology · market failure · tax deduction

Places: United States

Events: French Revolution

Products: Google Talk

Only in the description or credits: YouTube

Also centred on Nonprofit organization: Why Isn't Everybody a Nonprofit?! · Hank Green Is a Fool

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