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Hank Green Is a Fool

2026-05-26 · letter vlog · John · 6:23 · watch on YouTube

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

John corrects Hank's clickbait-titled video: Hank did not leave Crash Course, and it was not sold; private buyers saw that free, costly Crash Course makes no economic sense, so the brothers gave Complexly away as a non-profit, and John himself left.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hank's clickbait title 'Why I Left Crash Course' and its two errors: Hank didn't leave, and it wasn't sold

  • ★★ John says Hank's video last week (week of 18 May 2026) had a very clickbaity title, Why I Left Crash Course: Hank flew too close to the clickbait sun and made two critical errors. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Hank Green, Crash Course

  • ★★★ John says Hank did not leave Crash Course: he is still on the board of directors of Complexly, which makes it, and helps with Crash Course and Complexly projects all the time. — 00:00:22 · Hank Green, Crash Course, Complexly

    “First, you did not leave Crash Course.”

  • ★★ John says Hank's line that Crash Course is no longer owned by the brothers led people, justifiably, to conclude they sold to a private equity firm, and they disliked coin money going to Rich Uncle Pennybags. — 00:00:38 · Hank Green, Crash Course, Crash Course coin

00:00:58 — Founding Complexly, never taking profit, talks with buyers, and why Crash Course doesn't make economic sense

  • ★★ John says that in 2011 he and Hank founded Complexly, which has made lots of educational content, from Bizarre Beasts to The Art Assignment to SciShow to Crash Course. — 00:00:58 · Hank Green, Complexly, Bizarre Beasts, The Art Assignment, SciShow, Crash Course
  • ★★★ John says that, having other jobs, he and Hank never took profit distributions from Complexly; its money, never much, was reinvested into more educational video. — 00:01:08 · Hank Green, Complexly
  • ★★ John says that as Complexly grew into a biggish company, owning it felt like a lot for two random guys, and the pressure of so many livelihoods depending on them got to be a little overwhelming. — 00:01:18 · Hank Green, Complexly
  • ★★ John says that over the last five years they had many conversations with companies about the future of Complexly and Crash Course, to find the right future for it. — 00:01:34 · Complexly, Crash Course
  • ★★ John says the companies wanted to buy Crash Course, keep the videos free and charge for surrounding content or school licensing; told of the free-forever promise, they said companies change priorities. — 00:01:56 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ John thinks the private equity people meant Crash Course doesn't make economic sense, not for lack of views but because it is free and expensive to make, needing a huge team. — 00:02:15 · Crash Course
  • ★★★ John says the choice the private equity companies saw was to make Crash Course cheaper, meaning less good, or to make it not free. — 00:02:36 · Crash Course

00:02:55 — More than enough money; Hank's idea to give Complexly away as a non-profit and why it made sense; the attention-economy aside

  • ★★ John says he and Hank have more than enough money, and despite what billionaires believe, there is no difference between more than enough and much more than enough. — 00:02:55 · Hank Green

    “there's actually no difference between more than enough and much more than enough”

  • ★★★ John says Hank realized that not owning Complexly didn't require profiting from it, and proposed giving it away as a non-profit; suddenly everything made sense. — 00:03:05 · Hank Green, Complexly

  • ★★★ John argues becoming a non-profit keeps Crash Course free forever, means the brothers never profit from crowdfunded growth, and makes coin buyers' and donors' money a tax-advantaged donation. — 00:03:16 · Crash Course, Crash Course coin
  • ★★★ John says Complexly became a charity, so Crash Course and the rest of Complexly are now owned by the public it seeks to serve. — 00:03:38 · Complexly, Crash Course
  • ★★ John says Hank should have said in his first ten seconds that Crash Course is a non-profit they no longer own, whose board Hank serves on unpaid. — 00:03:47 · Hank Green, Crash Course
  • ★★ John says saying so would have drawn fewer views and coin sales, which maybe shows a problem with an algorithmic internet that values only capturing and holding attention. (hedged) — 00:04:00 · attention economy, Crash Course coin

00:04:22 — Hank's finest moment; why John left Complexly and did not join its board

  • ★★★ John says omitting the charity status was not Hank's finest moment, but turning Crash Course into a non-profit is one of his finest moments and most interesting choices. — 00:04:22 · Hank Green, Crash Course
  • ★★ John is proud of the impact of Crash Course and Complexly, especially now that the only priority is serving the public well with reliable information. — 00:04:40 · Crash Course, Complexly
  • ★★★ John says he did actually leave Crash Course and Complexly: he will still appear in videos sometimes and contribute however he can, but did not join the board. — 00:04:52 · Crash Course, Complexly
  • ★★ John's reasons: running such a big thing is stressful, and Complexly is healthy with an amazing team that doesn't need him, so he can focus on his fulfilling writing. — 00:05:05 · Complexly
  • ★★ John says he is not very good at the job, since he can't read a spreadsheet, so he will help Crash Course by writing and hosting rather than running it. (playful) — 00:05:21 · Crash Course

00:05:50 — Crash Course's reach last year and the Crash Course coin ask; sign-off

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Complexly · Crash Course · Nonprofit organization

Also: Projects: Bizarre Beasts · SciShow · The Art Assignment

Works: Crash Course coin

Concepts: attention economy · clickbait · crowdfunding · fact-checking · Private equity · tax deduction

Characters: Rich Uncle Pennybags

Only in the description or credits: 2D Glasses · Focus Friend · hankschannel · Partners In Health · The Fault in Our Stars · VidCon · YouTube

Also centred on Nonprofit organization: We Just Sold Our Company for $0 · Why Isn't Everybody a Nonprofit?!

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