What is the Mr. Beast Coworking Experiment?

Since January 2023, Ti and few friends organized a unique coworking experiment mostly at the University of Waterloo campus, and San Francisco.

Mr.Beast has a famous story about how he got his initial millions of followers ---- he did intense daily whole-day group coworking for 3 years via Skype Calls, often 15hours+ a day from 7am to 10pm, with 4 other new YouTubers, to co-work or co-grind on their different YouTube Channels and co-study how to make viral YouTube videos. At the end of the 3 years, each of them in the groups has built successful YouTube Channels with millions of subscribers. (Hear him talk about this story and why this can people grow at 5X speed: https://youtu.be/3A8kawxMOcQ?t=429)

Photos of Our Coworking Group in Waterloo and SF

Who Are We

Started by Ti Guo, we were a group of friends with diverse backgrounds, including startup founders, content creators, and community organizers. Previous members included organizers of Effective Altruism Waterloo, WATonomous, UW CS Club, UW Data Science Club, Socratica, WUSA, Velocity, Startup Barn and more. We have a group of 30+ members, with consistantly 3 to 8 people coworking together in person, anytime between 8 AM to 10 PM, at least 5 days a week. In total, we have done over 2000 hours+ of coworking.

Why Should You Do This Too?

We believed that Mr. Beast's group coworking model could be a powerful way to accelerate growth in any field. Our experiment aimed to create a group of highly motivated individuals who were entrepreneurial, creative, and driven by impact. The goals were twofold:

1. Social Accountability & Support: To provide the structure and accountability needed for members to push themselves during the strict working hours they set.
2. Collaborative Learning: To share knowledge and support each other on common topics of interest.

How Does It Work?

Our coworking group currently met in person multiple days a week at Startup Barn in Kitchener. The structure was designed to maximize accountability and support:

• Arrival: Members shared their goals for the day to set clear expectations.
• Working Sessions: Members could work silently alongside the group or participate in structured 60-minute to 4-hour coworking sessions:
  • 5 minutes for introductions and goal setting
  • 1 hour to 4 hour of silent coworking
  • 5 minutes for debriefing and networking
• Lunch & Dinner: The group frequently went out for meals together.
• Departure: Members reported on their goal completion, discussed any challenges, and set their next day's schedule for accountability.