Linus Sebastian

Linus Sebastian

Sebastian in 2012 in an online Q&A chat
Personal information
Born Linus Sebastian
(1986-08-20) August 20, 1986
Nationality Canadian
Residence Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Occupation YouTuber, presenter, producer, writer
Website www.linustechtips.com & www.linusmediagroup.com
YouTube information
Years active 2007–present
Subscribers 3.54 million subscribers (LinusTechTips, Techquickie, ChannelSuperFun) (February 2016)
Total views 628 million views (LinusTechTips, Techquickie, ChannelSuperFun) (February 2016)
Network Fullscreen[1]
Subscriber and view counts updated as of February 6th, 2016.

Linus Gabriel Sebastian (born August 20, 1986) is a Youtube personality, presenter, producer, and founder of Linus Media Group.

He is best known for creating and hosting three technology oriented Youtube channels Linus Tech Tips, Techquickie and Channel Super Fun which have a combined subscriber base of 3.54 million. From 2007-2015 he had also been a regular presenter of technology videos for the Canadian computer retailer NCIX. In 2015, Inc. magazine ranked Sebastian 4th in a list of the "Top 30 Power Players in Tech".[2]

As of January 2016, Linus Tech Tips is ranked the 12th most watched Science and Technology channel on YouTube.[3][4] In 2014, Tubefilter named the channel as being within the "top 1% of Google's preferred advertising channels" on YouTube for the technology category.[5]

Career

Early life

From January 2004 to June 2005 Sebastian worked as a painter for the company Student Works Painting and Lifeguard and Swimming Lessons Instructor at Maple Ridge Parks & Leisure in Vancouver.<ref group="Sebastian's LinkedIn cited as "self-published primary source"">"Linus Sebastian LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 7 January 2016. </ref>

NCIX and Linus Tech Tips

Sebastian, originally working as category manager for the Canadian online computer store, was the original host for the NCIX technology channel, which was created to help demonstrate products for the retailer. Sebastian worked with an unidentified cameraman and editor, with limited resources, forcing them to begin shooting videos with a camera borrowed from the son of the president of the company.[6]

Due to high costs and low viewership during the early days of the channel, Sebastian was instructed to create the Linus Tech Tips channel as a cheaper offshoot of the NCIX channel, to allow for lower production values without impacting the NCIX brand. They were inspired to grow the channel to compete with the web presence of TigerDirect and Newegg.[6] It was created on the 24th November, 2008.[7]

Sebastian did not develop videos full time at NCIX. During his time at the company, he worked different jobs, as full time sales representative, high end systems designer, product manager, and category manager.[8][9]

Linus Media Group

Sebastian founded Linus Media Group in January 2013 out of a garage, with Luke Lafreniere, Edzel Yago, and Brandon Lee.[8] The group developed the Linus Tech Tips channel as an independent venture. Sebastian also began working on Techquickie.

In September 2013, Sebastian was interviewed by Chris Pirillo. Sebastian discussed the future of his channel and answered questions that had been sent to Pirillo through social media.[10]

In a 2014 interview, Sebastian revealed he had sleepless nights under the pressure of figuring out how to support his family while also employing staff during the early days of his independent YouTube career, having had no startup capital to work with.[6]

In 2015 the company moved into a commercial office space for the first time, having previously worked out of a residential address in Vancouver.[11] The moving process was documented in a series of vlogs[12] that became one of the most acclaimed series of videos in the Linus Tech Tips channel history. In response to this, Sebastian has infrequently created office vlogs following the move.

As of January 2016, the Linus Tech Tips channel is home to over 3,070 videos, including product reviews and advice, build logs, vlogs, and original web series.

Notable projects

The Wan Show (2013-present)

The Wan Show is a regular Twitch live stream hosted by Linus Sebastian and Luke Lafreniere. The pair discuss topical news stories from the technology world, offering their opinion and fielding questions. Each show is uploaded to YouTube following first broadcast.

There have been 123 episodes as of January 6, 2015. Since the first incarnation of the show, other Linus Media Group staff have intermittently hosted in place of either Sebastian or Lafreniere.

Scrapyard Wars (2015-present)

Scrapyard Wars is a series that follows Linus Sebastian and Luke Lafreniere as they compete to build the best performing computer within the confines of a specified budget, time frame, and theme.

In series one, the Sebastian and Lafreniere were each tasked with building a gaming PC for $300 CAD. It concluded in three episodes after two days.

In series two, the pair were required to each build a water cooled PC for $500 CAD, without using "off the shelf" water cooling components. The series was four episodes.

In series three, Sebastian, Lafreniere, and guest Austin Evans (an American technology YouTuber) were given the challenge of building the best price per performance gaming PC. The third series was seven episodes long.

"7 Gamers 1 CPU"

On the 2nd of January 2016, Linus Tech Tips released a video demonstrating a $30,000 USD gaming computer able to support seven individual players.[13][14] The video made technology news on a number of websites,[15][16][17] and was watched over a million times on the day it was uploaded. Sebastian responded on Twitter, saying "In 8 years I have never achieved 1 million views in a month let alone in a single day. Thank you for your support."[18]

The computer had eight sticks of 32 GB DDR4 RAM, eight 1TB Kingston SSDs, two Intel Xeon E5 2697 v3 processors, seven AMD R9 Nano GPUs, an EVGA T2 1600W PSU, and was housed in a Caselabs Mercury S8 with an Asus Z10PE-D8 WS motherboard. The project was sponsored by Kingston Technology.[15][16][17]

On the 31st of January, a follow-up video was released with further bench marking results.

Personal life

Sebastian has been married to Yvonne Ho since April 2011.[19] Together they have a son and a daughter.[20] He enjoys spending time with his family, stating in a 2015 interview with LifeHacker that "[my family] definitely gives me a reason to get up every day and build my company."[9]

Sebastian loves cats and owns two Bengals. He occasionally shares videos about his pets and an insight into his home life, posted on his personal channel 'LinusCatTips'.[21] He also maintains a personal Twitter account using the handle of '@LinusTech'.

In February 2014, Sebastian was among the YouTubers who contributed funds and support to technology YouTuber Austin Evans, who lost his possessions and home in a fire. Sebastian appeared in a video alongside other YouTubers, giving a personal message to Evans.[22][23] In 2015, Evans was invited as a guest on Sebastian's web series Scrapyard Wars.

In an interview with technology startup website Tech.Co, Sebastian said that his favourite YouTubers were TotalBiscuit, Austin Evans, and Marques Brownlee.[24]

References

  1. ↑ "linustechtips's Youtube Stats, Channel Statistics". Social Blade. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ RAMPTON, JOHN. "30 Power Players in Tech You Need to Know". Inc. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Top 500 YouTubers tech Channels". SocialBlade. SocialBlade. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "YouTube Top 100 Most Viewed Science & Tech Video Producers". VidstatsX. VidstatsX. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Meet The Top 1% Of YouTube’s "Google Preferred" Channels For Advertisers (Exclusive)". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 How I Became. "How I Became: LinusTechTips (Linus Sebastian)". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016. Timestamp 0 minutes 50 seconds
  7. ↑ "LinusTechTips - About". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 "The History of Linus Media Group". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  9. 1 2 "I'm Linus Sebastian of LinusTechTips, and This Is How I Work". LifeHacker. LifeHacker. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "An Evening with Linus Sebastian (LinusTechTips)". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  11. ↑ "Behind the scenes with LinusTech". Unlocked NewEgg. Retrieved 4 January 2016. Sebastian and his team behind the scenes in their residential location
  12. ↑ "Big Office Move". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016. Playlist of moving vlog videos
  13. ↑ Richards, Rae Michelle. "EVER WANTED TO BUILD A $30,000 COMPUTER? BECAUSE THIS GUY DID IT!". Broken Joy Sticks. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  14. ↑ "7 Gamers, 1 CPU - Ultimate Virtualized Gaming Build Log". Youtube. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  15. 1 2 Khan, Imad. "$30,000 gaming PC defies logic, lets seven people game at once". DailyDot. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  16. 1 2 "Youtuber spend equivalent to R $ 120,000 to build supercomputer". UOL. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  17. 1 2 Utomo, Riandanu Madi. "Computer Can Be Played By 7 People Simultaneously". Metro TV News. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Linustech Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  19. ↑ Linus Sebastian. "Linus & Yvonne Wedding Video Final April 2011". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016. Sebastian wedding photos and video
  20. ↑ Linus Sebastian. "Family Sunday Fun with the Cats and Children". youtube.com. Retrieved 3 January 2016. Sebastian in family vlog
  21. ↑ "LinusCatTips". Retrieved 3 January 2016. Sebastians personal pet channel
  22. ↑ "Surprising Austin Evans". Retrieved 3 January 2016. Time stamp 12 minutes 0 seconds
  23. ↑ "YouTube users unite to help vlogger who lost everything in a house fire". Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  24. ↑ "Secrets of the Most Successful Tech YouTube Content Creators Revealed". Retrieved 4 January 2016.
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