Who is the Anti.Prophet? From 0 to 2M followers in 1Y

In this episode of Based Camp, we sit down with Anti.Prophet, the enigmatic content creator who skyrocketed to 2 million followers in just one year. Donning a distinctive mask, Anti.Prophet shares his journey, content creation strategies, and insights on the digital nomad lifestyle.

Discover how Anti.Prophet intentionally built his brand, balancing authenticity with strategic content creation across multiple platforms. He reveals the secrets behind his viral videos, discussing topics ranging from social media's reflection of society to his decision to wear a mask.

Anti.Prophet also delves into the future of content creation, the impact of AI on the creator economy, and the importance of truth-telling in an industry often marred by influencer scams. He discusses his upcoming product launch, designed to empower the next wave of content creators by teaching essential skills like team management, sales, and community building.

Gain valuable insights on the digital nomad lifestyle, the allure of location independence, and the potential for content creation to replace traditional career paths. Anti.Prophet shares his content ideation process, thoughts on platform segmentation, and the power of a binge-worthy content catalog.

Whether you're an aspiring content creator, a digital nomad, or simply fascinated by the rapid rise of an anonymous online personality, this interview with Anti.Prophet is not to be missed.

Anti.Prophet: [00:00:00] There were two videos that really, really blew up on YouTube each of which has around 40 million views. The first was me making a comment about this kid who had taken a selfie in front of a guy who was dead at Starbucks who had just gotten stabbed.

And you see the dead guy on the ground, there's just blood everywhere. And this guy's like, bro, this guy just f*****g died, bro. And the comment that I made is, you know, what, what people generally say when they see a video like this is like, oh, social media has ruined the world. But in my mind, social media, more than anything, is this perfected tool that basically mirrors back to you what it is that you want to see.

And that's what it's incentivized to do in order to keep you on the app for as long as you want. So the fact that that kind of content blew up. And that someone feels like they could build. Career around that because they knew people would eat it up is not a reflection of how bad social media is.

It's a reflection of like the monster that you see in the mirror yourself.

Would you like to know more?

Malcolm Collins: Hello, Simone. We have a very special [00:01:00] guest with us today.

The antiprofit a, you haven't heard of him. That may not be surprising, but you will soon. So I want you just to somebody who like. It stays up to date with what's going on in sort of the online intellectual space and the online conservative sphere. This guy started his channel at the end of 2022.

So basically about a year ago in a little bit, he is already at over 2 million followers. His. Core thing is if you watch his channel, it's very, I say, Chris Williamson, like, very just sort of sane, non, like, out there content, like the type of content where, like, somebody understands, like, the red pill concepts and stuff like that, but they also understand where they've gone off the rails, and somebody understands, you Woke ism and how it distorts reality, but doesn't have any antagonism towards it.

And so it was just shooting straight [00:02:00] on everything. And I really love this. And I wanted to have you on to talk about how you achieved this,

Because it's very clear that some people, when they have pseudonymous selves within the online sphere, it's because they had a profile where they were just posting like angry and they didn't want it connected to their real life.

Yet with you, everything seems very intentional. Like, you went into this as a career pathway, and one designed to inject sanity into the online discourse. So, I want to know more. How did you accomplish this? And how did you sort of approach this? What were you thinking when you went into

Anti.Prophet: this? Yeah, man.

Good question. Thank you guys for having me on. So I think it's very fair to say that I went into this very intentionally. And the reason for that is when I started antiprofit, I was actually managing the 15 person team of a very large content creator. So I had a lot of insight into how social media actually Worked how the sausage was actually [00:03:00] made.

And as a result of that you know, I was able to go into this kind of understanding the volume that I would have to put out and the type of production quality that I wanted to achieve right out of the gate. And I also knew my shortcomings when it came to social media. For example, I know how to video edit.

I'm a, I would say lower intermediate editor, editor. I could certainly do the types of edits that I produce in short form, but I absolutely hate. Editing and I knew that if I was going to force myself to do the editing, there was going to be no longevity with this project. And similarly, I wanted to make sure that my content was being posted within American hours because I wanted to hit an American audience.

And in order to do that, I would have had to wake up at 6 a. m. every morning and post my content. And I'm not a morning person and I do. Right out of the gate, that was not going to happen. So, right out of the gate, I hired that video editor and that social media manager to ensure longevity. And I think outside of that just because of the volume that I was putting out originally I was putting out, [00:04:00] you know, 14 videos a week.

On three different platforms and it just gave me a lot of data to work with a very, very quickly that allowed me to learn very quickly as well. So, and I think that's the biggest thing that's beginning content creators need and in order to figure out what works with their audience, what doesn't and what's, what the market kind of wants from them.

And I, I'm very, very lucky.

Malcolm Collins: You're saying that you needed to be releasing the videos at a time when you were awake. Is that because scheduling videos in some way hurts you in the algo? Or is that because you wanted somebody to be interactive in the comments?

Anti.Prophet: Sure. So on YouTube, scheduling is no problem, but on something like Instagram, if you're using third party posting applications, that's something that Instagram really does not take kindly to.

It takes it as sort of like bought mechanisms working in the background. And as a result it's very it happens a lot where people actually lose access to their accounts because they're posting using third party software and then they show up to the algorithm as a bot. So you, you have to actually kind [00:05:00] of be there to like manually post, even if you draft it beforehand, you got to manually hit the.

The post button, if you're doing a creator account,

Malcolm Collins: so I want to go into the brand that you created here, whether it is the stuff in your background, the way that you dress the way that you have done your pseudo anonymity and the name of the account antiprofit, can you just go into the, what you were thinking when you were creating this?

Anti.Prophet: Sure. So, you know, I knew I had a lot to say, and I, again, had that background in social media. So I got to a certain place where I was like, all right, I'm going to try this out for myself. And the mask was actually sort of needed out of practicality to begin with, because again, I was working for this other creator.

And I knew that he was not going to be okay with me posting about the types of things that I post about while also representing his brand. So I went on a search to find a, to find a mask. And I think when I first settled on this mask, it was mostly just kind of a subconscious thing. I just saw it. It [00:06:00] was gut instinct.

I was like, okay, that one, it's really cool. It's, it's cool. And I think on top of that, the nice thing that's sort of, that I've sort of realized over time is that. The fact that this is a blank face really, I think kind of lowers people's guard to a certain degree so that they can listen to the argument that I'm making for 60 seconds and kind of decide for themselves whether or not they buy into it or not.

And then, you know, kind of asked themselves a question about a sacred cow that they happen to believe in. And, you know, if the question that I'm having them ask themselves as a result of my content causes them to poke some holes in that sacred cow and it loses water, then that gives them the opportunity to.

Go and potentially find a stronger sacred cow that serves them a little bit better in their lives. Or, if my question that I'm having them pose to themself causes them to go and poke that sacred cow of theirs and it's still Stands the test of time, then it's an indication that whatever it is that they're doing in their personal life is working for them and that they should continue in that direction.

So I think antiprofit. I really [00:07:00] started this again. I think subconsciously from the beginning, but over time it's become very conscious. I don't want to be, I don't want to basically just come out and be an edgelord with like very conflicting opinions or very hot takes for the sake of being incendiary.

I want to have you challenge your own deeply held beliefs simply to see if you actually believe them and make an informed decision moving forward about whether or not you keep that belief around.

Malcolm Collins: So, the name, Antiprofit. What was the idea behind that? What was it supposed to

Anti.Prophet: invoke? Sure. So it was funny getting into this, I was actually thinking to myself, you know, what would be a cool name?

And this is actually from a French film. That's really, really great. I don't remember the director, but the film is called The Prophet. And I was thinking about actually calling myself The Prophet at the very beginning. And I was like, nah, that's, that's too hokey. And it's also like to like, Ooh, look at me.

I'm so cool. And I also really did not want to be anyone's guru going into this. I [00:08:00] didn't want to be like the person that people look at and be like, yeah, that's what he thinks. And as a result, that's what I think, too. That was like the antithesis of what I was going for. And I think even just that word that I used right there.

That's what sort of led me to the, the name anti profit is just like, I don't want to be your profit. I want you to look inside of yourself for the answers. And as a result, don't look at me as your guru.

Malcolm Collins: That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And that's very much the theme of the channel for people haven't seen it yet is challenging the wisdom of.

Online guru communities. Yeah. Well, while

Simone Collins: still finding the truth within them. And I feel like the mask is perfect for that because people really do look at appearances when deciding how they're going to interpret content. I mean, we get that all the time because we look like pasty pencil neck nerds. And I think it does definitely influence the way that people view us and view what we're saying.

So it's just so smart that like, not only with the mask, but also you ask incredibly thoughtful questions. And I'm curious, like, how do [00:09:00] you prep for the content that you're, you're creating, be it shorts or more long form, like the questions you create and the questions you often pose with the shorts that you're making too are quite interesting.

And one thing that I've, I've always struggled with is we've, We've had friends in the past that have been insanely successful with creating a lot of content that tons of people watch, right? But it's all like, it's, it's, it caters directly to the lowest common denominator. Like this is the rainbow hair group, you know?

And like, it just like, it's not changing people's views. And you're actually asking profound questions and getting people to think differently. How have you managed to walk that line? Between lowest common denominator and fast growth and spreading versus asking questions that actually make people think, which they don't typically like to do.

So that's kind of a two part question. Like one, like what's your episode, like ideation and preparation process. And then two, how do you manage to walk that line?

Anti.Prophet: Sure. Well I'll answer the idea of preparation as far as shorts are [00:10:00] concerned, at least what I've been doing over the last two months, which is kind of returning to my roots.

It's just. Talking about whatever happens to be on my mind that day and recording it. I actually don't do a lot of prep for these shorts at this point. Previous to that, there was about an eight month period where I was going through and really scripting out my arguments word by word, because I, I was really trying to.

Kind of make complex arguments, and I wasn't used to doing that. And I think as a result of that, it really required me to sit down and kind of flesh out my, my thoughts. And I think just since I did it, I got to a place where I felt more comfortable just going back to what I was doing originally, which is really just kind of riffing into a camera.

And doing it that way. And I think the funny thing with that is you know, I'm still getting, you know, my thoughts across on a, on a day to day basis, but it's coming across more organically. And I think this kind of answers the other question that you were that you're opposing is. The organicism of my delivery seems to be something that people connect with.

And I think whatever [00:11:00] it is in terms of the way that I'm communicating, people also find it easy to digest. I don't really know why that is. And it's, it's the kind of thing where I'm like eternally grateful that anyone would have any interest in hearing what it is that I have to say. But in terms of making it accessible to people, you know, I've, I've tried going in the direction of hiring really fancy editors to do like really fancy.

And I'm going to be doing some fancy animations throughout the course of my, my shorts. And even in doing something like that, where it's visually much more engaging for whatever reason it just turned people off. My views actually went down while I was paying 10 times more for the actual editor. And you know, I went back to my normal editing style where.

You see me and it just flips to some B roll to kind of further demonstrate the point that I'm making. And that seems to be the thing that really comes across. But I think maybe the overarching answer that I'll give is this. I don't think that me kind of dumbing it down as the main appeal to people.

I think. The fact that I'm trying to go into these issues without [00:12:00] leaning on polarization and in other words, being like the Mr. Beast of like the political world, which is kind of what I think everyone is doing right now. I think it's a kind of a breath of fresh air that, you know, someone can watch a piece of content and ask themselves a question at the end of it rather than have an opinion shoved down their throat.

So maybe that's the, the, the aspect that it makes it easier to digest.

Malcolm Collins: I wanted to pull on something you said there when you were talking about the two different types of content that you had experimented with producing, i. e. the scripted and unscripted, which does better in the algo for you? In which types of subjects do you find do better for your audience?

And, and then as a follow on to this How do you think about balancing subjects that do well with the algo with subjects you really want to get

Anti.Prophet: across? Yeah, good question. So firstly my organic improv delivery has always done better. I think it just has to do with like the Organic [00:13:00] inflections in my voice when I'm speaking naturally, as opposed to talking like I'm reading from a script like that, you know what I mean?

I think it's just a little bit easier to digest. Sorry, what was the second question? One more time?

Malcolm Collins: So balancing different topics. So like on our channel, we have some topics that do better than others, but I know if I ever go hard into just one topic that's doing really well, then the algo will Only show us to people who are interested in that one topic.

A great example where I learned about this was from the game theory and game theory really hated that his his, his five nights at Freddy videos always would really outperform everything else, but he'd be ever leaned too hard into five nights and Freddy's, then he would only get recommended to people who are interested in five nights at Freddy's.

It would significantly hurt his reach. So how do you think about balancing that? And what's your five nights at Freddy's on your channel?

Anti.Prophet: Yeah, sure. My five nights at Freddy's on my channel is Israel and Hamas. No! Oh no! Yeah, no, that, like, it does really well with my audience just because it really gets people talking in the [00:14:00] comments, but it, it destroys my reach.

It's just, it's the kind of content that's never Like recommended to anyone and, you know, understandably. So these, these, you know, social media platforms don't really have a lot to gain by pushing that out from an advertising perspective. So I understand, but in terms of the content that just does well in general it seems to be the case that when I speak about things inside of pop culture or inside of like just the general cultural zeitgeist for people between the ages of 18 and 34.

That does a lot better than if I do anything related to politics, anything related to philosophy, which sometimes to me is a little bit frustrating, but I think the nice thing about current events and pop culture and that kind of thing is I can always use you know, the things that I'm reading about politics or.

Philosophy or the most recent article that I've read by like Leo Strauss to inform my opinion of whatever I'm saying about Ariana Grande, you know, instead of just coming out and being like Leo Strauss would have this to say about it, it's, that's not a good way to frame it. But if you [00:15:00] allow what's kind of cooking in the back of your head to come out in your commentary on things that people are actually thinking about, then it's, it's a good way to kind of marry the two things.

Well,

Simone Collins: I love that. Well, and philosophy is best when applied and not discussed in a vacuum out of context. True. Beautiful.

Malcolm Collins: Do you have a, a long term sort of ideological objective with the channel or career objective as a channel? Like, do you plan to transition this into something else or do you plan to like shift the, the flows of thought of society?

Anti.Prophet: Flows and thought of society. I, I, Actually, try and make a point to not admit that out loud. But I think something that I'd really love to instill in my audience as it continues to grow is the idea of centering your life around the truth or at the very least in the pursuit of truth. I think there's a lot of value to that.

I think it's the thing that's does a really good job of holding society together. And I think even with the products that I'm building out I'm really making an [00:16:00] effort to. Focus on providing like truthful statements and honest, like business practices in an industry, which is quite frankly, just run amok by influencer scams.

And I, I'm, I'm actually currently building out a product to specifically. Try and fix that. So, I think telling the truth as much as you can, both to yourself and to others is the way that I'd love to ideologically change society. If I'm able to do that, I don't know. Talk

Malcolm Collins: about these products, like, like what products are you building out?

And what is your plan with them? Cause I'm not familiar with this,

Simone Collins: this thing. Hold on, where will people know like where to find them when it's actually time?

Anti.Prophet: Yeah. Well, just follow me on my, on my page. You'll, you'll, you'll definitely hear about it from there. The product on a building out though is kind of something akin to hustlers university where, you know, it's a subscription, you go in, you learn how to make money online, et cetera, but it's very much focused on the area that I have a lot of expertise in and that I have a really great network in, which is social media.

And the reason I chose that is because I could have gone the direction of, you know, [00:17:00] Essentially just doing a hustler's university where I teach like day trading and like, crypto gains or whatever. And it just, it, that didn't really feel authentic and I don't know anything about it. And I would be at the mercy of whatever random coach I brought on in order to try and make a quick buck, which I did not want, did not want to do.

And you know, there are a lot of studies coming out. I actually use this, by

Malcolm Collins: the way, like, I want to know how you got to 2 million followers in one year, like,

Simone Collins: yeah, sounds like we're signing

Anti.Prophet: up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so with, with this particular product, it's actually a little bit of a change. It's not so much how to grow on social media.

It's to teach people. How to be the people that sell the shovers to the incoming wave of creators that are coming in over the next couple of years in order to help them make money. So I'm actually teaching people how to be a COO, to manage teams, to manage systems inside of a creator company how to manage high ticket sales teams, how to basically build out scripts, CRMs, that type of thing, how to manage communities, how to negotiate brand deals, that kind of thing.

So you're being the Levi

Simone Collins: Sprouse in the gold rush [00:18:00] and not the. Gold prospector, which is very smart. You got it. Everyone wants to be a YouTuber

Anti.Prophet: now. Yeah, exactly. And that's going

Malcolm Collins: to teaching people how to be Levi. Well, to, to, to and I like that. I mean, I think that this is what's really needed as the university system increasingly as just of utility to get bureaucratic jobs teaching people how to functionally make money on their own, which is really important for another thing that's important for you, which is what's, what's the word again , digital nomading. It's a really important part of digital nomading is being able to develop your own income streams outside of bureaucracies. So I'd love to hear a little bit about digital nomading. Was this something you were doing before this?

Was this something that this unlocked? Like, how do you think about digital nomading, the digital nomading community in this career path?

Anti.Prophet: Sure. So yeah, digital nomading was something that I kind of first got into when I first started managing the team for this content creator that I worked for. And as a result of that, and as a result of certain people in that person's network, I got a lot of exposure to, you know, the, you know, obviously living abroad, which was really great.

But I also got a lot [00:19:00] of exposure to a lot of creators creating products and services that were just awesome. Yeah. Complete dog s**t. And I think I saw between that as well as, you know, watching someone like coffee Zilla or something I saw a lot of faith lost in the, the creator economy and which I think is really, really too bad.

And I, I think, you know. One of my values is being able to leave the U. S. Even just for a few months, just to kind of get yourself outside of the pressure cooker to realize that there's a bigger world than what's happening in my case in Salt Lake City, Utah or New York City or Miami or, you know, Topeka, Kansas.

And to be able to go and make that change by not just learning how to make money online, but to be a part of a community that is very much centered on the truth and pursuing ethical business practices. Because in my mind, if there are a bunch of digital nomads who are supporting all of these incoming creators by being the Levi Strauss, as you said, that.

Won't build out a sales funnel for people [00:20:00] unless it's like ethically done and it's not created basically f**k over the person's audience. Like that to me is like the best sort of melding of all the things that I think my brand espouses, which again is living abroad, telling the truth, making money online, like doing stuff like that.

I, I think that's, that, that's sort of the reason why I'm building out that community and trying to marry that with with, you know. In the

Malcolm Collins: digital nomad community, have you ever lived in one of those creator houses or are you in sort of like a creator collective or is all of your information about the creative world, mostly coming from your jobs

Anti.Prophet: for my jobs?

But as a result of that job, I was around a lot of content creators and one of the creators that was very much close within my network. Owned a what would you call it? Like a, like a hotel basically for content creators. So, you know, I, I surrounded myself with those people quite a lot. And learned a lot from them as well and ended up hiring a fair number of them.

It's funny how that happens. [00:21:00] You end up just hiring people like within your immediate network when you're getting started. So it's, it's, it's been interesting to, to say the least on

that

Simone Collins: front. Do you see this way of life becoming more pervasive over time? Because we often think about, well, what's the future of the economy and jobs going to be like?

It seems like right now, basically, if you are like a white collar knowledge worker that used to work for large corporations, well, Try something new because no one's going to hire them anymore. AI has basically made a lot of that obsolete. If you are like, if you're working in HVAC or you're doing like physical in person stuff, you're going to be able to find a job, but a lot of people don't want to do that.

So then you have this sort of unmoored class of people who want to kind of be more creative knowledge workers and maybe work remotely who cannot go to get a job. What do you think more people are going to go into content creation and independent businesses like this? Do you think you see these communities growing?

And if so, where do you think they're going to be? What do you think it's going to be like? And how do you think people who are now planning out their careers are planning out the next stage in their careers as they get [00:22:00] laid off from a big tech company should be thinking?

Anti.Prophet: Yeah, sure. Well, I mean, I think there's going to be a lot of people entering the content creator space over the next couple of years, first of all, simply because, you know, Gen Z is finally graduating from high school and they're going to be able to fulfill their teenage fantasy of not becoming a doctor, but becoming a content creator.

So that's the first thing the second thing with stuff like Sora and chat, GBT, like the barrier to entry for content creation is going to be lowered. To a level that we've never seen before. And as a result, a lot of people are going to take up AI generated content creation. And again, in my mind, that's sort of why I think the main money that there is to be made is not going to be as a content creator, but as someone selling the shovels.

During the gold rush, just because so many people are going to like, and I, I speak about this from experience. You know, I, I built out this audience originally, I had a million and a half followers and I didn't know how to monetize it. And that was coming from the background of regularly monetizing someone [00:23:00] else's audience.

And it's just because I had a lot of like emotional. Plugs around money that I had to kind of get over, but there are a lot of things that, you know, I wasn't really skilled at doing, and then I needed a lot of support around, and I paid a lot of money to the right people, luckily, to get that support. And in my mind, that's where the main money is going to be made.

And for people who don't want to kind of do the traditional nine to five white collar work, it's going to be a very, very viable alternative. And I think it's going to be one that becomes more and more attractive as things can continue to kind of disintegrate in our social lives in the West.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah, I actually, I want to pull on something you said there because it's true and it's something I hadn't considered if people have looked at top most prestigious careers or most interested careers by generational cohort, you know, it used to be things like astronaut and stuff like that for the kids who are coming out of school now for a while now, it's been content creator and this really changed.

Like it's a totally different thing. [00:24:00] These young kids. think of the content creator career pathway the same way my generation might have thought of the VC career pathway or the previous generation, the astronaut career pathway. And with the new tools like AI, I think AI fundamentally transforms what content creation is and the, the amount of content you can output at a high quality.

I'm wondering what are your thoughts around AI and how might you use it? Like, for example, have you ever thought about training AI on your back collection to try to generate new episodes and stuff like that? Is that something you'd ever be interested in?

Anti.Prophet: I already did. I actually sunk about 4, 000 into training an AI bot on all of my content and a lot of content that I liked online.

Wow. And ultimately, in trying to get, like, concepts out of it. It was, it was half baked. AI isn't quite there to, to, you know, be able to pose in, in Simone's words about my content, which thank you. I appreciate a thoughtful questions [00:25:00] about kind of complex issues with, with current events. So I, I tried it out.

I wasn't super satisfied with it. Maybe I'll go back in the future. But I think the way that I'm seeing AI being very, very useful in my own business setup is actually. In the realm of assisting my sales team, you know, like there's a lot of people that reach out to me via DMS, for example, that you know, want to potentially work with me in some way or another and utilizing AI to kind of sort through the qualified leads versus the unqualified leads is something that's going to take a lot of Give a lot of time back to my, to my sales team so that they can focus in their efforts on stuff that has even higher.

ROI,

Malcolm Collins: by the way, interesting bit of trivia for people who might not know this, but the original concept for Basecamp, our show was that it was gonna be a three person show and the third person was gonna be an ai. That, because we had a friend developing one that could react in real time and everything like that, and so we're like, oh, that'd be cool to, to have the gimmick.

But we just didn't go ahead with it. But I was also wondering how you thought [00:26:00] about platforms in terms of where you're distributing your content. So you talked about Instagram and stuff like that. When you started, did you have one platform you were really aiming for or one vertical you were really aiming for?

Or was it a cross platform and then go where

Anti.Prophet: things did well? From the very beginning, I knew that I was going to create 14 pieces of content per week and that I was just going to put them out on YouTube shorts and just kind of see what happened. And it was interesting because again, at the very beginning, TikTok was my first standout platform and then it was Instagram and I think it took like five or six months.

For me to see any movement whatsoever on YouTube. I was stuck at 1300 followers on YouTube for about again, five or six months until one week I went from 1300 followers to over 300, 000. And then I kind of tapered off for about I think probably six weeks or so. And then it went from 300, 000 to 1. 1 million in about two weeks.

So that, that really, really kind of blew up. And again, it just kind of started off with [00:27:00] me. Not really being intentional about where I was posting my content. It was just me being like, okay, here's the content. It's going out on all the platforms. Let's see what happens. And I think as time has gone on, I've realized that if I really wanted to, I could further segment the type of content that I was, that I'm creating so that it's more.

native feeling for something like TikTok than it is for YouTube. TikTok right now is actually my least exciting platform. I'm at around 300, 000 followers and I get an average view count of around probably like 4, 000 to 6, 000 views per video, which is obviously very different than what's happening for me on YouTube or Instagram.

And I think that would change. If I made just selfie videos that were like 12 to 20 seconds long, but it's just, there's not really a way for me to do that in a, in a way that excites me. So as a result, I just keep putting up the same content on TikTok, much to my chagrin. Was it

Malcolm Collins: specific episodes that did really well?

Or was it like all of a sudden, all of your content just started picking up?

Anti.Prophet: There were two videos that really, really blew up on YouTube each of [00:28:00] which has around 40 million views. The first was me making a comment about this kid who had taken a selfie in front of a guy who was dead at Starbucks who had just gotten stabbed.

And you see the dead guy on the ground, there's just blood everywhere. And this guy's like, bro, this guy just f*****g died, bro. And the comment that I made is, you know, what, what people generally say when they see a video like this is like, oh, social media has ruined the world. But in my mind, social media, more than anything, is this perfected tool that basically mirrors back to you what it is that you want to see.

And that's what it's incentivized to do in order to keep you on the app for as long as you want. So the fact that that kind of content blew up. And that someone feels like they could build. Career around that because they knew people would eat it up is not a reflection of how bad social media is.

It's a reflection of like the monster that you see in the mirror yourself. So that was something that really, really blew up. And then I think people were like, who the f**k is this guy in a mask? So as a result, the other video that blow up was why I wear the [00:29:00] mask. And the, the nice thing about that, and this is something that a lot of beginning content creators don't really realize is I was very happy that it took about five or six months for my content to really.

Go viral because by that point I had like two, like probably a hundred, 200 pieces of content online for people to binge once they got exposed to my brand as it was, as opposed to going viral on the first or second or 10th post. Because then they wouldn't have anything to binge. And when people binge your content for like 30 minutes, that shows the algorithm, like, Hey, let's give this guy another 40 million views to, to, you know, get more eyeballs in front of him.

Cause it's working for whatever is happening on the platform. Yeah.

Malcolm Collins: It's funny you say that we've definitely seen that as well. While our followers can't see this while our subscriber number grows. Pretty gradually, our daily watch hour number grows massively, like we're probably at around a thousand daily watch hours now, which is probably nothing compared to you, but for us, it's, it's I think because that [00:30:00] back catalog keeps growing, so every new watcher who then binges is hugely adding to our daily watch hour.

Anti.Prophet: That makes sense because when you reached out to me you know, I think the first thing I saw from you guys was Chris Williamson's talk, but then I came and like actually found based camp and I watched it and I was like, Oh damn, these guys are actually kind of cool. So then I watched like five or six episodes and I think that's what happens when you are putting out good content is if you really like hit a home run the first time somebody sees a video from you, they're like, damn, I want more.

And that's what you guys are obviously doing, which is great.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah, well, I mean, the thing for us that's really hard with this show and you might have thoughts on this is balancing the different topics that we talk about because, you know, this, this is why I asked this question. It's something we think a lot about because we generally do sex, politics and religion.

Like, those are our four areas, maybe a spattering of AI stuff. And these are we do it with a theming that would likely be cross interesting to our audience, but we have to be very careful because some people who like us for like sex are really not going to like the [00:31:00] religion stuff. Like they're just interested in sex research.

And so the idea is, is like, do we use different title cards for the different types of content? Do we use, do we separate it to different channels? Like, I'm wondering how you've thought about this type of like partitioning of audiences before.

Anti.Prophet: Yeah. Well, I think. Basically what you guys are building out honestly seems more than anything to be like a personal brand and I think the nice thing about personal brands is you really don't have to, you know, shove yourself into one hole, no pun intended since we're talking about sex, but like, you don't have to, like, commit yourself to one topic, like the thing that people find interesting is you guys and this is very much like, what I felt when I came across your brand was it wasn't, it's, it's not so much I wasn't interested in the topics I obviously was, but here were these kind of two quirky looking like bubbly people talking about you know, what was the super spicy one that we talked about a few days ago?

Yeah, two quirky looking people talking about victim blaming. Ah, yes. Yeah, on, on a podcast. And then switching [00:32:00] like so easily to something like like AI or politics or something like that. Like there, there's a certain appeal to that that you guys provide that is specifically yours. And I think that gives you a lot of flexibility to play around with different, different topics and not have to worry too much about it.

If there's one thing and I've just, I've thought about this for the last couple of weeks since I was introduced to your brand. If there's one thing that I think would actually really, really help your growth it's investing in like a, a thumbnail. I think that's the, the one thing that would just like explode.

It's, it's amazing how much a thumbnail affects like click through rate, which affects everything else. And I think just like the content is there. The good place

Malcolm Collins: to find one. I'll follow up with you after this. If you, if you have a good one, you'd recommend to us.

Anti.Prophet: Yeah, I definitely do. I actually just found one for myself and they're, they're sort of a media company type of thing, but man, they're, they're good and they have very reasonable prices.

So we'll, we'll talk after

Malcolm Collins: your answer to this question and I'll, I'll wrap it up soon. Cause I know we don't want to hold you forever. It's late your time. But one thing I really wanted to ask you, because I think that this would [00:33:00] sort of show where you're thinking of going with this. So one of the things that we've been looking at doing, and we've been in talks with various groups about this, is taking what we're doing here to mainstream TV, to like Netflix or like, you know, Discovery Channel or something like that.

And we're, when we do this, we're probably going to need to bring along some other content creators in terms of how this is done. Is that sort of career trajectory of something that would interest you? Or are you really interested in sort of the self ownership you get with the traditional like TOK?

Anti.Prophet: Yeah, that's a good question. I think it is definitely something that I'm, that I'm interested in. And I think a good example of this is when I first started building antiprofit, I think I was at like. 20, 000, 30, 000 followers on Instagram. And I thought to myself, Ooh, like maybe I could try like networking, not with like Hollywood stars, but like people within the orbit of Hollywood stars.

So there was this like Anya Taylor joy. I don't know if you know, her, her work as an actress, but her boyfriend is in a [00:34:00] band who actually produces some pretty catchy music. And I, I was like, okay, well, maybe I could like just sit down and record some violin tracks to basically add to this. And I actually made the track sound a lot better and I DM'd it to him and he, the b*****d never got back to me.

But I think the point that I'm making here is I, I think that alone is enough of a demonstration that getting my foot into legacy media is something that I'm okay with. And, you know, I think at this point, something that I'm also okay with is allowing a certain percentage of. Whether that be profit or creative control being, you know, not, not so much creative control, I think more so profit going to other parties that facilitate certain opportunities for me is totally great.

Cause again, I have a sales team and they, they work on commission. So it's, it's something that I'm comfortable with and something that I've previously aspired to, even though this. B*****d didn't get back to me.

Simone Collins: That's awesome. Can I ask? I'm really, really curious. Just because you, you do talk about really interesting things.

But also you have such an aggressive publication schedule. How, like what, what is your day like? Are you [00:35:00] spending, how many hours a day do you spend on like yourself, exercise, food, like just having fun, whatever admin versus consuming content to get inspiration. Versus actually producing content.

Anti.Prophet: Sure. Well, if I'm just focusing on only creating shorts I think in total I probably spend, and this is including, like, giving my editor feedback on the edits after he gets a version 1 or version 2 done, it's probably a max total of, like, 20 minutes. In terms of consuming content that that just kind of happens always in the background.

If I'm driving somewhere, if I'm just chilling at the house if you know, I'm just hanging out in my pool, like I'm, I'm consuming content and I think it's because I'm generally interested in it. But on top of that, I am kind of looking for something to talk about all the time. But in terms of exercise, I work with my personal trainer four times a week for about an hour and a half each time.

Outside of that Admin work. I think per week I'm probably doing if, if again, if I'm just doing shorts it's probably like four hours a week. No, no more than that. But [00:36:00] now that I'm doing a long form and now that I'm building out this product it's, it's significantly more. So I don't really know what it is, but it's, it's definitely keeping me busy.

Malcolm Collins: I love that part of your weekly routine is hanging out in a pool. That is not something I would even consider, but that is a life of leisure. And this is why people should consider digital nomading. It's a great lifestyle if you can get the, the outside income to do it. Well, it has been absolutely wonderful having you on.

And I would say actually to your last question, one thing that people might be surprised about the biggest thing that's changed in my life since I've started producing these is I'm just consuming dramatically less content because this has taken the time that I used to idly watch YouTube. And now I need to much more directedly watch YouTube.

So I don't get like religious stuff wrong and stuff like that. But anyway, it's been wonderful to have you on. If there's anything you think we should have asked you or talked about that we didn't, I'm happy to go in that direction or we can just sign off. Well,

Simone Collins: and definitely let's end with like everywhere where people can find you and, you know, he posted.

Anti.Prophet: Sure. Well, I mean, I'm kind of [00:37:00] offended. You didn't ask me where I get my hair done. So that's fine. But yeah, no if you want to find me, you can find me on Instagram to talk and YouTube at anti dot profit. That's profit as in religious leader, not like capitalistic profit. Or. So TikTok or excuse me, not TikTok, Twitter anti underscore profit underscore.

I think I'm like barely on there, but I post pretty good memes over there every so often. So that's a, that's a good place to find me.

Simone Collins: Excellent. Thank you so much. And we're, we're looking forward to seeing everything you put out going forward. Big fans and very excited and yeah, thanks for sharing some behind the scenes stuff with us.

This is fun.

Anti.Prophet: Absolutely. Thank you guys for having me.

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