Jimmy Donaldson started YouTube at 13; years later the channel turned into a $5 billion business

Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, turned a teenage YouTube channel into the foundation of a massive business empire. (Image via Getty) At just 13, Jimmy Donaldson was already uploading videos under the name “MrBeast6000” from Eastern North Carolina. What started with low-view uploads while he was still dealing with school eventually became something much bigger than a YouTube channel. Donaldson spent years studying what made videos work, and that obsession became the base for a business empire now known as Beast Industries. The strange part is how long the early grind lasted. From 2012 to 2016, he uploaded hundreds of videos without huge numbers. During his late teens, he also spent hours on Skype with a small group of other creators. They would break down YouTube recommendations, test thumbnail layouts, compare titles and study how long viewers stayed on videos. Basically, the platform itself became their experiment.The system Jimmy Donaldson built before the big breakthroughThe big shift came in January 2017, when Donaldson posted a video of himself counting to 100,000. It took around 40 hours to complete, but the stunt helped turn him into a much bigger name.His approach...