Aidan Weiss launched his YouTube channel at age 15 from his bedroom with zero business plan. Eight years later, he oversees a team of eight spanning multiple countries, manages various content channels, and reaches over 10 million subscribers. The creator behind “Skip the Tutorial” never intended to build a business infrastructure—he simply wanted to make Minecraft videos.

“I didn’t realize there’s been this whole learning curve that I’ve had of not just how you run and maintain a YouTube channel, but also how you grow a business,” Aidan states.

“I blinked and then all of a sudden I had a full team around me and that was its own thing,” he continues. “Learning how to handle things and getting a bookkeeping service and making sure everything’s by the book has been its own challenge.”

Initially, Aidan explored various content formats, trying everything from Nintendo games to vlogs and challenge videos. This experimentation continued even as his channel began gaining traction. By March 2020, with approximately 200,000 subscribers but quickly declining viewership, he made a pivotal decision: dropping out of school at age 18 to pursue YouTube full-time just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. “At that point, I wasn’t making enough money that I would recommend anyone at that level to have done what I had done,” he admits. “It just felt like the thing to do, especially as the world was shutting down.”

By the end of 2020, his subscriber count had grown to 1.2 million. This growth brought unexpected business responsibilities, transforming Aidan from a content creator to a company leader. “I thought YouTube videos were just in your bedroom and stuff, and then having an office space and all these different team members across different countries. It’s a lot,” he reflects.

Without formal business education, Aidan now treats his daily operations as practical business school. “This is like my business school now—learning every day,” he explains.

Strategic Content for Business Longevity

Aidan’s approach to content strategy prioritizes long-term sustainability over short-lived viral success. This philosophy guides both his creative decisions and business planning, creating alignment between creative output and business goals.

“If you’re joining this and you don’t think that you want to be doing something that you could see yourself doing in five years, 10 years, so on, and if you’re doing something that you don’t want to be doing for that long or you feel like you’re in more of a sprint to the finish, then if it works, you’re even setting yourself up for failure,” Aidan advises.

This long-term vision influenced his eventual focus on Minecraft content, though interestingly, he didn’t settle on his current format until after reaching major success. “It wasn’t really until after I’d hit a million subscribers that I thought, ‘Okay, let me just do the Minecraft list videos,’” he explains. Now, “Skip the Tutorial” delivers listicle-style videos and demonstrations focused on Minecraft tips, tricks, and features—content that Aidan believes he can sustainably produce for years to come.

Revenue considerations naturally factor into Aidan’s content decisions, though his experience with monetization began cautiously. “Even when I was eligible for monetization, I didn’t turn it on because I didn’t know how much I could make,” he reveals. “It wasn’t until I had a friend of mine who told me, looking at my stuff, he was like, ‘You actually could start making [money]. You’re missing out.'”

Rather than chasing trends for quick growth, Aidan employs a deliberate strategy of channel development. “I would rather take slower growth, and I would advise people to do the same. Even if you’re seeing other people grow faster, you’re seeing other things that seem like they could be better opportunities. If something is how you want it to be, then you should be one-track minded on how to get there as opposed to trying to cut around different ways.”

Preventing Business Burnout Through Content Changes

For Aidan, preventing burnout is as much a business necessity as a personal one. He treats content adjustments as essential to maintaining both creative energy and business momentum.

“Every time that I feel burnt out, I just realize that it means that there’s something that I need to change, whether that’s something in my schedule or that’s something with the content that we do,” he explains. “I’m someone who, if something is not working, I would rather take the big sweeping changes to look at it as opposed to just locking myself into it.”

This philosophy has enabled Skip the Tutorial to remain fresh despite operating primarily within the Minecraft ecosystem for years. Recent strategic adjustments include transitioning from voiceover content to demonstrations and incorporating more collaborators. “We’ve done this list format for so long, and then we’ve recently started to make it more of a live demonstration as opposed to a voiceover. And we’ve added more of my friends to the videos,” Aidan shares.

These adaptations serve both to enhance audience engagement and to support creator sustainability. “You don’t want to get burnt out yourself on what you’re doing, and then you also don’t want your audience to feel like they’ve already seen everything that you’ve done,” he notes. “Eventually, people just get bored with your stuff, and the algorithm’s like, ‘Okay, people aren’t focusing on this. Let’s stop showing them that content.’ So you just gotta always find something new.”

This continuous improvement mindset helps explain how Aidan maintains both creative enthusiasm and business growth after eight years. “There are always new ways to tweak what we’re doing, because I think it’s something that I want to continue to do for at least another eight years,” he says.

From VidCon Attendee to Featured Business Leader

VidCon, founded by YouTube creators John and Hank Green, is an annual convention of digital content creation where creators, fans, and industry professionals gather. Now part of the Fan Expo business, VidCon brings together everyone involved in the digital content ecosystem for panels, meet-and-greets, and industry networking.

Aidan’s role at VidCon reflects his trajectory from aspiring creator to established business owner. “I first went to my first VidCon when I had 200 subscribers,” he recalls. “I remember getting to go to the different networking sessions that they had and stuff, and it was cool.” Now returning as a featured creator for the second year, Aidan will share the business insights and creative strategies he has developed over his eight-year journey.

At VidCon 2025, taking place June 19-21 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Aidan will participate in a panel directly related to his business growth: “From Player to Creator: Building Your Brand as a Gaming Content Creator.” Scheduled for Friday, June 20, the session will explore how gamers can transform their passion into sustainable content businesses. Alongside fellow creators including Howieazy, Matthew Harris, Slimecicle, and Sneegsnag, Aidan will discuss audience growth strategies, monetization approaches, and maintaining genuine content while scaling a gaming content business.

Additionally, Aidan will showcase his creator skills in “Crown the Creators (presented by Disney+): Meme It & Scream It” on Saturday, June 21 on the main stage. This interactive competition will test creators’ ability to generate engaging content in real-time, reflecting the quick thinking required in the daily operations of a creator business.

Fans and aspiring creators can also connect with Aidan during his two-hour meet-and-greet on Thursday, June 19. These interactions provide valuable perspectives that inform his business approach. 

“My favorite part of last year’s VidCon was getting to meet all these people because so much of my job is just sitting at this very same desk and having a very one-sided relationship with getting to talk to the people who watch the videos but never getting to actually see how that connects,” he explains.

Industry Connections and Business Development

For Aidan, VidCon serves as more than just a fan event—it’s a key business development opportunity that directly contributes to his company’s growth and operational knowledge. The connections formed at industry events have proven valuable to managing his business.

“Getting to talk directly with people who are on the YouTube staff is always a treat. That was one of my favorite conversations last year, getting to talk to some of the YouTube staff about the different technologies that they were developing,” Aidan shares.

Similarly, peer relationships with other creator-entrepreneurs offer both moral support and practical knowledge. “I think I’m always just excited to get to meet up with [creators] that I know from previous years at VidCon. It’s always fun that I’m growing this roster of people I get to go and say hello to, because everyone’s so busy. So it’s a nice change of pace to be down in the same room and get to talk,” he notes.

Intentional Growth After Accidental Success

Rather than viewing his current success as a destination, he sees it as another milestone in an ongoing business journey. Aidan’s experience also demonstrates how organic passion can develop into structured operations without losing creative genuineness. Such creator businesses don’t necessarily begin with detailed business plans, but they do require developing business skills along the way.

Having recently reached 10 million subscribers, Aidan now approaches his business with intention rather than accident, yet still maintains a learning mindset. “We’re still figuring out what to do every day,” he acknowledges. “There’s never stability, which would seem challenging. But it’s one of the things that I like about YouTube—it’s constantly getting to show up and see what the next thing is.”