Stefan Che — My story

Stefan Che — Long story short

LONG STORY SHORT:

Age 8: Started a YouTube channel. Five years and 70 videos later, at 13, it paid my bills.

Age 14: Hitchhiked to Moscow alone with $60. Six weeks later: 1M subscribers. Peak: 2M, $0 on ads.

Age 15: Dropped out of high school. Took a friend from zero to 1M subscribers in six months; 17M followers today.

Age 16: Spoke to 10,000 people. Some of them later named their kids Stefan.

Age 17: Four Vipassana retreats. Nearly moved to the Himalayas — chose to build instead.

Age 17: Moved to Dubai and co‑founded WOL: 21 people, 5,000+ trades. Closed it at 21, still profitable, by choice.

Age 19: Regulars named a salad after me. Five menus in two countries; 10% feeds kids in Malawi.

Age 22: Between companies on purpose. Next: San Francisco.

Let me take you to the inception

my youtube career

I grew a Youtube

channel to 2M subscribers,

140M views, $0 on ads.

at 14

At 8, I started my Youtube channel

My first YouTube series was a 13-episode treehouse build.

My friend and I built a three-story treehouse with zero pocket money, waking up at 5 a.m. all summer. PS: It even had a woodstove!

Over the next 5 years, I gained 6,000 subscribers. All the money I earned reselling things and editing went straight back into my channel.