Why Linus Tech Tips FIRED Us: The Story of Former Employees and the Creation of Zip Tie Tuning and Zip Tie Tech

Zip Tie Tuning

Introduction and Beginning [0:00]

Alex begins the video by announcing that he and Andy were "fired" from Linus Tech Tips (LTT) on June 17th after working there for 8 and 6 years, respectively. However, he states that being fired was the best thing that ever happened to them because they received severance and essential benefits and are now able to run their YouTube channel, "Zip Tie Tuning," full-time, and even launched a second channel.

Positive Impact of LTT Experience [0:33]

Despite being fired, Alex emphasizes that working at LTT was the best thing that could have happened to him personally.

• Knowledge and Skill Acquisition: During his time at LTT, he gained a wealth of knowledge, skills, and friendships that are the foundation for launching his current channels.
• Linus's Guidance: He expresses gratitude for Linus's teachings on video writing, hosting, and navigating the YouTube landscape.

Opportunity to Join LTT [0:55]

Alex joined LTT in a "normal" way.

• Matching Skills: He followed LTT's YouTube channel and saw them post a video seeking a writer who could handle engineering, mechanical design, and write engaging videos, which perfectly matched his skills.
• Life-Changing Decision: As a result, he dropped out of university, abandoning over four years of completed mechanical engineering studies, and moved to another continent to become a YouTuber.
  • Dissatisfaction with Engineering: He loved mechanical design, but found that the majority of his actual work involved arguing with suppliers rather than engaging in interesting design and testing.
  • Love for YouTube: At the time, he watched many science and technology YouTube channels (such as Veritasium, Smarter Every Day, Vsauce, LTT) and thought creating videos would be much more interesting than his current job.

Early Years at LTT [1:58]

Alex describes the excitement and variety of working at LTT in its early years.

• Startup Atmosphere: At the time, the channel had only around 3 million subscribers, and the company had just moved to a new office, full of startup energy. Alex was the 15th employee.
• Variable Responsibilities: Although his official position was writer, his daily tasks varied greatly.
  • Content Creation: Reviewing gaming laptops (before Nvidia limited mobile GPU power), testing the best and worst computer hardware, and even creating some "rough heatsinks."
  • Tool and Capability Expansion: Researching the purchase of new tools to expand the company's capabilities.
  • Personal Growth: Learning new things daily in technology, hosting, and engineering, which he found very fulfilling.

    

    Early LTT, Alex (left) and Linus filming content in the workshop, showcasing the startup atmosphere.

Beginning to Host Videos [2:55]

Alex began hosting videos, despite it not being his natural inclination, but he persevered.

• Practical Need: If a project took a week or two to complete, it wasn't practical to have Linus host the entire time, so hosting himself allowed him to take on larger projects.
• Company Need: Linus's time was always a bottleneck, and the company wanted more people on camera.
• Personal Career Security: Alex believed learning to host would enhance his job security.

Andy's Arrival [4:00]

Alex introduces Andy's background and his experiences at LTT.

• Early Experience: Andy worked in the automotive review section of iPhone.com in China, eager to improve his English and video production skills.
• Role at LTT: After arriving in Canada, he joined LTT, starting as a floor manager, gradually becoming a cinematographer, and eventually rising to production manager.

  

  Andy in an early LTT video, an important member of the behind-the-scenes team.

Car Videos at LTT [4:25]

Alex produced over 50 car videos at LTT.

• Initial Style and Cost: The initial car videos were in the style of "Top Gear," led by Alex, Brandon Lee, and John O Tan, and were well-produced but extremely expensive.
  • High Production Costs: Hiring commercial directors, camera cars, and teams, even stunt drivers. Camera cars alone cost $8,000 a day.
  • Importance of Sponsors: The first few videos were sponsored by DJI, but DJI later faced other issues, resulting in the third video (the Taycan review) lacking sponsorship, costing LTT a significant amount.

    

    Porsche Taycan 4S drifting on a track, showcasing LTT's early, high-cost car video style.

The Necessity of Sponsors [5:49]

Alex emphasizes the importance of sponsors for video production.

• Profitability Ensures Continued Production: No matter how cool a video is, it can't continue to be made if it's not profitable.
• The Secret to Convincing Linus to Invest: He was able to persuade Linus to invest heavily in video production and equipment because he could ensure that these projects would be profitable; nearly every bold project had sponsor support behind it.

  

  List of important skills for LTT writers including research, ideation, testing, analysis, and documentation.

Car Videos V2: A Cost-Effective Transformation [7:05]

To address the high costs, Alex and Andy changed the way car videos were filmed, starting with the Volvo XC40 review.

• Traditional LTT Production Process: Typically involves product testing, script writing, Linus hosting, and B-roll footage. This method works for small products like laptops.
• Challenges of Car Videos: Cars are large, and manufacturers typically only provide a week for borrowing, separating the filming of A-roll and B-roll would significantly increase production time.
• New Filming Method: Filming A-roll first, followed immediately by all B-roll close-ups, ensuring that all shots are completed quickly and efficiently.
  • Effect: This method ensured that the video quality was close to the original level, while the cost was only 10% of the previous amount.
  • Jonathan Horst's Contribution: This filming method was taught to Andy by Jonathan Horst (Mac Address) and remains the main filming method for their channel.

    

    The front trunk of the Volvo XC40 RECHARGE electric car, showcasing the more detail-oriented and cost-effective car video filming method.

The Rise of Electric Car Reviews [8:21]

Subsequently, they produced a large number of electric car review videos on the ShortCircuit channel, which was a hot topic at the time, making Alex hopeful about the future of a dedicated car channel.

Impact of the Gamers Nexus Incident [8:44]

Alex points out that the Gamers Nexus incident caused significant damage to LTT.

• Multiple Negative Impacts: Loss of sponsors, poor community morale, and the departure of excellent employees (due to death threats).
• View on the Incident: Alex believes that the Gamers Nexus video failed to address LMG's actual internal problems, instead incorrectly blaming Linus's greed, non-existent conflicts of interest, and LTT's desire to deceive viewers for profit.
  • The Reality of Linus Media Group: He emphasizes that the employees of LMG are "freaks" who love making videos, and the problems do not stem from greed or malice.
  • Company Grew Too Quickly: Linus himself admits that the company grew too quickly, leading to many problems.
• Public Crisis Management: Alex believes that many issues had already been identified before the incident and could have been resolved in the coming months, but instead were publicly resolved in a week.
• Positive Changes and New Challenges: Although some changes were positive (such as the addition of the ECC team), they also led to endless post-mortems and constantly changing processes, causing new confusion.
• Car Channel Plans Stalled: The Gamers Nexus incident completely killed discussions about launching a car channel within LTT, as expanding into new business lines seemed inappropriate in the face of declining viewership and revenue.

Reduced Responsibilities and Job Burnout [10:52]

As the company grew, Alex and Andy's responsibilities were reduced.

• Changes in Alex's Responsibilities:
  • Engineering Work Replaced: He had designed a screwdriver handle, but later had to assist in hiring professional engineers to take over the project, and has not been involved in engineering-related work since.
  • Purchasing and Planning Replaced: He had been responsible for workshop procurement and planning, learning machining, but these responsibilities were later taken over by others so he could focus on writing more videos.
  • Project Management Shift: The large projects he used to complete from start to finish gradually shifted to him only delegating tasks, taking on a project management role.
  • Testing Work Replaced: The laptop and technology testing he used to do are now handled by "LTT Labs."
  • Role Solidification: When the company had only 15 people, he was a writer, engineer, manufacturer, test technician, and product designer all in one. When the company had over 100 people, his title eventually became just "writer."

    

    The establishment of the Linus Tech Tips lab meant that much of the testing work Alex previously did was taken over by a professional team.
• Changes in Andy's Responsibilities: Andy was no longer directly involved in video shooting, but rather managing schedules and coordinating filming.
• Creative Exhaustion: Alex found it increasingly difficult to come up with new "crazy project" ideas, feeling like he was just "reheating leftovers" for new sponsors. What he valued most was constantly learning new things, but in his last two years at LTT, he felt stagnant.

Planning to Leave [12:35]

After experiencing burnout and the stagnation of car channel plans, Alex and Andy began to seriously consider leaving LTT.

• Collaboration with Mighty Car Mods: A collaborative video with Mighty Car Mods reignited his passion and motivation for work, but after the project ended, he felt even more lost.

  

  Alex's collaboration with the Mighty Car Mods team briefly reignited his passion for automotive content creation.
• Secret Preparations for a New Channel: Alex and Andy began meeting after work, calculating the viewership needed to cover rent, planning a production schedule, and determining the number of videos they could produce each month.

Negotiations with LMG Management [13:22]

In January of this year, Alex met with LMG management, informing them that he would be starting a car channel in the summer and asking if LMG would like to be involved.

• LMG's Response: Management was hesitant, stating that they needed to see more videos to gauge content demand, making it clear to Alex that LMG would not be launching a car channel anytime soon.
• The Trouble with Non-Compete Clauses: LMG's employee handbook stipulated that "personal projects should not compete with the business of LMG or its affiliates." LMG insisted that Alex starting a car channel would compete with them, even if they were not willing to enter that field themselves.
  • Other Concerns: There were concerns within LMG about the potential jealousy a car channel might create (who gets free car parts), insurance issues, and the risks associated with car modification.
• Channel Suspensions and Layoffs: At the time, LMG had just suspended three channels and laid off the associated staff, making Alex lack confidence in launching a new channel within LMG.
• Tense Negotiations: Alex and Andy had multiple meetings with management to discuss the non-compete clause, with Alex even hiring an employment lawyer.
• Solution Proposed by LMG: LMG offered a solution: they could launch the channel, but it could not be monetized, could not have sponsors, and could not receive free car parts. Alex and Andy agreed to these conditions.
  • Alex's Desire to Stay: Alex initially wanted to stay at LTT as a writer because he still enjoyed making technology videos and enjoyed working with the LTT team.

The Birth of Zip Tie Tuning and Being Fired [15:11]

Alex and Andy kept their promise and launched their car channel, "Zip Tie Tuning," on June 1st of this year.

• Channel Performance: The channel initially performed as expected, gaining approximately 30,000 views in two days. Then, viewership skyrocketed, far exceeding expectations.
• Reaction of LMG Management: Everyone was excited about this, except for LMG management.
• The Choice to Be Fired: Shortly after the channel launched, Alex was called into a meeting with management and HR, where he was told that he had violated the non-compete clause and faced three options:
  1. Shut down Zip Tie Tuning.
  2. Hand the channel over to Linus Media Group and become the channel's manager.
  3. Be fired, receive a generous severance package, own his own company, and be free to do whatever he and Andy wanted.

     

     Alex lists the three options he received before being fired from LTT, ultimately choosing to be fired for freedom.
• A No-Brainer Choice: Alex states that it was an effortless decision, and that he and Andy were both very happy to run their channel independently.
  • Freedom and Control: Now they are free to decide on video content and shooting methods, no longer limited by the 3-4 hour shooting restrictions within LTT.
  • Content Ownership: Alex emphasizes that being able to own the content they create is unparalleled.

    

    Alex on the Zip Tie Tuning channel, standing in front of a large aquarium, showcasing the diverse content on their new channel.

Launch of Zip Tie TECH! [18:06]

Alex realized that he still loved technology, so he decided to launch a new technology channel.

• Addressing the Problem: Because he left LTT, he no longer had access to a large number of laptops and new technology products for reviews.
• New Channel Launched: They launched the "Zip Tie Tech" channel that day, with the first video reviewing the ASUS TUF A14, which Alex believes is the best gaming laptop on the market in 2025.
• Future Outlook: Although the focus remains on the car channel, he expects more technology content when it snows in the winter, and they will review any interesting technology products that are released. He also hopes to continue attending technology trade shows and meeting friends in the industry.

  

  Alex on the new Zip Tie Tech channel, showcasing his technology product reviews.

Conclusion [19:06]

Alex thanks all the companies and individuals who have supported them, especially DED mics, Prusa, Wisdom Tools, Toyota, Ford, and Vessie. He reiterates that being fired was a gift to them, because otherwise they would have had to quit and would not have received any compensation. Alex also mentions that he and Andy have a pure 50/50 split in the company, and praises Andy for his outstanding contributions to video production, whose cinematography has given life to the car videos. Finally, he encourages viewers to subscribe to both channels and support their Patreon.