From Viral Fame To Silence: Why The Godfather Of Running YouTube Zach Levet Vanished—And What Comes Next

THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST

Dominic Schlueter

Running, Sports

4.8 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2024

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

THE ZACH LEVET SPECIAL

Today, I have the privilege of having a conversation with a man who pioneered running YouTube for years. He was one of my main inspirations to create content within the running space, and for that I'll be forever grateful.

If you know Zach, you love Zach. His content was second to none for many years. Many people (including myself) religiously watched him every Tuesday evening and were inspired in ways we hadn't been before through his gift of storytelling. He amassed over 100,000 subscribers on this journey.

Zach not only hit that milestone, but dropped out of college (after running D1 for William & Mary), started multiple companies, lived out of a van, lived all across the US, and created throughout it all.

As you'll hear in this conversation, there were many highs, lows, and everything in-between in this journey for him that he shares for the first time publically in today's conversation.

Today's conversation was an absolute gift, and I hope you take the time to listen to it. From hearing about the YouTube years in-depth to the logistics of his current role with Ryan Trahan, to his ambitions for triathlon and the future, you won't want to miss this one.

You can watch the episode both on our YouTube Channel (The Running Effect Podcast) or Spotify or listen on your platform of choice.

Tap into the Zach Levet Special.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You are kind of the godfather of running content.
0:03.0	There's a reason like you edit for Ryan Tran.
0:05.0	Like you're just another level.
0:06.0	I know you passed 100,000 subscribers.
0:08.0	You're now under 100,000.
0:10.0	Dude, it definitely hurts.
0:11.0	At least I have the silver play button.
0:12.0	I wanted to do college running really well.
0:14.0	I wanted to do the channel really well.
0:16.0	And then I had to do school.
0:18.0	What was dropping out?
0:19.0	Like I was asking about dropping out? What was the GPA once you dropped out?
0:22.6	Like maybe like 1.8.
0:24.6	Well, I think we raised like over $2 million for Feeding America, which was awesome.
0:28.6	Dang, me doing this results in like 10 million people being happy in the morning.
0:31.6	The rarest Nike gear you've ever seen like Drake and Travis Scott and Virgil were all there.
0:36.6	And like, oh oh crap I might
0:38.0	like worn the wrong fit or something. Basically I monetized my channel in college secretly. I just straight
0:43.7	up lied to his face. I was like no no. The best thing in life is being able to make money, just having
0:49.2	fun. Live life to the fullest, you know, going on this new quest in life. And, you know, when I return from
0:54.4	the quest, I will be a changed man, but I will be back. We're back, ladies and gentlemen,
1:03.3	Zach Levin. Let's go. Interrupted. Let's just start. Let's just start here. Where have you been?
	...

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