Creator Science with Jay Clouse

The best creators experiment. Creator Science goes inside the strategies, systems, and decisions behind the world's most successful creator businesses. Practical, specific, and grounded in what's actually working today—not what used to. Each episode features candid conversations with creators like James Clear, Ali Abdaal, Tim Urban, and Codie Sanchez. We explore the experiments they're running, the data they're tracking, and the frameworks they use to grow their audience, build trust, and increase income. Jay Clouse is the founder of Creator Science, a multi-million dollar creator business, and was named Content Entrepreneur of the Year by The Tilt in 2023. 300+ episodes. New every week. This is growth for creators, down to a science.

Creator Science with Jay Clouse is a business podcast hosted by Jay Clouse, with 372 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 87. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jay Clouse hosts Creator Science with Jay Clouse, a business show with 372 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #315

  #315: Breaking Down Our $101,666 Launch: The Mechanics And Lessons Learned From Our Virtual Summit

  Aug 18, 202659 minS1

  Our first-ever 6-figure launch started with a cold email I didn’t respond to. Twice. The third time, I wrote back. A few months later, we ran a 3-day free virtual summit that drove $101,666 in revenue — with a $78,400 margin. This is the full breakdown of how it happened, what we’d do the same way again, and what we’d change. Joining me for this behind-the-scenes recap is Anna Reich, the integrator here on the Creator Science team. This was Anna’s first launch — 3 and a half months into the job — and she was right in the middle of all of it. We ran this summit in partnership with a third-party team called After Harvest, who pitched us on the whole concept via cold email and worked on a 15% performance-based fee. In this episode, we talk about: The full mechanics: $101,666 in revenue, $23,300 in costs, and the exact offer stack that got us there What we’d absolutely do the same — the VIP ticket, aggressive email volume, and the live pitch with a day-2 bonus What we’d do differently — a simpler structure, a new webinar platform, and building the presentations before everything else The 80/20 version: what a stripped-down, repeatable launch playbook actually looks like By the end of this episode, you will have a clear-eyed view of how a virtual summit launch actually works from the inside — with all the numbers, the chaos, and the lessons on the table. Work with Sean and the After Harvest team Build a Beloved Membership — 50% off the self-paced version Full transcript and show notes *** TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Introduction: the first-ever 6-figure launch and what this episode covers (03:44) Registration and attendance numbers: 3,145 registered, 1,000+ live on day 1 (04:34) Revenue breakdown: $63K cohort, $9K upsell, $17K downsell, $11K VIP tickets (08:29) Cost breakdown: After Harvest’s 15% deal, $1,800 in affiliates, $7,800 domain (10:01) Timeline: cold email in February to contract in April to summit in June (13:56) Things we’d do the same: VIP ticket, compelling web work, full offer stack (16:12) Why the $47 VIP ticket was the biggest surprise of the whole launch (20:54) The live day-2 pitch — 30 minutes, almost no drop-off, and why the bonus mattered (24:30) Things we’d do differently: simpler structure, drop WebinarJam, build launch capability in-house (36:24) The core mistake: building all the assets before locking the presentation content (42:10) The 80/20 version: what to lock in before you open registration (52:28) Skipping affiliates for high-ticket offers, and why one-click opt-ins backfired *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE #144: Bari Baumgardner – How to create the perfect 3-day event (IRL or virtually)#191: Breaking down my $60,723 product launch *** ASK CREATOR SCIENCE Submit your question here *** WHEN YOU’RE READY Creator Science Newsletter Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system) Join The Lab (private membership community) ‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer *** CONNECT Connect on Twitter Connect on Instagram Connect on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube *** SPONSORS View all sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Creator Science with Jay Clouse

  #296: Meet The Man Who Solved YouTube (With Data)—Richard from 1of10 [Greatest Hits]

  Aug 11, 202652 minS1

  Richard is the co-founder of ⁠1of10⁠, a research platform built by YouTube strategists, and his team has quietly been behind the scenes for some of the biggest channels on the platform—helping creators accumulate over 2 billion views through a repeatable, data-backed system. In this episode, Richard walks through his complete four-phase ideation system—audience identification, outlier research (using five distinct methods), idea remixing, and validation—and backs every step with real examples. We talk about what happens when the wrong audience floods your channel, why creators should double and triple down on formats that work, and how a single title change took one creator's video from 10,000 views to 150,000. He also shares data from 300,000+ YouTube outliers on the ideal title length (hint: shorter than you think) and where the sweet spots are for video duration across different niches. ⁠Save 20% on 1of10 using code JAY20⁠ ⁠Schedule a 1of10 Strategy Call⁠ ⁠Full transcript and show notes⁠ *** TIMESTAMPS (01:12) Where 80-85% of YouTube success comes from (01:50) Phase 1: Audience (03:19) When should you start a fresh channel instead of pivoting? (04:09) The danger of going viral with the wrong audience (05:40) Phase 2: Research (07:37) Format vs. Interest Topic (08:00) Method 1: Inside your own channel (10:52) Tripling and quadrupling down (12:33) Method 2: Inside your niche (13:45) Method 3: Adjacent niches (16:00) Method 4: Outside your niche (17:37) The "Japanese Rule" format (20:56) Method 5: External inspiration (22:07) Phase 3: Remixing (23:00) Escalation, inversion, and interest topic replacement (24:10) Viral vectors: concepts that work across all niches (25:28) Phase 4: Validation (27:00) Optimal video duration by niche (30:45) Why long videos are making a comeback (31:39) Total Addressable Viewership (34:36) Titles: Fear, Curiosity, and Desire as the three core drivers (37:17) Data: Title Length (37:51) Three methods for generating title angles (42:11) Thumbnails: Composition and Elements (45:11) It's never too late: title/thumbnail changes (46:10) Live demo: 1of10 thumbnail generator (48:10) The full 1of10 workflow *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE → ⁠#282: David Altizer — How to Make Great Thumbnails (For Non-Designers)⁠ *** ASK CREATOR SCIENCE ⁠Submit your question here⁠ *** WHEN YOU'RE READY ⁠Creator Science Newsletter⁠ ⁠Get CreatorHQ⁠ (creator operating system) ⁠Join The Lab⁠ (private membership community) ‍♂️ ⁠Get a Personalized Offer⁠ *** CONNECT ⁠Connect on Twitter⁠ ⁠Connect on Instagram⁠ ⁠Connect on LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠ *** SPONSORS ⁠View all sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #314

  #314: Getting Unstuck: The Three Hidden Roadblocks Blocking Your Progress with Cat Mulvihill

  Aug 4, 202646 minS1

  Most productivity advice operates in one of two categories: you’re missing a skill or system, or you have a mindset problem. Cat Mulvihill thinks both camps are right — and both are incomplete. There’s a third category that almost nobody is talking about, and she argues it’s the one most likely to be the actual culprit when you’re stuck. My guest this week is Cat Mulvihill, a speaker, trainer, accountability coach, and licensed Immunity to Change facilitator who has been leading workshops for more than 20 years. After being formally diagnosed with ADHD in 2024, she developed the Momentum Formula — a framework separating the reasons we fail to follow through into three distinct categories: logical, biological, and psychological. Cat is a longtime Lab member and led the second-highest-rated session at this year’s Lab Offline event in Boise. In this episode, we talk about: The three roadblocks to follow-through — and why the biological one is the category almost everyone overlooks How to diagnose which roadblock is actually keeping you stuck, and why the order you check them matters The “dreaded identity” — the hidden, subconscious version of yourself you’re afraid of becoming — and how it quietly kills follow-through Why knowing your tendency from Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies framework changes which accountability strategies actually work for you By the end of this episode, you will have a concrete diagnostic framework for understanding why you’re not doing the things you know you should be doing — and what to try first. Cat Mulvihill — website and upcoming workshops The Four Tendencies quiz by Gretchen Rubin Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey LinkedIn bookmarked search overview LinkedIn Instagram — @catmulvihill X — @catmulvihill The Momentum Experiment Podcast Full transcript and show notes *** TIMESTAMPS (00:00) “Are people going to think I’m a sellout?” — the dreaded identity, cold open (00:19) Introducing Cat: the Momentum Formula and why the biological roadblock gets missed (01:59) The 3 roadblocks — logical, biological, psychological — and where brain chemistry fits in (04:29) Diagnosing which roadblock you’re facing: why Jay thinks his problems are “just chemicals” (08:04) How to check the roadblocks in order — and the patterns that signal it’s not logical (10:55) A real Lab member example: when great systems still don’t get used (14:40) The Four Tendencies (Gretchen Rubin): upholders, questioners, obligers, rebels (19:25) The “dreaded identity” — the hidden psychological block most creators can’t see (21:14) Working through all 3 roadblocks with a LinkedIn example (25:44) Energy management and the biological roots: dopamine, blood sugar, sleep, environment matching (32:17) How to work with obliger tendencies instead of against them (36:18) The Immunity to Change framework and next steps for going deeper *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE #171: Nir Eyal – Writing books, persuasion vs. coercion, and how to be indistractable *** ASK CREATOR SCIENCE Submit your question here *** WHEN YOU’RE READY Creator Science Newsletter Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system) Join The Lab (private membership community) ‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer *** CONNECT Connect on Twitter Connect on Instagram Connect on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube *** SPONSORS View all sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #313

  #313: How Tom Ross Doubled His Community Engagement and Retention With Training Pathways

  Jul 28, 202657 minS1

  Closing the doors to a membership is supposed to hurt signups. But one of Tom's clients did exactly that — closed it, added an application, doubled the price, then reopened. His next launch sold out in 4 minutes. Same community. Same people. Just different mechanics. My guest this week is Tom Ross, the founder of Learn.Community, where he helps community builders design learning experiences that actually stick. His clients have reached millions of people and generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Tom has been building online communities for 20 years, and he's been a member of The Lab since 2022. In this episode, we talk about: Why an application process might be the most underused retention lever in the membership world The “bacon medicine” framework for making your membership both sellable and sticky long-term Tom’s “delight, direct, connect” onboarding philosophy — and what almost every community gets wrong How he rebuilt his course into learning pathways, drove completion from 20% to 50%, and turned a siloed module into the main engine of community engagement By the end of this episode, you will understand exactly why most membership churn is decided before someone joins, and what to actually do about it. Learn.Community Tom's Website The Lab Full transcript and show notes *** TIMESTAMPS (00:00) “People inherently don’t know what they don’t know” (00:29) Tom's background: 20 years building communities, what we're covering (04:06) Most retention problems start before someone joins — the targeting failure (07:51) Application process as the biggest membership lever — and how to handle rejections kindly (10:09) Closing doors creates demand: one client’s launch sold out in 4 minutes (14:43) The “bacon medicine” approach to membership positioning (24:28) Tom’s “delight, direct, connect” onboarding framework (29:01) Responsive vs. linear onboarding — why static sequences break (33:01) Learning pathways: reinventing the traditional course (36:47) AI agents, deep worksheets, and vibe-coded SaaS tools inside the pathways (40:02) Turning off course comments and routing engagement back into the community (50:49) Real results: completion up from 20% to 50%, churn down, engagement way up *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE #260: Detailed Breakdown: Our First Offline Event (And What We’ll Do Differently Next Time) *** ASK CREATOR SCIENCE Submit your question here *** WHEN YOU’RE READY Creator Science Newsletter Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system) Join The Lab (private membership community) ‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer *** CONNECT Connect on Twitter Connect on Instagram Connect on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube *** SPONSORS View all sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #312

  #312: Everything We Learned From Our Second In-Person Event — The Good, The Bad, and The Full Economics

  Jul 21, 20261h 1mS1

  This week, my wife Mallory joins me for only her second podcast appearance ever to break down everything from The Lab Offline Powered by Circle — our second annual 2-day in-person retreat for Lab members, hosted June 8–9 at Hotel Renegade in Boise, Idaho. Mallory planned essentially everything: seating charts, venue contracts, menus, swag, run of show. She's been at it for roughly 6 months. In this episode, we talk about: The full economics of running a community retreat (we lost $8,300, which is actually an improvement) How we took breakfast from a 4.8 to an 8.1 rating — and what we'd cut to reduce costs next year What ranked #1 for attendees 2 years running, and why trivia (our favorite activity) came in 7th Whether we'll keep doing this in Boise — and what Columbus, Toronto, and doing 2 events per year might look like By the end of this episode, you will have a clear picture of what it actually costs to run a high-quality community event, what's worth paying for, and what we'd do differently. Circle (event sponsor) Hotel Renegade Boise Craft and Commerce Conference The Lab Full transcript and show notes *** TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Cold open: people were moved, tears were shed (00:53) The Lab Offline explained: 2-day member retreat, goals, and agenda (06:44) Initial impressions: a reunion feeling, smoother logistics, zero fires (13:08) Attendee feedback numbers: 9.3/10 overall, 91% returning, 34% said underpriced (18:46) Event economics: $30,459 revenue, $38,800 costs, $8,300 loss (23:05) Top cost drivers: hotel catering, travel, venue rental, dinners (26:52) Planning challenges: acoustics, dietary restrictions, every decision is a trade-off (36:52) What to keep: assigned seating, Kat's Immunity to Change workshop, Fighting Off the Sleepies (42:04) What to improve: more mastermind sessions, less solo writing, better acoustics (47:49) Open question: should the event stay paired with Craft and Commerce? (53:49) The case for Columbus, 2 events per year, and an international option *** RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE #260: Detailed Breakdown: Our First Offline Event (And What We’ll Do Differently Next Time) *** ASK CREATOR SCIENCE Submit your question here *** WHEN YOU'RE READY Creator Science Newsletter Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system) Join The Lab (private membership community) Get a Personalized Offer *** CONNECT Connect on Twitter Connect on Instagram Connect on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube *** SPONSORS View all sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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