Linus Tech Tips

Linus Gabriel Sebastian (born August 20, 1986) is a Canadian YouTube personality, presenter, producer, and founder of Linus Media Group.

He is best known for creating and hosting four YouTube channels: Linus Tech Tips, Techquickie, TechLinked, and Channel Super Fun . These channels have a combined subscriber base of over 11 million users. From 2007 to 2015, he was also a regular presenter of technology videos for the now defunct Canadian computer retailer NCIX. In 2015, Inc. magazine ranked Sebastian 4th in a list of the "Top 30 Power Players in Tech". He is also the owner of Floatplane Media.

As of February 2019, Linus Tech Tips is ranked the 5th most watched Technology channel on YouTube. In 2014, Tubefilter named the channel as being within the "top 1% of Google's preferred advertising channels" on YouTube for the technology category.

NCIX and Linus Tech Tips

Sebastian was working as category manager for the now defunct Canadian online computer store NCIX. He was asked by the company to be the host for its technology channel, which was created to help demonstrate products. Sebastian was assisted by an unidentified cameraman and editor, and worked with limited resources, shooting videos with a camera borrowed from the son of the company's president. His first video was a demonstration for a Sunbeam processor heatsink.

Due to high costs and low viewership during the early days of the channel, Sebastian was instructed to create the Linus Tech Tips channel as a cheaper offshoot of the NCIX channel, to allow for lower production values without impacting the NCIX brand. He described TigerDirect and Newegg as competitors.[8] Linus Tech Tips was created on November 24, 2008.

Sebastian did not develop videos full-time at NCIX. During his time at the company, he worked as full-time sales representative, a high-end systems designer, a product manager, and a category manager.
Linus Media Group

Sebastian founded Linus Media Group in January 2013 out of a garage, with Luke Lafreniere, Edzel Yago, and Brandon Lee. The group developed the Linus Tech Tips channel as an independent venture. Sebastian also began working on Techquickie.

In September 2013, Sebastian was interviewed by Chris Pirillo. Sebastian discussed the future of his channel and answered questions that had been sent to Pirillo through social media.

In a 2014 interview, Sebastian revealed he had sleepless nights under the pressure of figuring out how to support his family while also employing staff during the early days of his independent YouTube career, having had no startup capital to work with.

In 2015, the company moved into a commercial office space for the first time, having previously worked out of a residential address in Surrey, British Columbia. The moving process was documented in a series of vlogs that became one of the most acclaimed series of videos in the Linus Tech Tips channel history. Since then, Sebastian has created occasional office vlogs following the move.