“For the last 15 years, it’s [been] me going, so what’s the product like? Tell me about the product,” Marques Brownlee said. “Now, it’s me telling you about the product.”

Since his first upload in 2008, Brownlee, also known as MKBHD, has built one of the largest — and most respected — YouTube channels with over 16 million subscribers and 3 billion views with his reviews on tech products, gadgets, and cars. Now, Brownlee is finally launching his own products after becoming the Chief Creative Partner at Ridge, a multi-million dollar accessories company with its eyes set on becoming the “American Montblanc” according to CEO Sean Frank.

I interviewed Brownlee and Frank at Parlay Studios to dive deeper into their backstories, learn about how their partnership formed, and explore what’s next — not just for them, but for the future of the creator economy as they help redefine how creators and brands work together moving forward.

The $1 Million Tweet That Started It All

Both Brownlee and Frank’s stories have been anything but conventional. While most creators now have fast edits, cheap production, and loud expressions, Brownlee has done the opposite: his videos are calm, collected, and premium.

Similarity, Frank, has bucked his own industry trends as CEO of Ridge after taking the reins from co-founders Paul and Daniel Kane. Rather than relying on celebrity endorsements, Frank took to X (formerly Twitter) to make a post, offering $1 million for a creator to join Ridge. That ultimately led to the company’s partnership with Brownlee — and caused a ripple effect throughout the creator community.

“People buy from people, and we saw this massive rise of creator brands. I just think that’s where the future is going,” Frank said. He also said Ridge explored partnerships with celebrities like Pedro Pascal, but quickly realized the limitations.

“We were talking to all these big talent agencies, and what you end up getting is three layers of agents, a $4 million deal for a one-time photoshoot, and we’re like, ‘This is so disconnected.’”

Instead, Frank set his sights on Brownlee, even tagging him in the initial tweet and stating “@MKBHD can have it if he wants.”

After months of negotiations, they signed a multi-year deal with Brownlee getting equity in the company, a board seat, and creative input on Ridge’s product roadmap and content strategy. It’s a level of involvement rarely seen among creators.

Redefining How Brands and Creators Work Together

For Ridge, partnering with Brownlee expands on the company’s strategy, having “spent at least 10 million dollars at this point directly with creators” according to Frank. In the past six years, Ridge worked with over 5,000 individual creators, generating 25,000 pieces of content. But the chance to partner with Brownlee represented a rare opportunity that they couldn’t recreate internally.

“You can either buy or build things. So we could spend a lot of money trying to build this in house internally,” Frank explained. “I bought a publication called EveryDayCarry.com and they’re focused on shooting short form videos now and learning that skill. But it’d be so much easier if I could just pay for a tutor and bring somebody in to help us develop this muscle.”

Safe to say, Frank and Ridge got more than a tutor in Brownlee. They got a master who has honed his craft and not only built trust with his audience, but anticipation in terms of when Brownlee would launch his own products.

“I get asked in interviews, ‘When are you going to make a product?’ I know I should be focusing on that, but I’m so into making videos that I don’t have the bandwidth to be making products,” Brownlee explained. That’s where Ridge comes in.

Together, Brownlee and Ridge are building three types of products:

• Ridge x MKBHD co-branded products like wallets and suitcases with new red and black colorways
• MKBHD Signature Series which are modified versions of existing Ridge products
• Entirely new product categories which Ridge has yet to enter, but Brownlee is excited about

Looking ahead, the MKBHD and Ridge partnership could redefine how brands and creators work together. For years, creators have largely had two main options when it comes to working with brands: integrate brands as sponsors in content or start their own brand from scratch like MrBeast and Emma Chamberlain have done with Feastables and Chamberlain Coffee.

But Brownlee’s partnership with Ridge provides a different blueprint and path for creators, especially given his equity and input in the company’s direction. It’s a major leap from being just another influencer in a brand campaign to becoming a key decision-maker in a profitable, multi-million dollar business with over 80 employees.

The Rise of MKBHD — And The Responsibility That Comes With It

To fully grasp the gravity of Brownlee’s partnership with Ridge, it’s important to understand his beginnings and the trust he built.

“The first several years and hundreds of videos were made with zero ambition of making money or intention of optimization,” Brownlee recalled. Instead of chasing viral hits or trends, he focused on consistently delivering high-quality, honest videos to a highly engaged tech enthusiast audience. In his first year alone, Brownlee uploaded nearly 300 videos to YouTube.

“I think that’s the reason why the best thing that never happened to us was a video going viral,” he said. “I make videos about products I’m interested in and that I find interesting to the audiences that watch our videos,”

As his influence grew, Brownlee resisted the temptation to cash in or alter his opinions for money. To this day, he has never accepted money for a review, given a brand approval rights before publishing, or shied away from harsh truths about products that don’t meet expectations. That commitment to honesty and authenticity earned Brownlee a newfound level of respect, which later helped his business grow even bigger.

“What I’ve always said, and what I hope, is that if you are speaking the truth, that it should never result in any punishment or cut off,” Brownlee said. “If it does, you look a lot like the good guy in that situation. Ideally your audience can see that you’re telling the truth, and that you’re accepting the consequences that come with telling the truth.”

Nowadays, Brownlee recognizes his words carry more weight which is why he still prioritizes honesty, even if that means ruffling feathers like with his recent reviews of the Fisker Ocean or Humane’s AI pin which Brownlee called some of the worst products he’s ever reviewed.

“Did one review kill the entire company? I would say to zoom out a bit,” he said in a recent video, noting Fisker’s months-long stock decline and the widespread criticism of Humane’s AI pin. “All that any honest review actually does is accelerate whatever was already going on.”

That’s also why finding a partner like Ridge makes perfect sense for Brownlee because it doesn’t create a conflict of interest that could cause his audience to question his reviews of other products.

“We’re like a perfect tech adjacent category,” Frank explained. “We have a ton of design experience, manufacturing experience. But at the same time, it can complement what [Marques] does and not encroach across any boundaries.”

The Next Chapter of the Creator Economy?

The MKBHD and Ridge partnership may kickstart a new trend where more creators use their skills, influence, and audience to work with multi-million dollar brands and help them grow even faster. More importantly, this partnership may serve as an important case study to entrepreneurs and creators who think they need to do it all but ultimately spread themselves too thin.

After all, too many creators try to be entrepreneurs but then forget to make great content. By the same token, too many entrepreneurs try to be creators but then forget to build great products. What’s truly remarkable about Frank, Brownlee, and their teams is how they focus on their strengths and lean on each other to fill the gaps. No egos about it.

“His job is way harder than mine,” Frank said about Brownlee’s focus on making premium content. “The regiment, the schedule, like I’m not cut out for it. So I’m glad the world has people like that.”

“I was going to say kind of the same thing,” Brownlee said in turn about Frank and the Ridge team’s product design and manufacturing process. “I’m not cut out for the other end of this equation. So it was a perfect puzzle piece.”

It will be fascinating to see how the puzzle pieces continue to come together as Brownlee and Ridge put out even more content and products together these next few years.

Thank you to Alyssa Carroll, Sean Frank, Kevin Stayart, Jono Tan and the Ridge and MKBHD teams for helping make this interview possible.

Thank you to Parlay Studios for letting us film in your space, to David Hausen and Surreel Films for producing, Dan Gillette, Drew The Director, Lumen Studios for editing, and Jansen Baier, Amanda Marcovitch and Steph Sisler for helping prepare and research for the interview.