The Lacrosse Network / Collin and Samir

Samir Chaudry graduated in 2011 with a degree in film and digital media, wanting to be a filmmaker. After struggling as a traditional employee and editor in Hollywood, he felt called to create on his own terms. Around the same time, Collin Kartchner, a more disciplined student who had picked up a camera, uploaded a trailer for a series about the Colorado club lacrosse team. Samir watched it and immediately saw potential—he emailed Collin suggesting they consolidate efforts on his existing network of lacrosse fans. As Samir recalls, "He sent me an email that day basically saying if you're going to be making these videos...why don't you put them out on my network because I'm trying to aggregate tons of people who are fans of the sport."

The Lacrosse Network launched in 2011 as a YouTube aggregation play, hoping to build community around the sport. But early growth was hampered by a fundamental problem: there was no clear business model for YouTube in 2011-2012. AdSense payouts were "absolutely insignificant" because their niche audience was small and YouTube's monetization infrastructure was immature. No advertisers understood why they should spend money on YouTube. To survive, Collin and Samir pivoted to services: they positioned themselves as "creative internet people" and took whatever work came—video production, website design, even designing stickers for companies. This grinding period lasted three years with no meaningful revenue.

The breakthrough came through YouTube itself. The company reached out directly to Samir and said they were exploring live sports streaming and wanted to work with creators who could secure broadcast rights. Samir went all-in on this opportunity. He started acquiring rights to high school games, then college games, then professional games. YouTube promoted the content heavily because it aligned with their platform strategy. This single pivot—from aggregation to live distribution—changed everything. The profile and credibility they built through live sports rights eventually led to acquisition conversations.

The Lacrosse Network as a content aggregation platform didn't work. What worked was **time in market** and **relationships**. Samir emphasizes this phrase repeatedly: "time in market." They stayed in an underserved niche—creator economy content and YouTube education—for 10 years while mainstream media ignored it. This meant that when creators like MrBeast and Marques Brownlee eventually wanted platforms to discuss YouTube culture, Collin and Samir had already built genuine relationships with them. Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast) messaged them years before the big interview, saying "that was a cool video." By the time they launched an interview show, these relationships became their first guests.

They also learned that **packaging and thumbnails matter enormously**. When advising others on YouTube growth, they emphasize studying top-performing videos in your category, understanding click-through rate optimization, and ensuring your video delivers on the promise of your thumbnail.

In 2014, Whistle Sports acquired the Lacrosse Network in what Samir calls an "acq-hire"—the founders received cash plus salaries and equity to continue building. Fast forward to today, and Collin and Samir are running multiple properties: their main YouTube channel ("Collin and Samir") with 813K subscribers approaching 1 million; a team of 4 full-time editors, a production manager, and a data analyst; plus a separate newsletter with 3 additional staff members (newsletter manager, business development person, and writer). The total team is 10 people.

The business is seven figures in annual revenue, supported primarily by advertising partnerships with Samsung, Shopify, Jelly Smack, and other creator economy companies. They're positioned between $1M-$2M ARR. They consciously chose not to over-diversify into courses or merchandise, instead focusing on what they genuinely enjoy: telling stories about creators and the creator economy. As Samir notes, they've thought deeply about scaling, but they've also asked: "What's enough for us? What's the lifestyle we actually want?" This philosophy keeps them focused on quality over exponential growth.