A LinkedIn Coach Tried a YouTube Agency for Two Videos: What Ethan Golding Said

Who is Ethan Golding?

Ethan is the founder of Founders Academy, a programme that teaches founders to sign clients through LinkedIn. You can find him on LinkedIn and on his YouTube channel.

He helps founders who want to break the £50K–100K a month point. He works one-to-one: he finds the bottleneck around sales, helps the founder unlock it, and then supports them as they start to see more leads, more sales and higher prices. His LinkedIn profile says he built a £1M coaching business and has served 410+ clients, and he has almost 48,000 followers there.

Why did a LinkedIn coach hire a YouTube agency?

Ethan had done it the usual way. He recorded some videos on his iPhone, and he took a course. Short form had always worked for him on LinkedIn, and it's where he focused for most of building his business. But he saw a limit.

“Short form is a little bit limiting sometimes for getting across more complex subjects. Now that short form has been established for me, I wanted to focus some attention on delivering value in longer segments.”

Ethan Golding

And why an agency, not more courses? Once he spent a bit of time on it, he saw how much there was to learn. He made a simple decision.

“It would be faster to do that with someone else than on my own.”

Ethan Golding

What did the agency do that he didn't want to do himself?

Here's the interesting part. Ethan's workload on camera stayed the same. Before, he would pick up a camera and record. With us, he still sat down and recorded. What changed is everything around it:

• researching titles and what other channels are doing
• writing hooks and scripts
• editing the videos properly
• descriptions
• thumbnails

“All the other bits that make the videos actually work and get seen by people, now someone else is doing.”

Ethan Golding

The filming session was different too. We didn't just let him point a phone at himself. We got on a call, set up the camera angle and the background, and I helped him record every line, with the phrasing, the structure and the calls to action. This let him do something he had never done himself: videos that go deep into processes and frameworks, which are hard to script and hard to do in one take.

Ethan liked the scripts. He said he was surprised at how much of his own knowledge was in them.

What surprised Ethan most?

Simplicity. Ethan sent us a few notes about what he wanted to talk about, sat down on camera, and recorded three videos in one batch. Then he looked at the finished video and it was done.

“I assumed that you'd need more stuff from me. But my input was very, very small. You just send me thumbnails that were good, and the edits just got done.”

Ethan Golding

He also said he hadn't been aware of how many things make a YouTube video good. And even the things he knew about, like thumbnails, he wasn't doing because of how much time they take.

What results did the first two videos get?

Ethan's honest answer: the first two videos got three or four times the views of his other videos in the first day, compared with what some of his other videos got in a month or two. He also said the hook of the latest one is one of his best for retention. And the numbers back up the direction. In YouTube Studio, 61% of viewers were still watching at 0:30 on the newest video, versus 44–49% on his next four recent videos. Our second video held 44%, so there is still work to do.

I want to be honest about the scale. This is a young channel, and the numbers are small. The two new videos got 263 and 126 views in their first weeks. His older videos got 25 to 176 views over months. Views are not the point for a high-ticket business, and the direction is what matters at this stage.

What mattered more to Ethan was the content itself. About the video on outreach, he said:

“That video we've produced on outreach is probably the most valuable piece of content I've ever made on it. And I keep using it now. I can post it in future LinkedIn posts, send it out as a lead magnet, give it to my email list.”

Ethan Golding

That is how a business video should work: one long video that keeps working in many places. It's the same idea we use for every client: one filming day, many uses.

What were Ethan's honest doubts?

This is the part I like most about this review. Ethan didn't just praise us. He said the edits were solid and improved from the first video to the second, and that I probably need more time to find his style. He was also clear about something else:

“I'm not in a place of: I'm going to 100% not work with a YouTube agency. I'm more in a place of: I want to work out what I want to do with my videos, so I can come to you and say this is what I want, and this is what I don't want.”

Ethan Golding

His doubt is real. He liked the scripts, but he also loves the purity of opening his phone and just talking. Do I want to follow a script, or talk freestyle? As he put it, I can't make that decision for him. He has to. He also said that a freestyle video needs to be done in one take, because if he starts umming it doesn't work, while the structured videos with a person helping gave him depth he never managed alone.

I think this is a healthy way to start. It was a short trial, not the three-month commitment that many agencies ask for, and it showed us both where the line is.

So what happens next? We keep working, in a different format

We continue working with Ethan, but not in the exact same way. We are building a custom format around his freestyle videos. The idea is to keep what works for him, his voice and his way of talking, and add the technical side that we know how to do. Where exactly the line goes between what he makes himself and what we take on, is something we are shaping together.

This is also what I tell founders on every call: a good agency adapts to how you work. It doesn't force one process on everyone.

Ethan's longer-term plan is also worth noting. When we started, his idea was to work with an agency for about six months, see what it does, and then build the same thing in-house. After two videos he said that is still the exact plan, because there is so much knowledge he wouldn't learn in two videos. If you're thinking the same, read agency vs in-house: what a content team really costs.

Who is this for, according to Ethan?

Ethan said it's for founders, especially those who sell information-based products, because long videos are a much more valuable way to share information. He also said you can't expect content to make loads of money really quickly. You can expect decent views relatively soon, and the real goal is building something that lasts.

“I'm doing this so that in a year's time, two years' time, this is an undeniable source of money, in the way that my LinkedIn has become.”

Ethan Golding

And his review in one word?

“Professional. You just did your job well. A lot of people that do content are late, or make little mistakes, or the standard isn't very good. You guys were super diligent and delivered things when you said you were going to deliver them.”

Ethan Golding

I think that's the best description of our service I've heard. And it matches what I wrote in how to spot a scam YouTube agency: a good agency does what it says, when it says.

FAQ

Should a LinkedIn creator start a YouTube channel?

If short posts already work, long videos let you teach complex subjects in more depth. Ethan Golding, a founder coach with about 48,000 LinkedIn followers, added YouTube for that reason: short form is great for reach but limiting for detailed processes and frameworks.

Why would a founder hire a YouTube agency instead of filming alone?

Because the camera is the smallest part of the work. Ethan said the research, titles, hooks, scripts, editing, descriptions and thumbnails were what he did not want to learn, and it was faster to do that with a team than on his own.

How much work does a founder do with Evgeny Maximov's agency?

Ethan sent a few notes on what he wanted to talk about, sat down on camera and recorded three videos in one batch. He said his input was very small and he assumed he would need to contribute much more.

What results did Ethan Golding get from the first two videos?

In his words, the two videos got three or four times the views of his other videos on the first day, and the hook of the latest one was among his best for retention. The channel is young, so the absolute numbers are small: 263 and 126 views in the first weeks.

What did Ethan not like about working with a YouTube agency?

He said he did not want to work with an agency in exactly that way. He was not sure whether he wanted scripted videos or his usual freestyle style, and that is a decision only he can make. He wants to find the line between what the agency does and what he makes himself.

Does Evgeny Maximov's agency still work with Ethan Golding?

Yes. They continue working together in a different format, a custom version built around Ethan's freestyle videos instead of the full scripted process.

Can an agency work with a freestyle, unscripted style?

Yes, but the roles change. Instead of scripts and a structured filming session, the agency can focus on the parts founders find hardest, such as titles and the technical side of making videos perform.

Who is a YouTube agency good for, according to Ethan?

In his opinion, founders who sell information-based products and want lasting results. He said content will not make you loads of money quickly, but it can bring a decent number of views fairly soon and become an undeniable source of money in a year or two.

Is it better to hire an agency first or build an in-house team?

Ethan's plan is both in order: work with an agency for about six months to learn what makes videos perform, then start hiring his own team. His reason is that there is a lot of knowledge he would not learn in two videos.

How did Ethan describe working with the agency in one word?

Professional. He has built a content business himself and hired content businesses before, and said many content people are late or make small mistakes, while the agency delivered what it promised, when it promised.