Generate £5 million/year with 13 people

Ali Abdaal is a doctor by training.

In 2017, he began publishing YouTube videos on productivity, learning, and content creation.

Today, he has over 6.5 million subscribers and his business generates £5 million per year, with 13 full-time employees.

His activity: content creator (YouTube, podcast, newsletter) + online training (Part-Time YouTuber Academy, his flagship course on creating YouTube channels).

Here's how his business is organized 👇

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A simple and effective two-pronged structure

The organization is divided into two blocks:

1. Content-wise (6-7 people)
   
   • YouTube, podcasts, social media, websites, books.
   • Revenue: AdSense + sponsorships → £1.5 to £2M/year.
     

2. On the sales side (3-4 people + occasional freelancers)
   
   • Primarily: Part-Time YouTuber Academy (the course).
   • Revenue: £2-3M/year → 55-65% of total revenue.

Cross-functional areas (finance, sponsorships, operations) are managed by a single person: the General Manager.

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The invisible role: the General Manager as COO

Angus Parker is 26 years old. He joined Ali as a freelance scriptwriter in 2020.

Today, he runs everything Ali doesn't do.

In concrete terms:

• He manages 10 people.
• He oversees the finances, without being the CFO.
• He manages partnerships, sponsors, and processes.
• He makes sure that everything is moving forward, all the time.

Ali creates. Angus makes it happen.

This isn't typical delegation. It's a clear separation between vision and execution . Without this key role, Ali would be stuck in day-to-day operations.

With it, he can launch new products, test, and explore. The business doesn't depend on Ali. It depends on a founder-integrator partnership .

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The choices that enable profitability

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1. Flat salary for the entire core team

Everyone with more than a year of service earns the same salary.

The result: a stronger team culture, less turnover, and more mutual support. It's a gamble. It only works if the team is cohesive and roles are clear.

2. Freelancers for all one-off projects

The course requires 8 to 10 people for 6 weeks to provide personalized feedback to students.

These individuals are not salaried employees. Given the cyclical nature of the activity (6-week cycle), they are freelancers recruited by cohort.

3. 6-week work sprints

The team does not work in 3-month quarters, it operates in 6-week cycles.

How it works:

• Week 1: The entire team meets in person to define the priorities for the next 6 weeks. Remotely, this might mean 1 to 2 days of video conferencing, with breaks, not to mention any client or operational projects that need to be addressed.
• Weeks 2 to 6: execution. Everyone knows what they have to deliver and by when.
• End of cycle: review, adjustments, new 6-week sprint.

Why 6 weeks, not 12?

Because beyond 6-8 weeks, we often lose track. Priorities change. The team drifts. Projects drag on.

4. A product that generates 60% of revenue

The course generates £2-3 million annually.

The remainder (YouTube, sponsorships, Skillshare) funds the free content.

The model is clear:

• Content feeds the audience.
• The course monetizes the audience.
• The course revenue funds the content.

No dependence on a single source. No fragmentation either.

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What this says about profitability at this scale

A £5M business with 13 people generates £385,000 in revenue per person .

This makes it possible:

• A high margin product (online courses, B2B services).
• A small team, focused on the essentials.
• A founder who doesn't directly manage anyone.
• A General Manager or COO who absorbs all operational aspects.
• Intelligent outsourcing tailored to the seasonality of the business (freelancers, tools, ad-hoc agencies, accounting and legal services).

What prevents it for the leader:

• To be everywhere in the operational side.
• Acting in firefighter mode on a daily basis.
• To decide everything alone as the founder.
• Recruit instinctively as soon as there is a workload.

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Questions to ask yourself

If your turnover exceeds €1 million and you have more than 10 employees:

→ Do you have someone who manages everything you don't manage yourself?

→ Do you know how much revenue each person on your team generates?

→ Are you recruiting because there's an overload of work, or because there's a key role to fill?

The difference between a profitable business and one that dilutes its margins is often this: in the revenue generated per person, not in the number of people.

To help you gain clarity, I've created a GPT that analyzes your team structure in 10 minutes — in relation to your current revenue and your objective. Take the diagnostic here .

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Aurélie

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