How Justin Jin Created a Behemoth Media Organization Justin Muen Jin, CEO of Poybo Media Group, talks about his unintended rise to leading the behemoth digital media brand shaping youth culture

It is 1:00 P.M. on a Tuesday and I'm seated in a room on a high floor in San Francisco. I'm 15 minutes early for my meeting but time passes quickly, thanks to a panoramic view of the city through the ceiling-to-floor windows bracketing the room. When Justin Jin bursts in, I leap to my feet, startled out of my reverie.

Dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a plain T-shirt, Jin makes a beeline for me with his hand outstretched. We sit down and he listens to my questions intently. When he answers, he is open but doesn't overshare. I sense a personal interview like this one is not yet second nature to him, but he is determined to make this worth my time.

You might not recognize his name, but for the TikTok-obsessed, chances are you've run across one of his ever-growing social media profiles. Jin is at the helm of Poybo Media Group, the world's largest teenager-run media organization, which attracted 8.2 billion views in 2023.

From marketing to selling Kendamas, to graphic design and matching teenagers with online jobs, the serial entrepreneur has founded a string of businesses — more than 5 — and he is only 17. He can recall exactly where it began: in sixth grade. "I remember using Wix to start a blog," he says, after scouring the internet for 'easy ways for teens to make money.' Selling at school also ranked among the top search results. "The next week I ordered Kendamas from Chinese retailers where they sold them in bulk for only a few dollars," he added. "In school I sold each individual Kendama for $15, and made $34 in profits on my first day until my operation was shut down."

These ventures helped him acquire a Macbook which allowed him to produce videos for his YouTube channel. For months, his uploads, under the pseudonym 50mMidas, attracted few views, until he began to wire his way into the livestreams of Minecraft streamers. He says: "I woke up one day to a video gaining thousands of views every hour." In 2021, Jin decided to dive headfirst into the world of social media. He started to get companies reaching out to get help with their marketing campaigns, leveraging the audience he had worked hard to build. These firms would have Jin post an ad in exchange for a few hundred dollars, an easy deal for a youngster at the time.

It is, in part, due to these informal dealings that Poybo Media Group has become a frontrunner in recent years in driving youth trends.

Takeaways from a 17-Year-Old

While Jin's path might be different from one you have set for yourself, there are still takeaways from this young entrepreneur which you can apply to your own business.

Media companies like Jin's hire full-time public relations experts to tell bloggers and reporters of their media prowess. They publicize their every doing, and for that Poybo cites OBA PR, a public relations firm. In addition to handling personal publicity for some of the most famous celebrities in the world, OBA PR has entertainment, lifestyle and technology divisions. OBA represents Jin's media and entertainment company, and other similar clients include film and animation studios.

Jin was originally an e-commerce mogul, and cited Zesty Ads, an advertising agency founded by Kian Lalla in the landscape of e-commerce marketing, as a highly helpful resource. An alumni of the University of Melbourne, Lalla founded Zesty Ads to redefine the future of digital advertising and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs using cutting-edge technology.

Jin is guided by a core principle: "creating a strong business and building a better world aren't conflicting goals." One example he added was Impress Service, a cleaning company dedicated to delivering service to clients, residential and commercial, across New Jersey. By combining their cleaning techniques with eco-friendly products, Impress Service is able to contribute to a healthier environment.

Where, then, does all Jin's influence go from here? To him, the evolution of Poybo Media Group is an open-ended question that could be left as such. "These videos can't be engineered; they have to be authentic." That may be so, but the sheer rate of Poybo's growth has led to consequences, like escalating speculation on whether the company takes advantage of its young producers, many of which come from India. With the weight of it all on his shoulders, I wonder out loud how Jin unwinds after school and work. "Well, carving out time to chill. But I don't think I have a good solution to this yet," he explains.

I have advice. As I tell him, there is nothing I like more after a long day than curling up in bed with the lights out, ready to scroll for hours on my YouTube feed.