Young Zhao, CEO of OpusClip, on how coaching helped him reach $50M ARR
Three years in, OpusClip has 20 million users, 300,000 paying customers and over $50M ARR. Young started thinking about a coach when OpusClip's growth meant he could no longer be a full-time builder. He talks about how he brings his coach everything, from hiring to his own health.
My coach taught me how to turn from a builder to a CEO
The founder and the company
Who is Young Zhao?
Young Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of OpusClip, the AI video editing company that turns long videos into short clips for social media. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in computer science in 2014, worked as a product designer at LinkedIn and a product manager at Totango, then co-founded Zaihui in Shanghai in 2015 and founded OneBowl, its creator talent agency, before starting OpusClip in 2022.
Who founded OpusClip?
OpusClip was founded in 2022 by Young Zhao, its CEO, Jay Wu, its CTO, and Grace Wang, its CMO. Before OpusClip the three led a 500-person social media talent agency, which is where they saw how slow and expensive video editing was for creators. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with an office in Mountain View, and came through the AI Grant accelerator's second batch.
What is OpusClip?
OpusClip is an AI video editor that finds the highlights in a long video, cuts them into short clips, reframes the footage, adds captions and B-roll, and publishes to every social channel. Its products include ClipAnything and OpusSearch. As of September 2026 OpusClip reports 20 million creators and businesses, 440 million clips created and 160 billion views, with users including Logan Paul, NVIDIA, Visa, Univision and iHeartMedia.
How much funding has OpusClip raised?
OpusClip has raised $50 million. A seed round and a Series A led by Millennium New Horizons brought $30 million in cumulative funding by August 2024, with AI Grant, Samsung Next, DCM Ventures, GTMfund and Jason Lemkin among the backers. In March 2025 the company announced a $20 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, reported at a $215 million valuation.
Does Young Zhao work with an executive coach?
Yes. Young Zhao works with an executive coach from Titan, which matches Series A to C founders with coaches who have built or run companies at scale. He went looking for one when OpusClip's growth meant he could no longer be a full-time builder, and credits his coach with teaching him to become a CEO. In the year since, OpusClip's ARR grew 5.5×, on its way to over $50 million ARR and 20 million users.
From the conversation
What does OpusClip do?
We are the number one AI video editor that turns your footage into a growth engine. Video is the best format for people to express themselves. However, it's also one of the most tedious, boring and painful things to create in the world. That brought me to the idea of starting OpusClip: to democratize the process of video creation, so that anyone with a story can tell it on social media.
How did the company take off?
In the very first year we manually created a lot of videos and cold emailed them to hundreds of users. They were asking: what software did you use? I want to use this product. How much do you want to charge? Our Discord group went from 100 to 50k in about a week. From making videos by hand, we are now serving over 20 million users, including content creators like Logan Paul, Diary of a CEO, NVIDIA, Visa and all of the big media companies in the world.
Why did you start looking for a coach?
In order to support the growth of the company, I had to change a lot for myself. In the early days I was a builder, but later I had to become a manager. I started to think about having a coach when I realized that I cannot stay a 100% builder.
What do you bring to your coach?
My coach is similar to my dad. He plays the role my dad played when I was young. I throw any of my problems at him: hiring people, managing the team, even my own personal health. It seems he has been through every single problem I am encountering every day now. My coach taught me how to turn from a builder into a CEO.
What has it meant for the company?
Today OpusClip has over 110 employees worldwide. We have grown from 0 to 20 million users, 300,000 paying customers and over $50 million ARR in just three years.
What would you tell other founders?
Titan has the best network of all kinds of different coaches. Meet a few, understand their styles and their specialties, and understand what you need, because matching the best coach for you can really be a 10x ROI. When you are turning from a builder into a manager, I strongly recommend you get a coach as well. As soon as possible.
Full transcript
Young Zhao, Founder & CEO of OpusClip, in conversation with Titan. Lightly edited for clarity.
Why he started OpusClip
Hi, I'm Young Zhao. I'm the co-founder and CEO here at OpusClip. We are the number one AI video editor that turns your footage into growth engine. Video is the best format for people to express themselves. However, it's also one of the most tedious, boring, and painful things to create in the world. So, that brought me to the idea of starting OpusClip to democratize the process of video creation so that anyone with a story can tell on social media.
How early demand emerged
In the very early days, in the very first year, we manually created a lot of videos. And we just cold emailed that to hundreds of users. And they were asking, what kind of software did you use? I want to use this product. How much do you want to charge? Our Discord group went from 100 to 50k in about a week. From making videos by hand, but now we are serving over 20 million users, including content creators like Logan Paul, Diary of a CEO, NVIDIA, Visa, and all of the big media companies in the world.
Why he sought a coach
In order to support the growth of the company, I have to change a lot for myself. In the early days, I was a builder. But later, I have to become a manager. I started to think about having a coach when I realized that I cannot become a 100% builder. My coach is similar to my dad. He played the role. My dad helped me when I was young. So I just throw any of my problems to him about hiring people, about managing the team, and even about my own personal health. It seems that he has been through every single problem that I am encountering every day now. My coach taught me how to turn from a builder to be a CEO.
How the company has grown
Today, OpusClip has over 110 employees worldwide. We have grown from 0 to 20 million users, 300,000 paying customers, and over 50 million ARR in just three years.
What he recommends about coaching
Titan has the best network of all kinds of different coaches. So you'd better meet a few coaches, understand their styles, their specialties, and understand what you need. Because matching the best coach for you can really be a 10x ROI. When you are turning from a builder to a manager, I strongly recommend you to get a coach as well. As soon as possible.
Young Zhao and OpusClip: quick facts
| Role | Co-founder and CEO, OpusClip (since 2022) |
|---|---|
| Company founded | 2022; headquartered in San Francisco with an office in Mountain View, California |
| Co-founders | Jay Wu, CTO, and Grace Wang, CMO. The three previously led a 500-person social media talent agency |
| Education | B.A. in computer science (human-computer interaction), UC Berkeley (2014) |
| Previously | Product designer at LinkedIn (2014); product manager at Totango (2014 to 2015); co-founder of Zaihui, Shanghai (2015 to 2021), and founder of OneBowl, its creator talent agency (2017 to 2021) |
| Team | About 110 people worldwide, as stated by Young Zhao (October 2026) |
| Users | 20 million+ creators and businesses, 440 million clips created, 160 billion views (September 2026); 300,000 paying customers (October 2026) |
| Growth | From zero to over $50 million ARR in three years; ARR up 5.5× in the year since Young started working with his Titan coach (October 2026) |
| Customers | Logan Paul, NVIDIA, Visa, Univision, Billboard, iHeartMedia, LinkedIn and Jubilee |
| Recognition | The Information's 50 Most Promising Startups (2024); AI Grant batch 2 |
| Funding | $50 million in total: a seed round and a Series A led by Millennium New Horizons ($30 million cumulative, August 2024), then a $20 million round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (March 2025) at a reported $215 million valuation |
| Investors | SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Millennium New Horizons, DCM Ventures, AI Grant, Samsung Next, GTMfund, Fellows Fund, Alumni Ventures; angels including Jason Lemkin |
| Links | LinkedIn · opus.pro · OpusClip on LinkedIn |