Nahom from Tech2Cop: Why a 15-Minute Video Crushed 3 Months of Work

Nahom runs Tech2Cop, a YouTube channel focused on practical, affordable tech — not the flashy gear nobody actually needs. He’s working a full-time job in pharmaceutical marketing, has a wife and a dog, and is closing brand deals while sitting at around 10,000 subscribers. He didn’t blow up overnight. He’s still experimenting. And he’s more honest about the process than most creators twice his size.

In this conversation on Vidpros Insiders, Nahom breaks down the real mechanics of building a tech channel: what content actually performs, why criticizing products makes brands more likely to work with you, and the equipment mistake almost every new creator makes.

The 15-Minute Video That Made 3 Months of Work Look Pointless

Nahom’s early videos were labors of love. Two, sometimes three months of production per video — careful editing, music, the works. By his own admission, some of those early iPhone-shot videos were among his best work. The audience noticed too. One of his first videos drew a comment saying: “I can’t believe this page only has 48 subscribers. This is incredible.” High praise, but not sustainable when each video takes a quarter of a year to produce.

Then he posted a quick video about a tech deal at Costco. Fifteen minutes of production time. No cinematic lighting setup, no heavy editing. Just genuinely useful information about a good deal that would save people money.

“I didn’t focus so much on the technical quality. I focused on the value of the video and helping people with a valuable deal that saved them money. I wasn’t selling a product.”

That video hit 15,000 views in a few days. The polished, months-long productions hadn’t come close.

The lesson isn’t that production quality is worthless — Nahom is clear that he still loves high-quality video as a viewer. The lesson is that utility beats aesthetics when a viewer is trying to solve a problem or find a deal. A well-lit, carefully scored review of something nobody was searching for is still a video nobody watches.

He’s now deliberately testing the spectrum: quick, useful, low-production videos against more cinematic content. By his own timeline, he plans to commit to a consistent format by 2027 — after another year of genuine experimentation. That’s a longer runway than most new creators give themselves, and it’s probably the right call.

Why Being Critical Gets You More Brand Deals, Not Fewer

The conventional creator wisdom says: be nice to brands, they’ll work with you. Nahom’s experience says the opposite.

He reviewed a microphone from FIFINE and pointed out a specific flaw — the mute button was positioned so that it was easy to accidentally hit during Zoom calls. A real problem. He said so plainly in the review. The brand’s response wasn’t to blacklist him.

“They reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, we saw your video. You said it was too easy to hit that button. We have a new microphone. We’d like you to compare them.'”

That’s the actual dynamic: honest criticism functions as free R&D for the brand. They want to know what’s wrong with their product. A reviewer who flags real issues is more valuable to them than one who calls everything amazing — because the one who calls everything amazing has no credibility with the audience anyway.

Nahom extends this logic further. He paid for an Insta360 camera out of his own pocket and was openly critical in his review. That credibility — paid for it himself, still found problems worth mentioning — is harder to fake and harder to dismiss.

The flip side: if every product you review is amazing, nobody believes any of it. Audiences notice when a creator’s tone never changes regardless of the product. That consistency of enthusiasm is a red flag, not a green one. Nahom points to the scrutiny other creators face when their review style suddenly shifts on a sponsored piece — it breaks the implicit contract with the audience that the creator’s opinion is their own.

On AI Products Specifically: Skepticism as a Filter

Nahom applies extra scrutiny to AI-powered hardware. He’s turned down multiple AI product review opportunities because he couldn’t fully understand what the products were doing — particularly around data collection. His standard: if he can’t understand it well enough to explain it to his audience honestly, he won’t make the video. If a video exists on his channel, it means he got comfortable enough with the product to stand behind it publicly.

That’s a useful filter for any creator reviewing in a fast-moving category. The pressure to be first on every new AI product is real, but recommending something you don’t understand isn’t a content strategy — it’s a liability.

The Camera Mistake Every New Creator Makes (Including Nahom)

Nahom bought a Lumix S5 II. He loves it. He’s not selling it. But he also admits it was an overspend given what he was already getting out of his iPhone 15 Pro.

His breakdown of where new creators should actually put their money:

• Lights: $50–75 on Amazon. Basic color control makes a real difference. Start here.
• Microphone: A decent USB-C mic runs $50–60. Audio quality matters more than video quality to most viewers.
• Camera: Your phone. Seriously. iPhone 15 Pro shoots Log and 4K. With proper lighting, the output is excellent. Yes, it overheats. Record in segments.
• Elgato Prompter: Nahom calls this the single most valuable piece of equipment for any YouTube creator. Around $300 for the smaller model. It gives you a second screen in a tight space and lets you maintain eye contact with the camera without looking away to check notes. He deliberated for a year before buying one, then immediately wondered why he waited.

Total for a functional setup: around $150. With $500, you could add the Elgato Prompter and be ahead of most new channels on production value where it actually counts — audio and eye contact.

The camera is the last variable that moves the needle, and it’s the first thing most creators spend money on. Nahom includes himself in that critique. He made better videos with his iPhone than some he’s made since buying the Lumix — not because the Lumix is worse, but because he was still figuring out what kind of content he actually wanted to make.

How Nahom Uses AI in His Workflow (Without the Hype)

Nahom’s AI workflow is practical and unglamorous, which is probably why it works.

He tracks brands and upcoming products. When something new surfaces, he goes to a pre-built project in Claude or ChatGPT, drops in the brand name and product name, and the system generates a personalized outreach email — pulling from a contact list he’s built over time, or searching for marketing and partnership emails if he doesn’t have a direct contact. The whole process takes about 30 seconds.

He writes and edits his own scripts. The AI helps start the process, he shapes it into his voice from there.

Where he says AI hasn’t fully delivered yet: video editing. He sees it as the next frontier for creator tools, and the area where time pressure is most acute. Editing is the bottleneck for most solo creators — not ideation, not filming. The creator who solves editing time wins back hours per week.

On Brand Deals, Timing, and Not Treating YouTube Like a Job

Nahom started reaching out to brands from his very first video. He doesn’t recommend that approach for everyone — most brands want to see a track record, consistent publishing, and evidence that you deliver what you promise. But it worked occasionally, even early on. A $10 product here, a response from a big brand there.

The more reliable inbound signal, he notes, is consistency. Brands start coming to you when they can see you publish regularly, your content looks professional, and you follow through. That credibility compounds over time.

He’s deliberate about not treating the channel like a second job — even though he’s actively negotiating brand deals. The moment it feels like an obligation, it performs like one. For now, it stays in the hobby category, even as it grows into something more.

His content selection follows a simple filter: would he recommend this product to a friend or family member? Is it something a normal person could actually use, not just a tech obsessive? If a product doesn’t clear that bar, it doesn’t matter how good the deal is.

The Advice He Gives Creators Who Want to Start

Nahom keeps it direct: stop waiting for the right setup. His own first video didn’t even show his face — he was too nervous. Products only, no on-camera presence. He grew into it.

You don’t need to spend anything to make a tech video. Walk around your house, pick ten products that have genuinely improved your life, and explain why. That’s a video. Shoot it on your phone. Post it.

The only real obstacle to starting a channel is posting the first video. Everyone who told Nahom they were “about to start” and never did got stuck on that exact thing. Once the first video is up, the second one is easier. The channel builds from there.

The biggest waste isn’t a bad camera or a weak thumbnail. It’s the creator who optimizes everything except actually publishing.