If you would have asked Dan Howell and Phil Lester 10 years ago if they expected to become international YouTube celebrities, they likely would have laughed and responded with a quippy sarcastic comment. These British YouTubers have been producing videos as early as 2006, when YouTube vlogging was a relatively new trend and MySpace was still in full swing. Somewhere between 2006 and now, Dan and Phil have gained millions of followers and built an audience unlike any other YouTuber. Their quirky videos span from gaming challenges and question and answers to daily vlogs and stories. They have become icons in the YouTube content world, creating new ideas for videos and challenges – even building their own app to accompany a challenge video. This year, they launched two huge projects – a book written by them and a live tour in the UK, Australia, and America. They are some of the first YouTube stars to extend their content production into the physical, non-Internet realm. Both the book and the tour have been widely successful, proving that Dan and Phil know more about content creation than just YouTube videos.

Dan and Phil are the perfect example of true Internet entrepreneurs. What started as a hobby or a way of expressing themselves has turned into their careers. They are constantly having to come up with innovative new ways to gain and keep followers. As their audience grew, they had to find new ways to connect with them beyond the boundaries of the YouTube platform. As first movers in their industry, Dan and Phil were able to carve out their own niche and set themselves apart from the millions of other YouTube videos in existance. They are truly an example of successful millennial entrepreneurs who started with nothing but a webcam won from a cereal box sweepstakes and ended up as Internet .