Sep 20, 2021 · 1h 28m · how-i-built-this
Dude Perfect: Cory Cotton and Tyler Toney
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This, Guy Raz interviews Dude Perfect co-founders Tyler Toney and Cory Cotton on how five Texas A&M roommates transformed casual backyard trick shots into a multi-million-dollar entertainment empire. They discuss their foundational commitment to 100% authenticity, enduring a grueling four-year side-hustle phase, and scaling into live arena tours and global brand partnerships.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 33.1% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 2.6 Guest teaching 0.3 Guest disagreement 0.0 Guy pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 31:27 Calling out Good Morning America on-air claim
Cory and Tyler express playful irritation at Diane Sawyer saying on national TV they couldn't be reached while they sat waiting by the phone.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 1:15:52 Probing internal founder conflictGuy presses through the polite veneer to ask if creative tensions and big arguments occurred among the five co-founders.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:18:45 Reframing Dude Perfect's core content beyond trick shotsTyler informs Guy that pure trick shots are actually their least popular series now, having transitioned into comedic sketches and live arena tours.
Guy holds their own ▶ 1:03:36 Breaking down early creator economy mathGuy quickly calculates the tax breakdown and five-way split of early brand sponsorships to illustrate why they couldn't survive on ad revenue alone.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Listener Survey Announcement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Introductory housekeeping survey announcement, episode setup, and lighthearted introductory audio clips from Guy Raz's children. | |
| Overview of Dude Perfect's Scale and Authenticity | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy outlines the massive scale and clean brand of Dude Perfect before gently exploring Cory and Tyler's upbringing as pastors' and gospel singers' kids. | |
| High School Athletics and Competitive Drive | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy inquires about Texas football culture and quarterback pressure; Tyler explains his competitive drive while Cory shares his unrealistic early NBA aspirations. | |
| Texas A&M Beginnings and Academic Paths | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about college majors, expressing surprise at Tyler's focus; Tyler playfully clarifies it was wildlife and fisheries rather than hunting and fishing. | |
| Forming the Core Group Through Faith and Intramurals | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cory details meeting Garrett and Sean through freshman camps and forming bonds through intramural basketball and weekly Bible study discipline. | |
| Tyler Joins the Group and College House Dynamics | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tyler shares his initial impressions of the Cotton twins dancing to Soulja Boy and explains why the group avoided typical college binge-drinking culture. | |
| Inventing Games in the College House | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tyler and Cory describe inventing intense, chaotic living room games like Hustleball instead of traditional studying in the quad. | |
| The Backyard Bet That Started It All | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Tyler and Cory recall the spontaneous Jimmy John's sandwich bet that prompted them to record trick shots on a compact digital camera and name the channel. | |
| The First YouTube Video and Copyright Lesson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cory explains their early copyright strike from using Space Jam audio and their replacement track from indie rock band Manic Bloom. | |
| Mid-Episode Break and Teaser | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cory recounts the comedy of errors surrounding Good Morning America featuring their video while failing to connect Diane Sawyer's phone interview. | |
| Taking the Shots to the Ranch | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | The guests detail convincing Texas A&M to unlock Kyle Field and hauling their portable hoop to attempt the world's longest basketball shot. | |
| Sinking the Kyle Field Third-Deck Shot | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Tyler explains the logistics and physics of the Kyle Field shot, likening the trial-and-error repetition process to playing Battleship. | |
| Going Super-Viral on Yahoo and SportsCenter | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cory describes the delayed virality after landing on Yahoo's homepage and seeing their trick shot debated across national sports television. | |
| Committing to 100% Authenticity | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tyler explains establishing their strict 100% authentic rule after discarding an almost-made shot, followed by registering DudePerfect.com and early LLC formation. | |
| Expanding Beyond Basketball and Early Brand Deals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tyler and Cory recall their first major commercial shoot with GMC, arriving to a massive production set, and Tyler horrifically missing his first airplane drop. | |
| Making the Airplane Shot on Attempt Two | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tyler recounts swishing the airplane trick shot on only his second pass, shocking the deflated commercial crew. | |
| Grinding from Austin on Low Budgets | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | The guests describe the grueling multi-year grind of commuting four hours between Austin and Dallas on weekends while working mundane day jobs. | |
| Burnout and Cory's Bell's Palsy Diagnosis | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Cory details reaching a physical breaking point after multiple all-nighters, leading to a sudden diagnosis of stress-induced Bell's palsy. | |
| The Ultimatum and Leap to Full-Time | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tyler receives an ultimatum from his landscaping employer, prompting the group to calculate minimal $8,000 budgets and take the full-time leap together. | |
| Professionalizing Operations and Hiring an Editor | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | The guys describe hiring their first video editor, securing a landmark Nerf partnership, and establishing their first creative office in a strip mall. | |
| Business Economics and Conflict Resolution | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy presses on internal creative tension among five founders; Tyler and Cory credit their shared Christian faith and focus on core values for resolving conflict. | |
| Expanding Formats Beyond Trick Shots | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Tyler corrects the assumption about trick shot dominance by explaining the success of Stereotypes and live tours, while Cory discusses loss of privacy in public. | |
| Scaling into an Entertainment Empire | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy inquires about their $30M business valuation and future media empire ambitions; Cory humorously apologizes to teachers for the viral water bottle flip craze. | |
| Perfectionism, Purpose, and Reflections on Success | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Cory and Tyler reflect on perfectionism, hard work, and divine blessing before Guy's son Bram asks a final question about unfilmed trick shots. |
Statements from this episode (23)
Tyler Toney: Dude Perfect's Early Goal Was Demonstrating Alcohol-Free College Fun
“When we were in college, kind of one of the things that we wanted to show people is that you didn't necessarily have to go to parties and get wasted and drink a lot of alcohol to have fun and enjoy yourself in college”
Dude Perfect Started With a Backyard Bet for a Jimmy John's Sandwich
“So it was that situation, just basketball version, that kind of started everything. Ties in the backyard. And he looks at Garrett, and he says, hey, if I make the shot, you owe me a Jimmy John sandwich. And he's kind of standing in the corner, and tosses up a …”
Dude Perfect's First Upload Was Banned Worldwide for Using Space Jam Music
“Very quickly, after we load the video like Tyler said, you know, this video has been banned worldwide, was the error message we got back, and we learned that you can't just use someone else's music.”
Dude Perfect's Debut Trick Shot Video Earned 50,000 Views, Not 1 Million
“The video definitely did not get a million views. It got probably, maybe a 100,000, probably closer to 50,000 views.”
Tyler Toney: Any Trick Shot Is Possible Through Brute-Force Repetition
“We always liken it to playing battleship. Like, if you just keep guessing and keep throwing enough, then it's gonna go in at some point. Like, it has to. Like, the ball can only go so many places, and so, as long as you're willing to put in the reps, any trick…”
Dude Perfect Hit 2 Million Views in Two Hours via Yahoo's Homepage
“It had been shared as the main kind of, you know, clickable thing on Yahoo's homepage, and about two hours it had gotten about two million views.”
Tyler Toney: Carmelo Anthony Called Dude Perfect's Kyle Field Shot Fake
“Yeah, I think Carmelo Anthony was the one who was on the top 10 desk at the time when the Kyle Field shot was blowing up, and he was the one, they asked him, they were like, Carmelo, is this real? And he was like, no way, not a chance.”
Dude Perfect Established a Strict Operating Rule: 100% Authentic Trick Shots
“We decided from that point on, anything that we do is going to be 100% real, 100% authentic, and this is going to be what Dude Perfect represents going forward.”
Dude Perfect's First YouTube AdSense Payout Was One Cent per Member
“Technically we had each made one cent, but I had the incredible foresight to say one day we will each be able to take this money that we made from people watching our videos and we will be able to go buy a sandwich with it.”
Tyler Toney: Dude Perfect's Early GMC Campaign Generated Over 1 Billion Impressions
“Over a billion impressions on that campaign, I remember what you said.”
Dude Perfect Faked Weekday 'Speaking Engagements' to Hide Being College Students
“When we did, we would just tell companies that we were so busy with speaking engagements and things like that during the week that if they wanted to do a Branded Dude Perfect video, it would have to be on a Saturday, and, you know, the brands are like, what? L…”
Cory Cotton: GMC Paid Dude Perfect $50,000 for an Early TV Commercial
“I know GMC, the very first original thing, and this is for a TV commercial, so this felt way bigger than a YouTube video, but this was kind of the first thing we ever heard, I think, They paid us 50 grand”
Cory Cotton Developed Bell's Palsy from Sleep Deprivation Building Dude Perfect
“They tell me, you know, after doing some tests on me that I had what's called Bell's palsy, and it's basically kind of a paralysis of the face that they still don't know exactly what causes it, but what they usually see is stress and lack of sleep, and so they…”
Dude Perfect Founders Projected Only $8,000 in Pay When Going Full-Time
“We had it figured up after doing all this research that we could each take home about 8000 dollars the rest of the year.”
Dude Perfect Signed Their Foundational Brand Deal with Nerf Shortly After Launch
“Maybe a month after going full time, we got an email from Nerf who has been one of our longest partner that we've had they have been since then, and so we had signed our first big Nerf deal to come out with Dude Perfect Nerf products and do videos for them, an…”
Cory Cotton: Dude Perfect Built the First Dedicated Creator Filming Space
“This is the first time we've ever seen anyone online basically create a space.”
YouTube Ads Paid Dude Perfect's Bills, But Sponsorships Supported Their Families
“I think that's the cool thing about the ad side, is you can start to predict and get a little bit of a, you know, predictable cash flow there, so it helped. I would say we probably thought about it more so as our YouTube money, meaning the ads, we can pay for …”
Tyler Toney: Shared Faith and Forgiveness Kept Dude Perfect's Founders Together
“I think, you know, for us, there's obviously been moments throughout the 12 years that have been extremely difficult and, you know, very confrontational and difficult moments, and I think the only reason that Dude Perfect is still a thing today is truly becaus…”
Tyler Toney: Trick Shots Are Now Dude Perfect's Least Popular Video Series
“You know, now we've got the trickshot videos are probably our least popular series we have now, which is awesome.”
Dude Perfect's 2019 Live Tour Audience Skewed Heavily Female
“I mean, it was a good, like, I would say, 7030, 60, 40 split between girls and boys that were coming to the tour in 2019.”
Cory Cotton: Dude Perfect Operated with Just 15 to 20 Full-Time Employees
“We're probably up to between 15 to 20, you know, depending on what time people are listening to this. Yeah, full time.”
Tyler Toney Confirms Reports of Dude Perfect Making $30 Million Annually
“Yeah, I think so. I think we choose not to discuss finances on a detailed level, but there's plenty of articles and reports out there, and they're not too far off on the estimates.”
Tyler Toney: Dude Perfect Banned Attempting Any Unrecorded Trick Shots
“We have, so I was like, hey, let me go to the front yard and see if I can make this shot over the house into the backyard, and I was like, I'm just gonna go practice it and throw a few, and I ended up making it, and we were not filming, and so we decided, rule…”