Hey, I’m Ali
. I’m a Doctor turned Entrepreneur, YouTuber, and the author
of the New York Times bestseller,
Feel-Good Productivity
. I’m a Doctor turned Entrepreneur, Quick Facts About Me
My Journey from
Student to Creator
My YouTube journey started back in 2017 when I was still a student at Cambridge University. I was studying to become a doctor (the dream was to specialise in plastic surgery).
Back then, I started creating videos to help other people with studying and passing exams. This is when I started my first business with a friend, 6Med. We created a platform to help people pass the entrance exams and get into medicine.
Fast forward a few years and the videos I was creating started to be geared more towards productivity and passing on the knowledge that got me through medical school. I’d spend every spare minute I had planning the next video, writing scripts or researching ideas.
By 2020 I’d hired a small team to help me run the channel. With their help, I was bashing out a couple of videos a week whilst working as a junior doctor. That’s when the idea of our Part Time YouTuber Academy came to me. I figured all the knowledge I’d gained on this journey would be helpful to at least 10 people, so we launched Cohort 1 of PTYA in November of 2020. Over 350 people joined.
Since then, my business has grown to over 20 employees. We’re a multimillion dollar company, specialising in providing excellent educational content and life-changing courses. My online business allowed me quit my job as a doctor, and build a life I love. Now I spend my time making videos, researching the latest productivity science, and working with our students to help them achieve their dreams.
1994 – 2012
I was born in Pakistan in 1994, moving to Lesotho for a while, before going back to Pakistan. Then I ultimately moved to the United Kingdom with my mother and brother in 2003.
At 12, I learned to code and started earning money as a freelance web designer (this funded my World of Warcraft addiction) – this was my first taste of earning money online. I went to school in Southend-on-Sea, where I also worked as a teaching assistant for a couple of years.
2012 – 2018
After finishing school, I joined the University of Cambridge to study for a Bachelor degree in preclinical medicine and psychology. I started 6med with a friend in 2013. I completed my Bachelors in 2015 and went on to study MBBS at Cambridge, starting this website in 2016, my YouTube channel in 2017 and graduating from Cambridge University in 2018.
2018 – 2020
After graduating from Cambridge, I went to work as a Junior Doctor in the UK National Health Service. I had high hopes of specialising in plastic surgery at the time. 2018 was also when I had my first ‘viral’ success with a video about studying for exams.
I hit 100,000 subscribers on YouTube in 2018, and 1 million subscribers in September 2020 and started publishing courses online to pass on some of the stuff I’d learned.
2020 – 2024
So much has happened in this period. We launched the first cohort of our Part Time Youtuber Academy (we’ve since done another 7), I hired a team to help run the channel, which just exploded (2 million subs in July 2021, 3 million in June 2022, 4 million in April 2023, 5 million in early 2024, and 6 million in December 2024).
I also left my Cambridge flat and moved to London, started the Deep Dive podcast, hired an even bigger team to help manage the business, and I started taking this YouTube as a business stuff seriously, leaving medicine for good and going all in on the creative lifestyle.
In The Media
I’ve been featured in a few places… here are my favourites
