The business behind Unnecessary Inventions’ millions of followers

On the dance floor at the Webby Awards in 2023, a very dapper man in a subtle paisley suit came up to me with a huge smile and said “I love your content.” It’s always nice hearing that someone likes your work, but I’d never heard it from someone with an internet presence quite like his. It was Matty Benedetto of Unnecessary Inventions, a creator who has amassed millions of followers across just about every social network by making and displaying all sorts of strange, eccentric, and perplexing gadgets to improve our daily lives.

As I said thank you and tried not to blush, I yelled to Matty that I was trying to launch a video series about creators and “maybe we could link up.” Over a year later, I found myself in the heart of Burlington, Vermont, where Matty lives and works, ready to hear how his videos come together.

As I walked into Matty’s sprawling studio, I was struck by the sheer amount of unique things. There was a wall of 3D printers, an assortment of Supreme collector items, shelves of camera gear and hard drives, and of course many Unnecessary Inventions.

These inventions are what Matty describes as unique solutions to first-world problems. They range from a pair of glasses with built-in sponges that soak up tears to a funnel that catches falling ingredients from a burrito and neatly sorts it into a taco below. It’s these funny creations that have kept folks returning again and again to Matty’s videos for the last five years and helped him build a successful business as a creator.

In this first episode of my new video series that profiles internet creators, I spend a whole day with Matty to figure out how he makes his inventions and how he makes a living from posting about them. Because, as a lover of YouTube, I have always wondered how individual folks can turn the making of silly videos into a full-time job. Tune in to the video above to learn more about Matty’s process, and let me know who you want me to profile next!