How To Go Viral On YouTube Shorts (Just Like Mini Katana)
Studying what made other creators go viral, hiring the right faces and producing short-form content helped scale Mini Katana to several millions of susbcribers
Before Mini Katana became a breakout YouTube success story, it was just a couple of people making sword videos in a warehouse, no team, no scripts, no budget. Today, it’s a content powerhouse with 15 million subscribers, billions of views, and a multi-eight-figure business built almost entirely on short-form video.
But none of it happened by accident.
What looks like “just a fun brand slicing stuff online” was actually the result of a deliberate strategy, one built on testing, storytelling, creator-led content, and a deep understanding of what makes people stop scrolling.
They didn’t rely on luck or flashy budgets. They focused on structure. From hiring their first full-time content creator to producing 90 videos a month, from remixing proven formats to studying retention like a science, every step was designed to make great content look effortless.
This isn’t a story about one viral video. It’s a blueprint for building a brand that doesn’t just sell, it entertains, connects, and scales. And whether you’re just starting out or already publishing regularly, there’s something in here that can change how you approach content, too.
Let’s break it down.
How Mini Katana Turned Familiar Formats Into Breakout Hits
Not every viral hit starts from scratch. In Mini Katana’s case, one of their biggest Shorts, the one that broke a billion views, came from studying what was already working and putting their own spin on it.
They didn’t reinvent the wheel. They made it sharper.
Studying Proven Formats
The team had been paying attention to creators outside their niche, especially Daniel LaBelle, whose fast-paced, physical comedy had built a massive audience. One video in particular stood out: Daniel sprinting around the house trying to clean everything before his mom came home. It was simple. Relatable. Built on stakes and momentum. And it had tens of millions of views.
Instead of copying it outright, Mini Katana remixed the idea: “Speed clean the content studio before the boss arrives.” Same energy. New setting. Their product, the katana, became a natural part of the story, not a forced feature.
When Familiarity Becomes a Strength
This worked because the format was already validated. Viewers didn’t have to figure out what was happening, they were dropped into a clear, fast-paced scene with an obvious goal. That clarity helped the video grab attention quickly, and the novelty of the katana added a fresh twist.
By combining a proven structure with their brand identity, they made something that felt both familiar and surprising. And that’s the sweet spot: content that taps into what people already enjoy, while offering something they haven’t quite seen before.
Why It Performed
Several factors made the video explode:
- It started fast and didn’t slow down
- There was built-in tension (would they finish in time?)
- The action kept unfolding in new ways
- The katana was featured without being sold
The result was a video that didn’t just go viral, it stuck. It was watchable, replayable, and shareable across platforms. And because it was rooted in a story, it didn’t feel like an ad, even though it subtly showcased the product.
What to Steal From This
If you’re creating Shorts (or any content, really), don’t start with a blank page. Look at outliers, videos that overperform in other niches, and reverse-engineer the formula. Then rebuild it with your product or brand at the center.
Make it your own. Raise the stakes. Add personality. And most of all, make it easy to watch all the way through.
Great content doesn’t have to be original. It just has to be original enough.
The Formula Behind Their Viral Shorts
Most people assume virality is a fluke.
Mini Katana treated it like a formula.
They didn’t wait for “great ideas.”
They built systems to engineer them, and then pressure-tested each video before it ever hit upload.
Here’s how they turned short-form chaos into a repeatable machine.
Step 1: Master the Metrics That Matter
Forget likes. Forget shares. They optimized for just two things:
- Average view duration (AVD)
- Swipe-through rate (STR)
Those were the holy grail.
If people watched 90%+ of the video? That was a win.
If 80% of people who saw the video stopped to watch? That was a bigger win.
Step 2: Open Loops, Fast
They weren’t scripting videos like traditional stories.
They were building loops, small, unanswered moments that pulled people forward.
A character rows a boat…
And at second 15, a shark fin flashes onscreen for a split second.
That one visual got 10M+ views, because the comments exploded with “Wait, did anyone else see that?”
They created friction, on purpose.
Questions. Pauses. Teasers. Each one made people stay just a little longer.
Step 3: Keep the Stakes Clear
The best-performing videos answered one silent question:
“Why should I keep watching?”
So they made that answer obvious, through stakes, surprise, or scale.
- Speed-cleaning the studio before the boss gets back
- Can this katana slice through [ridiculous object]?
- You won't believe the color of this new blade
The audience knew what they were about to get, and wanted to see the finish line.
Step 4: Gut Check Before Upload
No video went live without one final test:
“Do you feel satisfied when this ends, or do you still have questions?”
If it felt complete, it usually underperformed.
If it left people unsettled (or curious), it was a keeper.
And here’s the wild part: their best videos weren’t perfect.
They were rough. Chaotic. Unpolished.
But they nailed the structure, and the structure made it work.
Why One Creator Changed Everything for Mini Katana
Before Mini Katana exploded to 15 million subscribers and a reported $10M+ in yearly revenue, it was just two people filming TikToks in a warehouse. There was no full team, no flashy agency, and no multi-creator strategy. Just Isaac (the founder) and Kelly (the creative director), trying to figure out how to make swords go viral on the internet.
They were trying everything. UGC. Testimonials. Skits. But it wasn’t until they hired their first in-house creator that the entire brand shifted. One person, on salary, working 40 hours a week, became the face of the brand. And that changed everything.
People Follow People, Not Products
The internet doesn’t care about logos. It cares about stories. And that’s what Mini Katana leaned into, fast.
They found a creator who genuinely loved the product. Sent him a sword. He made a video. It crushed. So they brought him in full-time.
And suddenly, the content had a heartbeat. It wasn’t just “katana content.” It was his content. His personality. His quirks. His energy. That made it sticky, and consistent.
Instead of relying on dozens of one-off creators filming unconnected testimonials, they built something more powerful: a character. A main cast member. Someone the audience could root for, laugh with, and come back to.
Why 1 In-House Creator Beats 100 Freelancers
UGC still has a place. But here’s why it wasn’t enough for Mini Katana:
- UGC can’t build a narrative
- UGC creators come and go, there’s no thread tying them together
- Audiences crave continuity, they want someone to follow, not just something to buy
By hiring one core creator, Mini Katana did three things right:
- Built Trust - A single face becomes familiar. Viewers start to recognize the person, not just the product.
- Controlled the Narrative - They could shape storylines, run ongoing formats, and create true brand identity.
- Created Aspirational Content - People didn’t just want the sword. They wanted the experience the creator was having.
They weren't just selling katanas. They were selling the feeling of messing around with your best friend in the backyard, slicing bottles and laughing on camera.
How 90 Videos a Month Turned Mini Katana Into a Media Machine
Most brands try to “sprinkle in” short-form content. Mini Katana built their entire engine around it.
In the early days, they weren’t thinking about ad spend, funnels, or even traditional content marketing. They couldn’t. They were selling swords, and platforms like Meta didn’t allow them to run ads for weapons. That meant one thing:
If they wanted attention, they had to earn it.
So they did, by mastering the art of short-form video.
At their peak, Mini Katana was pushing out 90 short-form pieces a month. That wasn’t a typo. Three videos a day. Every day. Across platforms. And almost none of them were directly trying to sell.
Because selling wasn’t the priority, entertainment was.
Why Viral Content Came First
Here’s the thing about product-based content: It only works when people care. And people only care if you’ve given them a reason to.
That’s why 80% of their short-form content was designed with one purpose: Go viral. Reach new eyeballs. Capture attention. No hard sells, no funnels, just good content that happened to feature a katana.
Every video still had the product in frame. They didn’t hide it. But the goal was always bigger: get someone to stop scrolling.
Whether that meant slicing fruit, building challenges, or staging backyard skits, every clip was a Trojan horse. The sword was there, but the entertainment was the hook.
The Formula: 80 / 10 / 10
Here’s how they broke it down:
- 80% = Entertainment-First Content
These were the viral swings. Experiments. Challenges. Weird cuts. Scroll-stoppers. Pure attention grabs. No CTA, no pitch, just fun. - 10% = Product Education
This is where they showed off features. How to hold a katana. How to display it. What makes each model unique. These were slower-paced, made for people already interested. - 10% = Call-To-Action Content
Drops, restocks, “link in bio,” flash sales. These videos were rare, direct, and intentional, used only when they had something specific to announce.
That ratio kept the feed dynamic. Fans never felt like they were being sold to. But they were being entertained, and that trust made sales easier when the moment came.
Shorts First, Always
Even when they were crossposting to TikTok, Reels, or Pinterest, the content was made with YouTube Shorts in mind first. Why?
Because YouTube’s algorithm favored longer view durations and better storytelling. If a short could perform there, it could perform anywhere.
Mini Katana wasn’t just uploading for fun. They were training the algorithm. Consistency taught YouTube who their content was for, and eventually, the algorithm paid them back.
One short went billion-views big. But it wasn’t a fluke. It was the result of thousands of reps, intentional pacing, structured hooks, and a relentless focus on retention.
Because once you master short-form? You’re not just making videos. You’re building a brand, one scroll-stopping second at a time.
How a Small Content Crew Drove Massive Growth
At first, Mini Katana was just two people filming in a warehouse.
But once they realized the limits of what they could do on their own, they did something most brands still hesitate to do: they hired a full-time content creator.
Not a freelancer. Not a UGC contractor. A salaried creative, paid to make videos 40 hours a week.
And that decision changed everything.
One Creator With a Camera Can Outperform 100 Freelancers
Most brands lean on UGC because it’s fast and flexible. But the team at Mini Katana had a different philosophy: people don’t follow products. They follow people.
And they didn’t want to look like a brand. They wanted to feel like a creator.
So when an affiliate sent in a single video that made everyone go crazy, they moved fast. That creator became their first full-time hire. Not because they had the most followers or the best equipment, but because they had a voice.
And that voice gave the brand something UGC can’t: personality.
Why It’s Easier to Tell a Story With One Face
When every video features a new person and a new style, there’s no cohesion. There’s no character. But when your audience sees the same face, day after day, someone they relate to, laugh with, root for, that’s how you build connection.
Mini Katana didn’t just hire creators. They built a cast.
And that cast turned into a crew, with four full-time content creators, multiple editors, strategists, and community managers, all aligned under one goal: make amazing media that happens to feature swords.
Keeping Creators In-House Was the Secret to Speed and Synergy
One of the biggest decisions they made? Keeping their creators in the same location.
That meant ideas could bounce instantly. Scenes could be shot together. Energy carried across videos, because they weren’t sending scripts back and forth across time zones.
The vibe felt real, because it was real.
And as creators became friends, that turned into a running theme in the content: a genuine dynamic built around friendship, goofiness, and inside jokes. Their audience didn’t just want the sword, they wanted the feeling that came with it.
People Bought the Product, But They Stayed for the Crew
Mini Katana’s viewers weren’t just watching people slice watermelons anymore. They were watching Kelly do it. Then Jared. Then Kelly and Jared together.
It became entertainment with a cast of characters, a series you could binge, not just shorts you stumbled into.
And that made it easier to sell.
Because when people feel like they know your team, your content starts to feel less like an ad… and more like an invitation.
Training Your Brain for Virality
Some creators get lucky with a viral hit.
Mini Katana built a system to make it happen on purpose.
They didn’t rely on luck. They didn’t hope something would land. They studied the patterns, built a workflow, and trained their instincts, so that by the time they hit “publish,” they already had a strong idea of what the numbers would be.
This wasn’t gut feeling. It was repetition.
You Don’t Need a Secret Formula, You Need Reps
In the early stages, one person on the team (the future creative director) watched every single short before it went live. Thousands of them.
Not casually. Not in the background. With intention.
What’s the hook? Where are the drop-offs? Is the pacing too slow? Will people rewatch it? Does it spark any curiosity at all?
After reviewing over 2,000 videos this way, you start to notice patterns.
You start to feel the retention curve before the analytics confirm it.
And that’s the skill most creators never develop, the ability to spot a winner before the data comes in.
Why Average View Duration Tells You Everything
The team’s favorite metric wasn’t views. It was average view duration.
They knew that if someone watched 30 out of 32 seconds, it didn’t matter if it didn’t go viral immediately, it would catch eventually. Because good content builds over time. And retention is the signal YouTube trusts most.
Instead of chasing shorter and shorter videos, they pushed the opposite direction, toward 50 to 60 seconds. Long enough to tell a story. Long enough to hold attention. And if you can keep someone watching for that long? The views follow.
Open Strong. Then Keep Opening.
They didn’t just rely on a single hook. Their structure followed this rule:
- Open a big loop in the first second.
- Then open smaller ones every 5–10 seconds.
- Never let the viewer feel satisfied until the video ends.
Whether it was a shark fin photoshopped into a calm ocean shot, or a Katana slicing challenge with a mystery reveal, they used micro-hooks to keep curiosity high the entire way through.
That’s how you get people to watch again. That’s how you get 200% watch time. That’s how Shorts hit 10, 20, even 50 million views.
No One Starts With Perfect Instincts. You Build Them.
None of this came from magic. It came from thousands of hours spent inside YouTube Studio, studying retention graphs, editing sequences, comment reactions, and pacing experiments.
The team didn’t wait to “feel ready.” They posted every day, studied what worked, and refined one percent at a time.
If you’re still stuck guessing what’s going to work, here’s the good news: that’s normal.
But if you want to stop guessing, the fastest way there is to start watching like a strategist, not a viewer.
How Mini Katana Made Characters the Product
Most brands try to tell a story about their product.
Mini Katana flipped it, they made their people the story, and let the product play a supporting role.
That single shift is what helped them go from being “a sword store with cool videos” to a content powerhouse pulling 50M+ views a month.
Here’s how, and why, it worked.
Relatability > Raw Reach
It all started with just two people: Isaac (the founder) and Kelly (the first in-house creator), filming TikToks in a warehouse.
The content was performing, but something was missing, until they hired a second creator and had them shoot together. Not in different cities. Not over Zoom. In the same space.
That tiny decision unlocked something bigger: chemistry.
Once viewers saw real conversations, banter, inside jokes, and reactions between creators, they stopped seeing product videos… and started seeing characters they liked.
And that’s what changed everything.
Why “Faces” Beat Features Every Time
You’ve probably heard “people buy from people.”
It’s true. But in short-form video, people don’t just buy from people, they stay for people.
This is the trap most product brands fall into:
They think the content needs to explain the product. But explanation isn’t sticky. What’s sticky is expression.
Think about it like this:
- A sword slicing through a watermelon is cool
- Two creators arguing over who slices better? That’s entertaining
One is a feature. The other is a format.
Mini Katana turned their product into a playground. It was a vehicle for humor, competition, and storytelling, not the main character.
From Faces to Format: Building Repeatable Content
Mini Katana didn’t just get lucky with one creator.
They turned their casting process into a content strategy. For every new hire, they thought about narrative roles:
- Who plays the “chaotic energy”?
- Who’s the “overly serious” one?
- Who’s the wildcard?
These weren’t random hires, they were characters in a content universe. And that’s what made it scalable.
Conclusion
Mini Katana’s growth wasn’t random, it was the result of daily content, constant iteration, and a clear understanding of what platforms reward. From retention strategies to hiring processes to content that actually converts, the same blueprint was used to build an 8-figure brand, and then repeated again.