Have you ever wondered what would happen if turned your weirdest thoughts into reality? Like, what if you made a ham sculpture of Vin Diesel, or had barn animals mow your front lawn? Then you’ve got a lot in common with YouTuber William Osman, who since 2016 has been posting some of the most unique, odd, and amazing engineering content on the entire platform.
“I take a twist on something that everyone’s used to and spend the time to engineer and bring it into reality,” Osman said.
With his growing channel, a backyard of barn animals (he still says he needs to return), a wife, and a new baby, there’s still one more big thing Osman has in the works: the 2024 Open Sauce tech convention.
William Osman’s Wild Ride
To Osman, it’s important to take the wildest ideas and most enjoyable concepts and push them to their absolute limit with his engineering knowledge. According to the creator, his ideation process consists of two thoughts: “Can I do it” and “Am I confident I can implement it.”
He’d love to “build a spaceship to the moon,” but he knows that’s impossible. But figuring out how many pieces of a car you can take off while still having it driving was totally doable.
Those silly ideas have taken Osman to the proverbial stars, earning nearly three million subscribers and partnering with some of YouTube’s biggest creators.
When Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson needed a way to replicate the violent eliminations of Squid Games without the bloodshed, Osman figured out a solution. He’s also collaborated multiple times with Mark Rober, the 51-million-subscriber YouTube scientist, in videos like seeing how much electricity 1,000 lemons can generate or if lava can melt through a car.
Since starting his YouTube journey in 2016, Osman has publicly dealt with his fair share of ups and downs. In 2017, his house burnt down in a California wildfire. In 2021, he openly shared his struggles with mental health. But none of that has stopped him from staying true to his quirky self.
Open Sauce
Last year, William Osman spearheaded the inaugural Open Sauce convention in the San Francisco Bay Area of California for the smartest minds on YouTube in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, programming, and robotics. Creators showed off their latest creations, drum-playing robots, and makeshift go-kart races.
It was a roaring success bringing together fans and creators like Mythbusters’ Adam Savage, Tech YouTuber Nile Red, and Mark Rober — just to learn and connect.
“I wish that I had a community and an environment when I was 15 years old to learn about science and engineering,” Osman said. “It’s a community that doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to get in person and show off things that they’ve done, and meet their favorite creator celebrities.”
Though there were a few hiccups, like forgetting to have water in the creator lounge and one of the bathrooms breaking down, Osman said the attendees’ feedback was they couldn’t believe “how well you guys did for a first-year event.”
So they decided to go back for another year, taking his approach of “trying it 1,000 ways until you get something to work” to make an even bigger convention this time around. This year, it will take place June 14 through 16.
Bringing Silly to Tech
Over the past few decades, the tech industry has molded itself into the vision of humorless CEOS and billionaires, hiding their innovations behind closed doors to keep growth constant and sacred.
While billions were being funneled into NFTs and electric cars, a small but dedicated group of online STEM creators were bringing levity to their work. Though they haven’t made the same return on investment to shareholders, creators like William Osman, Rober, and Red have introduced a whole new generation to their iteration process.
Osman said that he’s hoping to bring less “cringe” and more silliness to the industry that takes itself too seriously with Open Sauce. There will be an industry day this year on June 14, allowing businesses and YouTubers to connect.
While some companies, like YouTube and AI startup Symbolica, are showing up to Open Sauce this year, Osman hopes that more companies will be willing to come and “share some of the funny stuff or mistakes” when creating.
“People have this idea of Jimmy Neutron or Iron Man slapping something together, but in reality, you just bang your head against the table and try it thousands of different ways until something works,” Osman said.
Taking that spark of imagination and bringing it into reality, faults and all, is Osman’s core philosophy. He’s hoping Open Sauce can help inspire the next generation of “engineers in America” and provide them with the resources he wishes he had.
