When you start producing content, especially if you want to be taken seriously, it can be intimidating to think of all the things you need to have or learn in order to have adequate production value.

But when you don’t have production value, what you do have is authenticity, because what you’re producing and showing is the way things actually are, not the way you’ve designed them to appear.

Here’s a clip of Linus from Linus Media Group, which operates several of the largest tech content channels on YouTube, talking about the transition from recording at home to having a dedicated studio space:

watch clip (56s) >>

Interestingly, what Linus calls “production value” in the clip I think would be more accurately termed “authenticity.” But, in the world of YouTube, authenticity is the primary measure of production value.

Here’s a graph I sketched that I think represents what Linus is gesturing at in the clip:

Notice how even after you spend a lot of money to recreate the authenticity that comes for free, you will never completely reach that level again because the new production environment is inherently fabricated.

Now, there is a trust that comes from the establishment of actual production value and a production environment, but I’m not sure that it’s necessarily a greater level of trust than that which comes from real, free authenticity.

And the good news is that right now, with absolutely nothing, you’re already at the peak of the authenticity curve.

So take advantage of it.