# David Perell

> David Perell is a writer, educator, and founder best known for Write of Passage, the online writing course that turned thousands of lurkers into published voices. Armed with 474,000+ Twitter followers and a newsletter empire, he spent six years teaching people to think and write better on the internet - then stopped cold in 2025 when AI upended his mental model of education. He is now figuring out what comes next, in public, as always.

- **Role:** Writer & Founder at Perell.com / Write of Passage
- **Organizations:** Write of Passage, Perell.com
- **From:** San Francisco, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High School Diploma, The Bay School of San Francisco, Bachelor's in Media Studies, Elon University
- **Known for:** Built Write of Passage into a $1.5-2M+ per cohort education business, Grew Twitter/X following to 474,000+, Grew YouTube channel to 100,000+ subscribers

## Career timeline

- **2016** — Graduated Elon University; moved to New York City
- **2016-2017** — Sales associate at advertising agency; dismissed after 7 months
- **2017** — Parents covered rent for one year while he built his online presence
- **2018** — Launched Write of Passage, his flagship online writing course
- **2018-2019** — Grew Monday Musings and Friday Finds newsletters to 70,000+ subscribers
- **2020** — Received Emergent Ventures grant from Tyler Cowen for educational video production
- **2021** — Launched 'How I Write' podcast featuring Sam Altman, Tim Ferriss, Marc Andreessen
- **2022** — Grew Twitter following past 400,000; Write of Passage community spans 70+ countries
- **2023** — Launched Writing Examples platform deconstructing great writers
- **2024** — YouTube channel crosses 100,000 subscribers
- **2024-2025** — Shut down Write of Passage teaching operations after AI-driven existential rethink
- **2025** — Published 2025 Annual Letter; continues writing and podcasting independently

## Achievements

- Built Write of Passage into a $1.5-2M+ per cohort education business
- Grew Twitter/X following to 474,000+
- Grew YouTube channel to 100,000+ subscribers
- Built email list estimated at 8-figures in value
- Interviewed Sam Altman, Tim Ferriss, Marc Andreessen, Seth Godin on How I Write podcast
- Received Emergent Ventures grant from Tyler Cowen
- Write of Passage alumni across 70+ countries launched newsletters and six-figure businesses
- Featured in The Atlantic and The Information
- Known as 'The Writing Guy' across the internet

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Announced stopping Write of Passage teaching after 6 years; AI drove a fundamental rethink
- **2025-01** — Published 2025 Annual Letter covering AI, health, generosity experiments, and business reflections
- **2024-12** — YouTube channel reached 100,000+ subscribers
- **2024-00** — Launched Writing Examples platform for deconstructing iconic authors' craft

## Links

- Website: https://perell.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidperell/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/david_perell
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidPerellChannel
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidperell/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/david-perell
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-23