For
the
last
eight
months,
David
Cogen
has
been
living
a
double
life.
By
day:
a
YouTuber
and
creator,
the
face
of
TheUnlockr,
reviewing
phones
and
testing
ebikes
and
explaining
how
food
smokers
really
work.
By
night
and
morning
and
every
single
other
available
moment
in
between:
a
coffee
shop
entrepreneur,
working
to
get
a
Brooklyn
spot
called
Coffee
Check
up
and
running.
The
whole
thing
started
late
last
year
and
escalated
quickly.
He
needed
a
new
workspace
after
his
previous
lease
ended,
had
a
business
idea
for
it
that
didn’t
quite
pan
out,
decided
to
repurpose
his
new
space
into
a
coffee
roastery,
and
then
realized
there
was
a
front
door
to
the
street.
Why
not
open
a
cafe,
too?
Coffee
Check
has
been
open
since
late
August,
and
on
the
morning
I
visit,
it’s
impressively
busy
for
a
brand-new
place
hidden
down
an
otherwise
residential
street
in
Greenpoint.
The
space
is
airy
and
open,
with
a
long
counter
and
bar
on
the
right
side
and
a
big
communal
wooden
table
on
the
left.
A
customer
sits
in
a
comfy
chair
in
the
corner,
taking
a
work
call
at
a
surprisingly
high
volume.
There
are
outlets
everywhere,
the
Wi-Fi
is
blisteringly
fast,
and
the
smart
lighting
setup
is
rigged
to
both
look
nice
and
keep
the
indoor
plants
alive.
It’s
your
local
coffee
shop,
designed
by
a
huge
tech
geek.
Cogen
himself
walks
in
at
about
10:30AM,
checks
in
with
the
baristas,
and
then
offers
me
a
tour
of
the
place.
He
walks
me
through
the
coffee
shop,
then
through
a
locked
glass
door
into
the
back
half
of
Coffee
Check’s
space,
which
is
a
fully
functional
production
studio
that
other
creators
and
companies
can
rent
on
Peerspace.
(If
you’re
counting,
that’s
now
three
businesses
he’s
running:
YouTube,
coffee,
and
landlord.)
He’s
particularly
excited
about
the
kitchen,
which
isn’t
something
you
can
usually
find
in
a
rentable
studio
—
and
he’s
set
it
up
so
it’s
easy
to
remove
and
add
appliances,
in
the
hopes
of
doing
some
kitchen
gadget
reviews
on
YouTube.
A
bunch
of
e-bikes,
from
another
video,
sit
over
in
the
corner,
next
to
a
monstrous
Samsung
TV
that
is
for
a
forthcoming
video.
Eventually,
Cogen
leads
me
into
the
podcast
studio,
a
huge
booth
with
a
couch
and
two
chairs
that
he
says
he
got
from
Finland
—
and
got
at
a
discount
by
offering
to
let
the
booth
double
as
the
company’s
New
York
showroom.
(That’s
four
businesses.)
Cogen
sits
on
a
chair,
points
me
to
the
couch,
fires
up
the
Logitech
microphones,
and
starts
telling
me
his
story.
On
this
episode
of
The
Vergecast,
the
second
in
the
two-part
miniseries
that
we’re
calling
“How
to
Make
It
in
the
Future,”
Cogen
tells
the
story
of
how
a
YouTuber
becomes
a
coffee
shop
owner.
We
go
all
the
way
back
to
how
the
phrase
“coffee,
check”
became
part
of
his
brand
in
the
first
place,
then
dig
into
how
he
turned
a
love
for
coffee
into
a
deep
knowledge
of
it
and
what
it
took
to
get
Coffee
Check
up
and
running.
Cogen
has
spent
a
lot
of
time
thinking
about
the
mix
of
content
and
coffee
in
his
life
going
forward.
After
13
years
of
living
the
always-on
creator
life,
there’s
something
romantic
and
slower
about
running
a
local
business.
But
he’s
also
spent
years
filming
his
coffee
for
his
videos;
does
he
aspire
to
be
a
coffee
YouTuber,
too?
And
can
you
make
content
about
your
business
without
becoming
a
content
business
and
changing
the
whole
purpose
of
the
thing
you’ve
created?
Cogen
is
wrestling
with
the
same
things
every
creator
deals
with
—
and
he’s
put
his
money
and
time
into
trying
to
make
it
better.
If
you
want
to
know
more
about
everything
we
discuss
in
this
episode,
here
are
some
links
to
get
you
started:
(Originally posted by David Pierce)
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