In 2023, amid the rising awareness of AI following the launch of ChatGPT, which quickly captured public attention, new AI startups began emerging, one of which was "The Rundown AI." Initially a platform aggregating AI news and information, it developed into a dedicated AI education platform that has created a significant impact on society.
Behind this platform is a dynamic young man who rose to prominence as one of the most notable new millionaires in 2025, "Rowan Cheung." A Canadian technology content creator, he founded The Rundown AI driven by the belief that AI is causing confusion and rapid change, so the platform aims to bridge the gap by providing easy-to-understand AI knowledge.
Before creating The Rundown, Rowan Cheung's journey began as a student who struggled to grasp lessons in class, leading him to self-study and eventually become a content creator who learned everything through YouTube, rising to a key figure in the tech industry flooded with information.
This article by Thairath Money in theHow to Make Moneycolumn dives deep into the story of AI's future millionaire, Rowan Cheung, who innovated his way onto Forbes 30 Under 30 after dropping out of university to pursue 100% self-learning and quickly built a market-changing business.
Rowan Cheung was born and raised in Canada, living an ordinary life. His dreams evolved over time with societal changes. He once was a professional swimmer but had to end that career due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rowan Cheung enrolled at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, studying Kinesiology, reflecting his athletic background. However, he realized, “I could hardly remember any of the material, even after attending seven times,” he told Forbes in an interview. This led him to make a crucial decision: he immediately dropped out.
After dropping out, Rowan turned to learning through YouTube, which he calls YouTube University—a free platform where he could study anything of interest. He spent time learning content creation, coding basics, marketing, and design to become the content creator he aspired to be.
One day, he discovered the new era technology, AI, which sparked his deep passion and serious study. At that time, few people knew about this innovation. He began posting educational content about AI on social media, and when ChatGPT launched, it was perfectly timed for the world to start recognizing AI. His content went viral, attracting more readers and sponsors.
Seeing the potential to monetize his content, Rowan started recruiting help and expanded by creating a newsletter platform called "The Rundown AI" in 2023, shortly after OpenAI released ChatGPT.
“I'm not someone with a technology background, but I'm a content creator genuinely interested in AI,” Rowan Cheung said in an interview. He spent nearly a year learning coding and design on his own. He was among the first to consistently share AI information with others before many worldwide became aware of AI.
With ChatGPT’s emergence, global awareness and usage of AI surged, followed by rapid development of new AI tools. This led to a massive influx of new information that overwhelmed both the public and experts, causing scattered and chaotic AI knowledge online. This problem inspired the creation of "The Rundown AI" by Rowan Cheung.
Launched in January 2023 as a dedicated AI newsletter platform, The Rundown AI started with zero followers. Rowan’s strategy was to post content on Twitter and social media to drive his existing follower base of about 1,000 people to the newsletter, and then use the platform to direct users back to social media.
From early 2023, within just three months, The Rundown AI’s membership grew to 86,000, increasing at an average rate of nearly 2,500 new members daily. By 2025, the platform boasts over 2 million members, with more than 1.5 million followers across social media, including Rowan Cheung’s personal accounts.
“Our goal is to make complex information easy enough for anyone to understand in five minutes,” Rowan told Forbes.
Rowan Cheung has also expanded into podcasting and interviewed global executives like Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella, and Sam Altman.
He further evolved the business model from content and news alone to launching "The Rundown University," an online education business offering AI courses online and hands-on workshops. The service charges an annual membership fee of about $1,000, covering topics like AI for Design and Agentic Development.
The Rundown AI started as a self-funded startup, generating over $3 million in revenue in 2024, with projections to reach $7 million in 2025. Revenue streams include memberships, AI workshops, and advertising from major global brands such as Google, Salesforce, and Amazon.
This success led Rowan Cheung, at just 25 years old, to be selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 in education in 2025. It is highly likely we will see more young AI-related billionaires emerging in the future.
Source: Forbes [1][2],The Rundown AI,Rare Days,Creator Spotlight
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