According to a story that has often been repeated in the media, Hurley and Chen developed the idea for YouTube during the early months of 2005, after they had experienced difficulty sharing videos that had been shot at a dinner party at Chen's apartment in San Francisco.
Podľa príbehu, ktorý sa v médiách často vyskytoval, Hurley a Chen rozvinuli myšlienku YouTube v prvých mesiacoch roku 2005, keď zažili ťažkosti pri zdieľaní videí, ktoré boli natočené počas večere v Chenovom apartmáne v San Franciscu.