Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, PewDiePie originally pursued a degree in industrial economics and technology management at Chalmers University of Technology. In 2010, during his time at the university, he registered his PewDiePie YouTube account. The following year he dropped out of Chalmers to focus on his YouTube channel, much to the chagrin of his parents. Having been refused support from them, PewDiePie began working at a hot dog stand to fund his videos. PewDiePie soon gathered a rapidly increasing online following, and in 2012, his channel surpassed one million subscribers.