(slow rhythmic music)
(speaking in foreign language)
- [DRock] What?
- I said, but I can definitely tell you this,
DRock's a big idiot. (laughs)
(DRock laughs) (slow electronic music)
You got your perspective. (slow electronic music)
(audience cheers)
I just want to be happy, don't you want to be happy?
(slow music)
- Hi, welcome to The Leaders of Learning Podcast,
I'm your host, Ling Ling.
Joining us is a very special guest, Gary Vee.
Gary Vee is a serial entrepreneur, investor,
a New York Times' bestseller, what else am I missing, Gary?
- Those were all plenty, thank you.
- A whole bunch of stuff.
- Thanks, Ling Ling, it's good to see you.
- And all around, a really cool guy.
- Thank you.
- If you don't know him already, please listen
to this podcast episode, so I've become an entrepreneur
about two years ago, a little baby compared to you,
and of course it's a rollercoaster ride,
as being an entrepreneur.
And I believe a lot of my listeners are also interested,
or thinking about starting their own thing,
so I thought maybe I could take this time
to help my listeners try to figure out--
- Let's do it. - How they start.
So one of my questions I have is, you know,
what is the biggest thing you struggled
with most as an entrepreneur? - Not being able to be one.
You know-- - What does that mean?
- That means that the first 12 years
of my school career were genuinely, and I mean this,
the day I left college to go work in my dad's liquor store,
and really run it, at that point,
because I'd grown up in that store was the,
I can remember almost everything about my last day
in college, driving down Route 95 from Boston
to New Jersey, and that afternoon,
at, like, 6:13, pulling up,
it's funny that I am that specific with my time,
but I remember looking at the car clock.
I spent an hour working in the store before we went home,
and that's, like, literally how my career started.
Like, I loved it so much that after driving
for seven hours, 'cause there was a lot of traffic that day,
from college, that I wanted to work an hour
in the liquor store to, like, start my career.
So the hardest thing for me,
and there's a very specific reason I'm saying this
to everybody, the hardest thing for me,
being an entrepreneur, has been not much
because it is truly, truly my place.
And I do believe that self-awareness is very important,
and so it's hard for me to think about the negativities
of entrepreneurship, because I just genuinely love it
so much, I love when I lose a client,
I love when somebody quits, I love when somebody steals
from me, and I know this sounds weird.
And obviously I don't love when somebody steals from me,
but I'm so grateful to genuinely be doing
what I was meant to do, that it's hard for me
to get going, and, look, entrepreneurship is lonely.
And I think a lot of people, I always wonder,
I think people are a scale, from zero to 100, in everything.
Singing, looks, humor, patience,
I think we go from zero to 100.
I think when it comes to entrepreneurship,
I really genuinely think I'm 100.
I struggle with any of the negativities.
You know, I say that entrepreneurship is lonely,
'cause it is, but I like being lonely.
I like being on a 17 hour flight, like I was today,
and thinking for two, three hours about only negative stuff,
stuff that most people don't want to be thinking about,
this problem, that problem.
So that's my story. - Yeah.
I absolutely agree with you about being very lonely
in the entrepreneurial journey
because everyone has their own ideas,
they want to execute it, but to get people
to follow along with you is not as easy.
So if any of our listeners would like
to start their own business, or become an entrepreneur,
what are the key things they need
to consider first before they embark on that journey?
- Right now, entrepreneurship is cool, it's flashy,
it's exciting, and so the first thing I think they need
to think about is, look, if you're looking to sign up
for this, rest assure that the first five
to six years are gonna suck.
They're gonna be lonely, they're gonna be difficult.
What has made it less suck is,
there's so much capital being thrown at people.
So this is, the reason there's so many people
in entrepreneurship today is, it's very easy,
and I'm gonna use that, it's easy to raise a million dollars
for your idea now, not the case when I was growing up,
not the case after the economy's gonna collapse
inevitably at some point.
So what's happening is people are getting tricked,
'cause they're raising capital,
and they think they're doing well,
but they're burning cash, and the reality is,
they're only in fundraising mode at all times.
And so, A, if they're thinking about it,
recognize that if you're fortunate enough
to be in a family, in a situation
that's gonna allow you to raise capital,
recognize that that is most likely going
to be your vulnerability, it's gonna be feel good up front,
but on the backend, it's gonna be your vulnerability.
And for the people who are listening
that don't have the luxury of raising capital,
recognize that you have an advantage.
You're gonna be forced to actually make money.
And one of the things I'm most proud of is,
the two businesses that I've run,
you know, there was no capital infusion.
There wasn't a credit line, or raising capital
to build WineLibrary.com, but there was a foundation
of the business that my dad have.
But VaynerMedia started in a conference room like this,
with no capital, and I was always forced
to make money, and I think for anybody who's listening,
instead of thinking about raising capital,
you know, why don't you try to figure out how
to make money, but if that's the case,
recognize it's gonna take a half decade
of a lot of grinding.
- Yeah, I remember listening to a talk somewhere,
one of the local entrepreneurs said the best money
to earn is the money from your clients,
and not from your investors,
and that kind of just blew my mind away.
It's like, oh, yeah, that's really true,
'cause in a way, it's a validation from clients, right?
If they're willing to pay for your services or product.
- Oh, gosh, I mean, I couldn't agree more
with whoever said that, I mean, to me,
this will be known as the great era
of people building financial arbitrage machines,
not companies, people are building decks,
and taking meetings with BCs all day,
they're not worried about their product.
I mean, I don't know what else to say,
like, I mean, I just, there's an enormous amount
of bad companies in the world today,
because there's so much capital.
And that will eventually go away.
- Indeed, you mentioned earlier about,
the biggest challenge is not being an entrepreneur.
Do you believe it's, entrepreneur is something
that you're born with, passionate,
or is it something that can be learned?
And if it can be learned, what are the
characteristics of an entrepreneur
that can make them successful?
- I believe that entrepreneurship is similar
to dancing and singing and playing ping pong and basketball.
What that means is, it can be taught.
The problem is, being a successful entrepreneur means
that you how to be good.
- What does that mean, good?
- Good means you need to be able to sustain,
and make money, and not go out of business,
and I don't think everybody is capable of that.
- Okay.
- I don't think that, you know, most people are not capable
of getting paid to sing, forget about being Beyonce,
or Lady Gaga, I mean, can you make money singing
on a cruise ship, or in a bar, or playing local pubs
to sustain your lifestyle?
It's difficult, and I think most people are not capable
of building an entrepreneurial business
that sustains their life.
- But it also sounds like, to be a successful entrepreneur,
you need to be first and foremost a salesperson,
and not just, or singing, or dancing,
'cause people who are singing or dancing,
they love doing that, right? - Yeah.
- But to get money, you need to have sales skills, no?
- Yeah, yes, I mean, you know, obviously,
generating revenue is part of it, and so,
and there are a lot of people who are not capable
of selling, however, she or he can partner
with a salesperson, or hire one, and, you know,
and, you know, if you're the greatest maker
of putting in the world,
and you're gonna have the best product in the world,
and you have a secret recipe from your grandmother,
and you're a hustler, and you want to make a pudding,
but you're petrified to sell to people, you partner
with somebody, or you hire somebody after you raise capital,
or start selling a little bit at first.
So yes, I do think that a singular person,
if they have no partnerships in the beginning,
needs to understand how to generate revenue.
I think these things are teachable,
but I think people need to know that they have a ceiling,
'cause entrepreneurship is a skill,
and in any skill, we have a ceiling.
I can become a much better painter tomorrow
than I am today, I just don't think
I'm going to be an all-time painter.
- Okay, so it's just understanding
and recognizing one's own limits
on how much you want to do?
- And you know what's funny, it's not that I want
to contain things into limits, it's that I want people
to start realizing entrepreneurship is a talent.
Everybody just thinks, like, you say you're one,
and away you go, and they would never do
that with being a professional skier,
or a professional three star chef.
But for some reason, the nature of business is
so inclusive, which is amazing, the problem is,
it got so cool that now we have a whole generation
of people who are forcing themselves
to be entrepreneurs to fit in that just don't have it.
And that's gonna lead to a very scary place,
because what's very amazing about entrepreneurship is
that it's inclusive, what's very devastating
about entrepreneurship is it's not forgiving.
- Why isn't it forgiving?
- Because when you lose, you're out of business,
and everybody knows, you know, your parents know,
the world knows, and you've failed.
And that is tough, because when you're not an entrepreneur,
failure is scary. - Yeah.
- And so that framework leads to depression
and unhappiness, and that needs to be
of the ambition of human beings,
and so I'm a little bit worried that we've over-corrected.
I'm thrilled that entrepreneurship is now viable,
and it's not just, go to college and get a job.
I'm a little concerned that we've over-corrected,
and we have a great generation
of people who are not prepared
for the ultimate loss of public humiliation,
because they're talking a big game now,
I'm gonna build a big company, di di di di di di di,
and when it fails, it's gonna hurt.
- Some people, they are so ingrained
in the idea of, my idea of being a business
and an entrepreneur, and they think it's really big,
it's gonna change the world, but how would
you know if you're ready for the big humiliation
that you're talking about?
'Cause some people are just so big
in their ego, I think my idea is great and fantastic,
and they put a lot of effort in it, and--
- You know, I think anybody who's listening right now,
if you want to set yourself up for success,
ask yourself how much risk you've taken
in the first 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years of your life.
Ask yourself how much you've been succumbing
to peer pressure, like, if you've always wanted to be cool
to the popular kids in your high school, you're in trouble,
because that means you're pandering to a system.
So, you know, I don't know if anybody knows
what they're prepared for,
I think people are way more prepared
for things than they realize, on the flip side.
But yeah, I mean, that's the other thing right now.
We have these spectacular companies,
like Uber and Facebook, and WeChat,
and all these companies that make everybody think
you have to make a game changing, you know,
technology, or things of that nature.
The reality, though, is 99% of people
should
have aspirations to build a business
that does 500,000 a year in revenue, not 500 trillion,
but everybody's trying to build the next Instagram,
and I think that's going to be a problem.
- Yikes, yikes, that's so scary.
Well, talking about Instagram,
you're also of this social media mogul globally.
What do you think, where do you think Asia is going
when it comes to the social media landscape?
Will we see more of the usual suspects,
like Facebook, or Instagram, or shall we see something
a little bit more like podcasting, for example?
- So Asia's an interesting spot, right,
because Mainland China, outside of Russia,
is really one of the few places at scale,
'cause obviously there's Line,
and there's other, Toutiao, there's things,
but Mainland China is the one place,
WeChat, Weibo, that has massive scale in social networks.
It's really been interesting for me
to watch Southeast Asia adapt, US platforms adapt,
Chinese platforms, I actually think Southeast Asia,
as a whole, is one of the most dynamic places
for this conversation, because they're influenced
by both sides,
more than anywhere else I've seen in the world.
So,
you know, I view podcasting as a medium in itself
that is slightly different than the way we think
about social media, but to your point, I do think
that social media has become a broadcasting platform,
which is no different than podcasting.
Look, I think humans want to communicate,
and they always have, and so whether it's written word,
audio, or video, that is what we will always do.
And so I think cultural, contextual nuances always play
throughout the world, we've seen it in cuisine
and in fashion, and we will see it in technology behaviors.
But I think the opportunity
has never been greater for human beings
to take advantage of opportunities in front of them
because of the scale of these platforms.
And obviously, every country has its own dynamics
of censorship, or,
you know, it's, I think Americans are very naive.
They cast judgment on places like China or Russia,
but we have our own versions of it in America,
it just plays out differently.
And so there's a lot of different sandboxes,
a lot of different opportunities.
Some places have more opportunities than others,
some are rigged games more than others,
but the reality is, it's a special time.
- So just broadcast, use whatever medium, depending on--
- Yeah, the good-- - What you want to do?
- The fun thing here is, look,
we don't have to predict the next medium,
we just need to properly use the medium of today.
You know, a lot of people are like,
"Gary Vee, what's next," I'm like, I have no idea.
I've never, ever predicted anything,
I've just been the fastest to move on everything.
- I see, I see.
So if,
if you could offer a first time entrepreneur one piece
of advice, what would that be?
- Don't listen to a soul.
Don't listen to the positive, don't listen
to the negative, don't, you listen to too much positive,
you become entitled and soft, you listen
to too much negative, you become weak and scared.
Don't listen to anything, listen to your consumer.
Not the headlines, not your parents, just your consumer.
- Fantastic, Gary, thank you so much
for being on the show, it's such a pleasure to--
- Thanks for having me.
- With us today, thank you. - Thanks, Ling Ling.
- [DRock] Awesome.
- [Maha] That was great, that was really good.
(DRock mumbles)
- Okay, cool, let me just--
- Yeah, make sure you got it.
- Make sure I got it.
- [DRock] Where's Gary gonna go out tonight?
- [Maha] Yeah, well, he has a phone interview
in four minutes, I'd rather do it than do the meeting,
instead of, 'cause it's a journalist,
it'll take a couple of minute phone call,
instead of going out to do the--
- [DRock] Got it, and then bounce back here?
- [Maha] And then bounce back,
so let's just have the call.
- Are you sending me the information for the call?
- [Maha] We're just gonna do it, WhatsApp,
I'll just give you my phone.
- [Ling Ling] Okay.
- [Maha] Thank you.
- Thank you.
- [Ling Ling] That's all right, I just heard--
- No problem. (overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] We're just talking about logistics.
- [DRock] You're fine.
- [Ling Ling] Cool, cool, what did you think?
- [Maha] It was great, it was really great.
- [Ling Ling] Did I get, did I--
- You were great. (overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] Good questions, they're gonna enjoy the answers,
too, I took good notes.
- [Ling Ling] Yay.
- [DRock] I was looking onto your notes,
pretty good notes.
- [Ling Ling] Oh, Nick says hi, by the way.
- Awesome, thank you.
- [Ling Ling] Do you mind, if we could get a photo--
- Let's do it.
- [Maha] I can take it, you don't have to.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] All right, one, two, three, cool.
- [Ling Ling] All right--
- [Gary] Awesome, thank you.
- [Ling Ling] Thank you so much--
- [Gary] Thank you, so good to see you.
- [Ling Ling] Yeah, good to see you, too.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
Oh, he's looking away. - Oh, let's do it again.
- [DRock] There's a few, and there's a few in there.
- [Ling Ling] There's a few, there's one looking away.
Oh, this one-- - There it is.
- [Gary] You're good, or?
- [Ling Ling] It's a bit fuzzy.
- [Gary] Let's do one more.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
(DRock mumbles)
- [DRock] All right, so one, two,
three, cool. (Maha mumbles)
(overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] It's so nice with the background,
the green background. - I know.
- [Gary] Thank you.
- [Ling Ling] I intentionally put it here, so--
- So good. (Ling Ling mumbles)
- [Ling Ling] Yeah, you're looking at the camera now,
cool, thanks. - You're welcome.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] You want me to help you get this outside?
(overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] So Gary, this is an interview
for Empathy Wines-- - Yep.
- [Maha] Vino M-O-F-O, Mofo--
- Yep, Vinomofo, I know them.
- [Maha] They are having a big event today,
and they have press, and so they've asked us if we can do--
- [Ling Ling] Bye, thank you.
- Bye, so good to see you.
- [Maha] A couple times, we tried to do it
in New York, and it didn't work,
so we streamlined it up just for a quick phone call.
She just wants to ask you a few questions
about Empathy Wines--
- You got it, let's rock and roll.
- [Maha] She's with The Straits Times, yeah.
- [Martha] Hello?
- [Maha] Hello.
- [Martha] Hi, it's Martha.
- [Maha] Hi, how are you?
I'm gonna put you on the line with Gary, I'm gonna take
you off the speaker so it's clear, here's Gary.
- How are you?
I got in a couple hours, I got in a couple hours ago.
And meetings and meetings, and we're off and running.
Happy to do it.
- [Martha] Yeah. (mumbles)
- You know, it's something, you know,
I grew up in the wine business, since I was 14 years old,
so I'm sure, you know, it's always subconsciously been
in my mind, of, like, will I ever have my own brand?
It started getting more serious out of circumstances,
meaning, my two partners, John and Nate,
have worked for me and with me for 10 years or so,
and it, you know, there was a crossroads
in their careers at VaynerMedia,
and the huge emergence of direct-to-consumer brands,
as a trend that I was looking at.
And, you know, being out of day-to-day wine business
for the last seven or eight years, just a lot
of different things happened that made me say,
hey, what would it look like if I started my own brand?
And that's kind of how it started.
- [Martha] Okay. (mumbles)
- You know, John and Nate were easy
because they came to me as interns
when I was doing the wine business.
So they, you know, they were there along the whole way.
It was just a very obvious transition,
when I decided to do it, you know, again,
I decided to do it because they had become
very strong executives at VaynerMedia, and--
(Martha mumbles)
Oh, really? (Martha mumbles)
No, no problem, I'm trying to,
huh, I'm not moving, maybe I'm in a bad spot?
Maybe I'll just move over here for a second.
How about now?
- [Martha] Yeah. (mumbles)
- Okay, so they were just easy,
you know, it was an easy decision,
because they were there the whole time.
And a lot of the reason I started Empathy was
because of John and Nate.
So it wasn't difficult to decide who the work with,
it was right in front of my face.
- [Martha] Yeah, I mean, I think the wine. (mumbles)
- Oh, I apologize, that was very, that was fun.
That was predicated on tasting a lot of wine,
and figuring out which vineyards were sourcing those wines,
and then going and meeting with the vineyards,
and just deciding who I had chemistry with,
and who I most enjoyed working with,
and who really clicked with us personally.
- [Martha] Okay, how did you. (mumbles)
- You know, we negotiated directly
with the vineyards, you know, they're in the business
of selling grapes, so it wasn't hard
to convince them to work with us,
other than I wanted more aggressive pricing
because I wanted to pass that onto the consumer,
and position the brand in the right price point.
So, you know, there was probably eight
or nine vineyards that we got down to,
and then we started doing business negotiations,
and five to six emerged of willing to do it
in the price points that we wanted.
And then we let the growing season play out.
It was unfortunately a difficult year,
because there was some big fires,
so some of the people we were working
with had smoke issues, so that's just kind
of how we got down to our final partners.
- [Martha] Okay. (mumbles)
- No, no, it didn't delay the release,
it just, it eliminated one farmer, specifically,
that I was pretty fond of, unfortunately,
they just had too much smoke damage.
- [Martha] Great, okay, so. (mumbles)
- Yep, that's the right word, you know,
that's the right word, we're making 30,000 cases,
10,000 cases of each flavor, red, white, and rosé.
- [Martha] Okay, but you chose. (mumbles)
- 'Cause it's ready the soonest, so it's all
from the same vintage, and the release
of rosé, then white, then red is completely predicated on,
you know, how long it has to stay in barrel,
and which wines are ready the soonest,
and things of that nature.
- [Martha] Yeah, okay, and what were you. (mumbles)
- The biggest thing I was paying attention to was,
could we make it delicious, like,
I think people over-complicate wine in the business,
they try to get too nerdy, too complicated,
too scientific, too artistic.
I'm very basic, can I make a wine that the person
that drinks it thinks is downright delicious,
and wants to drink more of it.
- [Martha] Okay, and would it. (mumbles)
- You know, that's funny you say that.
There was thoughts I had, that I want to use,
for example, for the rosé, I thought
I was gonna skew more towards pinot noir and Grenache,
we ended up using more Syrah and Cinsaut.
So, you know, one of the things I'm always trying
to be careful of is trying to make decisions up front
that don't play out in reality.
So there's this series of seven to 10 different grapes
that could have been used, and then we just tasted
and blended, and then wherever delicious came out,
we worked backwards, there was no emotion
to use more pinot noir and less, you know,
cabernet, you know, it was just,
what were the best varietals, the best blend
of them to produce the style
of wine that we were looking to make.
- [Martha] Okay, and how involved were
you in the process? (mumbles)
- Oh, I basically made the decisions, like,
I didn't want to put anybody, like,
I didn't want to put anybody in a vulnerable spot
in year one, if it wasn't gonna work,
I didn't want to blame John, or Nate, or anybody else.
So I was, you know, it's funny, we have the footage
of the blending sessions.
I think people would be flabbergasted how much
I was driving the boat, I have a very distinct understanding
of what the consumer wants to drink, and I definitely,
out of all the, out of all the things
that have been involved with Empathy,
the actual wine is probably the thing
that I've been most aggressive about.
Which makes me laugh because
I think the outside perception is probably,
that's the thing I'm probably least paying attention to,
and the business, and the marketing.
But the reality is, I was very, very involved
in the wine itself.
- [Martha] Yeah. (mumbles)
- Yes, (laughs) yes.
(Martha mumbles)
Yes, for sure.
- [Martha] Yes, well, what do you want people to. (mumbles)
- I want them to be surprised how good it is,
honestly, that is my, you know, look,
when people drink wine, they feel a lot of things,
either excitement, sorrow, I mean,
there's a lot of things out of my control that,
when people are drinking wine.
What is in my control is them being flabbergasted
and surprised by the quality, and we did set out
to produce $40.00 to $50.00 wine for $20.00.
That is a very big goal of mine,
and the feedback so far has been remarkable,
and I think it's because the wine's
just been a lot better than people thought it would be.
- [Martha] Okay, how much have you moved already?
- I think the, I think maybe, let,
I want to, let's make sure we give you the right number
because I don't want to give it to you wrong,
but I think we're about 9,000 cases in, at this point.
I mean, the white and the red aren't even out yet,
so there's only so much we can do.
- [Martha] How many did you say?
- 9,000.
- [Martha] 9,000?
- Mm-hmm.
(Martha mumbles)
So in the US, it's completely 100% direct-to-consumer,
but internationally, the cost would have been too expensive
to ship individually, and since I've known the Vinomofo guys
for a long time, I just felt like I was comfortable making
that partnership, and we took a pretty substantial,
you know, hit financially because we had
to still create the integrity of the price
for the end consumer.
So that's how we ended up doing it in that scenario.
So to your point, it's obviously direct-to-consumer
in the US, but it is not direct-to-consumer internationally,
because we need a retail, or a distribution kind of partner.
- [Martha] Okay, just wanted to check.
- Yeah.
- [Martha] And. (mumbles)
Yeah. (mumbles)
- For the wine? (Martha mumbles)
It's-- (Martha mumbles)
It's 'cause Vinomofo had the capabilities,
and because I have an office here, and I'm here a lot,
and so it's just a good market for me.
And so it was exciting to be able to offer it here.
- [Martha] And when can we expect the. (mumbles)
- The white comes out in a month,
and the red comes out in September, October.
(Martha mumbles)
What's that?
- [Martha] Are you excited--
- Oh, very.
Very, I mean, I've been looking forward to this for years,
so I'm very excited.
All right, they're grabbing me,
I have to run to this other meeting, thank you so much.
- [Martha] You're welcome.
- All right, bye-bye.
- [Photographer] Oh, boy, these chairs are really hard
to get out of--
- [Interviewer] So you don't need me in the picture,
you need only the important person here. (laughs)
- [Photographer] Yeah, I think this should be--
- [Interviewer] All good?
- [Photographer] Yeah.
- [Interviewer] Okay, all right, mate.
Should we, should we kick-- - Let's do it.
- [Interviewer] So let's start
with a bigger picture question.
Who are your industry heroes,
'cause you're an industry hero to a lot of people,
who-- - Oh, boy.
This is gonna be a tough one, and so,
and I'll tell you why, I don't like the answer,
but it's the honest answer, the answer is really nobody.
And I feel like the reason I don't like it is,
when I hear myself even say it,
there's a level of audacity, but here's the truth.
I am a complete byproduct of a very simple framework.
My parents are my heroes, and the consumer is the only thing
I've ever spent my time on.
You know, I don't really read a lot of book, any books,
I don't consume others, I'm,
I'm obsessed with consuming, people consuming.
So, you know, I admire, or I could go the other direction,
I admire anybody who is able to operate
and sustain a business, because I know how difficult it is.
So,
but that is the truth, it's very ironic,
because I'm very aware of, like, what I'm doing
with my own behavior, and what it's manifested,
but I think a lot of that has to do
with how much I care about the end consumer.
And so it's a little meta that way.
So please, let's make sure the tone
of that audacious answer is caught,
because I always struggle with that question.
Even the last couple of years, I'm like,
man, maybe I should start, like,
paying attention to, but the truth is,
that is what I spend all my time on,
which is the end consumer.
And so the end consumer is my hero, my obsession,
what I spend my time on.
- [Interviewer] Excellent, okay, and let's talk
about Singapore, you got, you're opening up your--
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] HQ here in Singapore, so tell me, you know,
why Asia, why now, what's going to be the focus,
in terms of geography, and in terms of the products,
and the clients you're going for?
- So when I started VaynerMedia, I had one mission,
which was to build a global communications framework
in the form of a client service business,
to allow me to take advantage of global economic downturns,
and to buy businesses and brands,
and then run them through that machine, so.
Every single part of the world isn't inevitable, you know,
the answer to why now is far more circumstantial
because I want to be everywhere.
When and if and how we pop up
with offices is predicated a little bit more
around casting, and in being intuitive,
and client dynamics, and opportunities.
So a perfect storm of Avery and Jeff Nicholson,
a perfect storm of Risa, who grew up in the area,
a perfect storm of me coming out
and doing some keynotes here and building up profile,
a perfect storm of major Fortune 500 clients
that we're servicing well in London and the US asking,
like, hey, are you in the region?
Hiring a CFO who spent, you know,
five to seven years in the region gave me confidence.
And then probably in the last half decade,
the very obvious nature of, okay,
Asia is, like, forever, like, this is it,
like, this is gonna be a very major push, so.
Macro, inevitable, micro, circumstance-ion.
- [Interviewer] Okay, so it's not just pins in a map,
really, for you guys, but how deeply will you, personally,
be involved in the Asia office?
I mean, you're a brand within a brand yourself, right?
You're probably going to have to be here fairly often
for it to make a bang in the beginning, what's the plan?
- The plan is, every
eight to 12 weeks, so I don't feel like I have to be here
that, that much.
I'd prefer to be here more.
But I'm giving you that answer
because I think that's gonna be the actual truth,
instead of my ideology of every six weeks.
And so, you know, look, we service Fortune 500 companies,
these are global companies, so a lot of times,
decisions are being made in other places
that will impact our business here.
But I want to be here, in general,
as a human, I'm interested, and there's so much going on.
So, you know,
I'm gonna be thoughtful about it,
and then obviously we think a lot about,
you know, I think a lot about, what does this mean,
as a whole, for Mainland China, Australia, Korea, Japan,
and so there's a lot of dynamics playing out in my head.
And obviously I'm able to distribute
and create content all over the world
from wherever the heck I am.
We're filming this right now, it will be consumed
in Europe, and Canada, and South America, and so
that is the beauty of the internet.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, absolutely, and so no plans
to move to Singapore--
- Not personally, there's only one place on earth
that I can live, New York City.
- [Interviewer] Near the Jets?
- Near the Jets, by the way, that is incredible,
I am not joking, that is the actual reason.
- [Interviewer] Is it? (laughs)
- That is the actual reason.
- [Interviewer] I thought it might be, I saw the--
- It is the actual reason.
- [Interviewer] Yeah, yeah.
- I don't even want to, I don't even,
like, consider LA for that reason, you know?
- [Interviewer] Got you, okay, so let's talk
about what's next, you've done wine,
you've done marketing, or you're doing marketing.
You're doing social media, you've done book publishing.
What is next-- - I will be--
- [Interviewer] A TV show on Netflix?
I mean, where is it going?
- I will definitely be the CEO of a consumer packaged good,
100%, I will buy a brand, it will happen.
- [Interviewer] Interesting.
- That is the, that is the reason I set up the global,
you know, infrastructure, is to buy a brand
and run it through that machine,
and when I do that, I will promote somebody
from within to be the CEO of VaynerMedia,
and I will be the CEO of Snickers, or
Pellegrino Water, or a deodorant, or a shampoo.
And it will be an iconic, known brand,
because otherwise, I would have just started something
from scratch, I am unbelievably passionate
of taking a nostalgic brand and rebooting it,
or, in the framework of my international strategy,
taking a brand that is an icon in Southeast Asia,
and introducing it to the US, or vice versa.
And so a lot of why I want to do this is, you know,
I'm very fascinated by that crossover in a global world,
and that arbitrage.
And so that will definitely happen.
- [Interviewer] Okay, well,
that would be a completely new model, I mean,
so I guess it's similar to Samsung and Cheil,
but it is a new model.
I wanted to talk to you about new models--
- Please.
- [Interviewer] In the agency world,
given that Accenture has now bought--
- Droga. - Droga5.
And where do, where do you think it's going?
I mean, are you, do you see a new model emerging,
or are you just out there to create your own one?
- Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't really,
you know, I assume, and this could be wrong,
'cause I haven't put a lot of homework to it,
but, you know, Accenture getting into the game so big,
and others, like, banks,
bigger versions of the banks
that have run this industry seems inevitable,
so I look at these, you know,
these consultancy firms as just WPP and Omnicom 2.0.
They have the same energy, there's the same M&A strategy,
they're the same damn thing.
They're short-term economics, arbitrage,
which is amazing, and that's fine, I have a lot of respect
for it, as a businessman, for me, I'm trying
to build an evergreen communications platform
to then run all my agendas
for the next five decades through, whether that's political,
social, and definitely business and financial.
And so I know that I'm creating a very unique,
I almost look at what we're doing in this time,
in the agency landscape, as the chess move
to what I'm actually doing.
So since it's not the place that I'm really looking
to make my economics, what has happened is,
and this is absolutely true, on the record,
I've stumbled into, this was no master plan,
I've stumbled into actually being consumer-centric,
actually being aligned with my clients,
actually being in client services
because I'm not trying to maximize my EBITDA off of them.
I'm trying to become them, thus I'm testing my best work
with them, to then give me triple context
and confidence to do it for myself.
And so somehow, miraculously, through serendipity
and karma, when you're up to the right thing,
I think we're creating a very unique concept
that I'm hopeful inspires copycats,
because I think it would be very healthy,
because I think we are absolutely living
through a very difficult era, where the scrutiny
to agencies from brands is very appropriate.
However, brands need to look at themselves
in the mirror and realize, you get what you pay for.
You know, they continue to pick one, or,
they think moving from one holding company
to the other is gonna mean something.
And they've,
it just, it's a very,
it's a very, you know, I compare it to what I saw,
I was an early investor in Uber.
I compare the current landscape
of the industry, similar to the taxi business in New York.
There was, the taxi medallion owners had a monopoly,
and thus, the consumers, us New Yorkers,
did not love the product because there was a monopoly,
and it was just one bad ecosystem.
And then, you know, in, for, you know,
there's a lot of scrutiny on Uber and Lyft and all that,
but for whatever it's worth, I think everybody understands
that transportation is much better in the globe today
because it led to scooter innovation, and many other things.
And I think that's about to happen in this industry.
I think the agencies aren't happy, the clients aren't happy,
the employees of agencies are extremely unhappy.
It's not healthy, and a couple people made a lot of money,
and I think
I would be very grateful if we were able to leave a legacy.
You know, it's very funny we're having this conversation.
Today there was an article written,
I haven't done a Wine Library TV episode
in eight years, today, there was an article written,
The Guy That Broke Wine, and it was a very in-depth article
of what I did with Wine Library TV,
and how I changed that industry.
And it, and I was on this 17 hour flight, and I was like,
I'm gonna change the advertising industry, too.
- [Interviewer] So if you break advertising, what's,
what then is the end goal, is it,
is it an IPO, is it an exit, or?
- It is for it to be a standalone business
in perpetuity, I may even, I may even write it
into my will, if I get ideological enough about it.
- [Interviewer] So never going public?
- No, definitely not while I'm running it,
because I'm incapable of being a public CEO.
I have no interest in prepping for a call every 90 days.
(Gary laughs) (interviewer laughs)
- [Interviewer] One more question, okay,
we'll make it count, so let's talk about Instagram
and Facebook, and your videos in the various guises.
Is that all brand building-- - Yes.
- [Interviewer] For you and your companies, or?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] It is, or is it giving back, or is it--
- Oh, yes. - Entirely?
- Yes.
- [Interviewer] How do you see that?
- Both.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- Yeah, I think, I think you've got it clearly pegged.
It's an incredible opportunity for me to leave a legacy,
by disproportionally bringing value.
There's a reason I've become who I've become.
Very few people are trying harder to actually bring value
to the end audience with no expectation in return than me.
I've done that, you know, it's funny.
This is a very meta conversation.
The Gary Vee thing has a lot to do with the same reason
I think VaynerMedia's gonna be a thing.
When you build an infrastructure and a strategy
and a framework that doesn't put you at odds
with your consumer, you win.
And it's very hard to do that in business.
- Especially if you have shareholders.
- Yes, and especially if you're an Instagram influencer
who pays their rent based on them saying,
and now buy this, and now buy this,
and now buy this.
I've allowed myself to not monetize
from my audience, which has made me more valuable
to my audience, so I am able to leave legacy and give back.
At the same token,
which is why I was so transparent in saying yes and yes.
Of course it builds brand, people are humans.
Like, if somebody has a 17-year-old daughter
that's gotten unbelievable value from me,
but they also happen to be the CMO of a company,
that's gonna make them look at me slightly different than if
I didn't bring value to their 17-year-old daughter.
Not that that means that they're gonna give us business,
but it at least creates a framework of,
like, okay, he knows something.
And so it's a very, very,
listen, there's no business deal I'll ever make
that is going to feel better than a DM
from somebody who says that they are happier,
or you've changed their life.
So it's a lot of fun, I enjoy it tremendously.
And there's another thing that matters to me quite a bit,
there's not a CEO in the advertising landscape
who is within a country mile
of actually being a practitioner in doing creative
and media of me, and I take a lot of pride in that.
- [Interviewer] Absolutely.
- I'm very thrilled that I'm in every boardroom
where I'm an actual doer and maker
and distributor of, with a purpose, which gives
me a disproportionate competitive advantage in a room.
And I love that.
- So you've got the macro
and the granular at the same time--
- Just don't be in the middle.
- Can I squeeze you for one last question?
- Yes, you can, you can. (overlapping chattering)
- Great, great.
Okay, last, so here we are in Singapore.
What I'd like to know is, why Singapore,
why not Shanghai, or Hong Kong,
and why aren't you going to China?
I think you read that you were--
- I'm super excited about going to Mainland China,
I'm just also, have the great fortune
of being born in the former Soviet Union,
and so the cliche, naivety, and audacity
that an American businessman or woman usually enter China
with is not going to be my narrative.
So I'm going to thoughtfully build a ton
of leverage in the greater Southeast Asia area,
take advantage that I'll be here quite a bit,
and continue to pop into Mainland China,
and build my leverage with the KOLs,
I continue to produce content on Weibo and WeChat.
And when I feel appropriate, then we'll go and do it,
you know, a merger, or an M&A, or a partnership,
or whatever finally then feels appropriate.
So my ambitions for Mainland China are enormous, and--
- [Interviewer] But you'd go--
- I just want to-- - Acquisition, rather than--
- You have to. - Yeah, yeah.
- You have to, and then the Hong Kong,
Singapore thing is serendipity,
it could have been either one,
it could have been either one. (slow electronic music)
Oh, boy.
- How are you doing?
- Fine, it's just up for fucking 27 hours in a row.
- [DRock] I can't believe you turned the wifi on.
- I slept seven hours, I felt great, but I just,
I just thought I was gonna sleep the last two hours
of the flight, and then two hours here, and instead, I.
- Gary, what's going on, how was your meeting?
- Our meeting was super productive,
you were stunned you got through everything.
I wasn't stunned, because I don't complicate meetings.
- Yeah, he is, he's easy. - Right, It was like,
yes, yes, yes, yes. - Don't overthink shit.
- All right, let's go do this, so what am I doing?
I'm speaking now?
- [DRock] You're going to a meeting, right?
- Oh, right, let's do that.
Thank you--
- [Maha] That was great.
(man in green shirt mumbles)
- How are you?
- I hear so much about you. - Thank you.
- Can I take a picture of you, please?
- Sure. - Thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
- Okay, wait, sorry, sorry, hold you back.
Here, I'm still, can I pass,
take a picture of me, thank you.
- [DRock] One, two, three, okay.
- [Man In Green Shirt] Thank you very much.
- [Gary] Nice to meet you.
- [Man In Green Shirt] Do you do autograph?
- Sure. - Okay, let me.
- Gary, I miss you in Vegas. - Yes.
- So I had to fly to come here to my meeting.
- Is that right, how are you?
- We just came here for a meeting.
- [Gary] How are you?
- We just won a global award together,
our agency-- - Congratulations.
- Can I just take a-- - Yes, sure.
- So we didn't miss out after all.
(overlapping chattering)
You talked on the-- - Amazing.
- By the way, all of our team is based in Belarus.
- No kidding? - Yes.
- That's unbelievable, that's awesome.
- [Man In White Shirt] Good, good to meet you.
- Thank you.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
Take care.
- My name is Edmund. - Spell it?
- E-D-M-U-N-D. - E-D?
- M, M-U-N-D, yes.
Thank you very much. - Thank you, take care.
- Nice to meet you. - Take care.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
- [Maha] Okay, so.
Let's see.
Okay, there's only four questions.
Okay, I tend of find entrepreneurial life
to be a very lonely place because of the hours of work
and lack of social life, it gets to one after a while.
How do you avoid that?
- You're in control of your life, like,
if you are not socializing enough, socialize.
You know, this whole notion that there's some sort
of right is crazy, there's only what's right for you.
And so if you're feeling this month
that you need to socialize more, socialize more.
If you feel this month that you need to go harder,
because there's this crazy opportunity,
do that, everybody looking for this balance is crazy.
'Cause balance is individual, and so for me,
be accountable, like, you're in control.
Sometimes I go super duper hard, other, you know,
I've been sleeping a lot more in the last 18 months than
I have the prior four years, 'cause I just felt
that was appropriate, so you're in control.
- [Maha] A lot of battles come your way
when you're trying to succeed,
I see we both tackle them head on, but
sometimes it makes it seem abrasive to the people around us.
How do you deal with that?
- Well, I'm abrasive on camera,
because I'm not actually speaking to a human being,
I'm speaking to the masses.
I think something that you would probably find unusual,
but the people that actually know me,
know to be true is, I'm actually stunningly not abrasive
in real life, one on one, with anybody.
So I don't have to deal with it.
How do you deal with it, empathy, understand
that there's truth, and radical candor can be delivered
with honey, it doesn't have to be delivered with vinegar.
In real life, I deliver with honey.
In camera life, I deliver sometimes
with a little bit more vinegar.
That's how I do it.
- [Maha] Biggest thing to watch out for
when you're trying to monetize your social media brand?
- The number one mistake that people make
when they're monetizing their social media is,
they get too caught up in the monetization,
and they've lost the balance of providing value,
and the occasional ask.
To me, it's a seesaw, and you need to keep it balanced.
And so when you start monetizing, a lot of times,
people get the high of the monetization,
and become so selfish that they lose the selflessness
that is required in balance to be a productive individual
in the current social media landscape.
- [Maha] Last question, is there still room
for digital growth and new talent with the rising costs
of ads, both on Facebook and Instagram?
- The rising costs of Facebook and Instagram is still
so disproportionately under-priced
that there is an extraordinary amount of room
to still be had in growth, not to mention,
once it's appropriately priced,
no different than, let's say, Google AdWords,
then you still can win on that platform,
if you're the best.
We're coming out of the era where anybody,
no matter how good or bad they are,
were getting successful on the back
of Facebook and Instagram,
'cause it was egregious how under-priced the ads are.
Now they're just a screaming deal, then they'll be a deal,
then they'll be appropriately priced,
and in all those eras, there's opportunity.
It's just, as it becomes more appropriate,
you just have to be that much better,
because it's one game of supply and demand.
(slow electronic music)
- I wanted to talk to you about--
- I think it's gonna go to 40 in the next six months.
- Really?
- I think basketball cards are grossly under-priced,
and once they become global, 'cause basketball's global,
but the demand, I think it's gonna be--
- I saw you posted, you're looking
for pre-1980 basketball cards.
- I am, I think vintage basketball is the big arbitrage.
And most of my weird stuff, like, there was Sugar Daddies,
you know, like the, they had stats of cards
in '73, '75, and '75.
- You want to, I'll give you a little tip.
- Give me a tip.
- Estate sales, you know, when people have,
like, storage, and they don't know
what's in that storage, and then they open,
they find treasure troves of stuff--
- You know this is like my main--
- That's, like, your main thing, you've gotta start--
- You know what I'm really into?
You know what my new thing is, books,
I want to buy old books, and then carefully go
through every page, remember when we found the love letter?
- Vintage books?
- [DRock] Oh my God, the letter.
- There's crazy stuff--
- That people put in books?
- Uh-huh.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, so-- - Like cash.
- Olympic training pins, so I went to the Olympics,
and then we discovered, like, there's a whole thing
around trading Olympic pins, and then--
- You saw that episode, right?
(overlapping chattering)
Is that true? (overlapping chattering)
- In 1996, I was working for General Mills--
- Atlanta?
- I got, yeah, I won a Chairman's Award,
you get two tickets to go to the Olympics.
So I took my dad, my dad didn't attend any of the games,
he was out trading pins the entire time.
- That's amazing.
- And he spent four days of the Olympics,
didn't watch any sporting events,
but you should see our collection.
That's what I'm telling you, I'm into Olympic training pins.
So I have his coveted collection, I didn't see that.
No, I saw the pony, the MyLittlePony thing.
- Oh my god, literally, in New Zealand.
(slow music)
- [DRock] Oh, man, when he was locking the other pins.
- [Announcer] And the Calgary Olympics, this large pin,
it can go anywhere from 30 to 50 bucks.
- I can't wait to show you my collection.
- That's the--
- [Gary Voiceover] All right, guys, we struck again.
This is insane, I just bought a ton
of Olympic pins, he wanted to a buck apiece,
I got the whole collection.
- Oh, yeah, that comes in the case.
- [Gary Voiceover] One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14--
- It's the best part.
- [Gary Voiceover] 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 pins.
And the first thing, he wanted $1.00 apiece,
I paid 20 for the whole thing. - Are you kidding me?
- I paid 20 for all these, $20.00.
- That's gold. - Gold.
- What'd you do with it?
- Sold it for 2,000.
- You did? - Yeah.
(video on phone chatters)
- Well, what you gotta do is you gotta go to the games.
There's, like, a whole thing set up at the Olympic Games--
- I know the whole thing.
- [Gary Voiceover] No Starbucks, though,
that's a good opener for the next family.
Give me the, give me the pins.
I just bought-- (overlapping chattering)
- That's insane.
- [Gary Voiceover] Olympic pins, and I mean, hundreds
for 20 bucks, he wanted $1.00 apiece,
the first sheet had 44, I paid 20 for it all.
Monday Night Football--
- And then you looked up and see the value?
- [Gary Voiceover] How many are there, Ty,
can you count them? (Ty mumbles)
Yeah, just literally, two of the pins.
- [Ty Voiceover] There's a lot of pins.
- I love these episodes.
- [Ty Voiceover] That's about as--
- [Gary Voiceover] Unpromising as it gets, yeah.
Come on, let's go get the, it'll be good content.
- [Ty Voiceover] You want to get out there?
- [Gary Voiceover] Yeah, come with me. (mumbles)
Jesus Christ. (Maha and Gary laugh)
- Oh, this was a good one.
- [DRock] Yeah, the Hot Wheels, the old Hot Wheels.
- Oh, I lost my mind.
- How do you know what's junk and what's good?
- I've been doing this for 25 years.
- Really? - Mm-hmm.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- [Gary Voiceover] Maybe seven, I'll take these for two.
- And you're negotiating.
- Oh, yeah, I kill people.
- [DRock] Have you not watched them?
- No, I watched them, but I'm like, sometimes these.
- [Gary Voiceover] She did it for five bucks,
and it's super vintage matchbox.
- I thought this was worth so much more.
- [Gary Voiceover] But it's worth a lot.
Holy shit, Ty. (background noise drowns out speaker)
Last box, it's been a car day.
(overlapping chattering)
245 pins.
- 245 pins.
- [Gary Voiceover] Just show you this,
I can just guarantee-- - That was a good one.
- [Gary Voiceover] A matchbox, B controller X7, I knew it.
Just-- - You're gonna give--
- [Gary Voiceover] Look, just, I mean,
there's a whole slew of stuff in here, just the,
this one single controller, 60 bucks.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
(group laughs)
30.
- [Ty Voiceover] Wow.
- Wow. (laughs)
(overlapping chattering)
- [Gary Voiceover] 15 to 30, 15 to 30.
Guys, is there any more, no, there's a whole box--
- Guys, you don't even want to know.
- [Gary Voiceover] I had it for five.
- Got the whole box for five.
- We gotta do you, like, an international version,
where you go to.
We should create a trading application.
- [DRock] Steve, have we inspired you
to go garage sale-ing?
- [Gary] Oh my god, the Zelda got a bid, 64 bucks.
- [Maha] Wait, wait, wait, wait.
- [Gary] I bought this for three bucks.
- [Maha] Zelda got a bid for 63.99.
- [DRock] Wow.
- [Maha] Plus $6.00 shipping.
- [DRock] For three bucks, he bought it for three bucks.
- [Gary] Nerf guns.
- [Maha] How are your MyLittlePonies, doing,
I mean, Nerf guns-- - 15 bucks.
- [DRock] Wow.
- [Gary] For just--
- [Maha] I bet the guys in the office are having fun--
- [Gary] $9.00 on one Pony, bid.
- [DRock] Wow.
- [Maha] Wow.
- [Gary] Oh, the mom and dad mugs got a dollar.
A dollar, milk, milk mugs are on fire.
- [Maha] There was a really cool mug that you got,
the Strawberry Shortcake, I used to have that
when I was a kid. (overlapping chattering)
Where, did that sell?
- [Gary] Well, we've gotta see if there's bids.
The,
the. (overlapping chattering)
Yeah, Disney thing, 20.
- [DRock] How much is that worth?
- [Gary] Three.
- [Maha] Ooh, the husky with the--
- [Gary] Oh, yeah.
(overlapping chattering)
Got a bid. - Got a bid?
- [Gary] Mm-hmm.
- [Maha] I used to have that mug.
- [Gary] Yeah, this mug is classic.
- [Maha] All that retro stuff makes you feel good.
- [Gary] I agree, oof, three bids on this.
- [Maha] What is it, oh, it's a Nintendo.
(slow electronic music)
- And so let's get the ball rolling.
So, like, why are you doing, what you are in Singapore for?
- So I have a, I have a speech today,
but in the macro, we're opening our office
for VaynerMedia here in a couple of months.
And so
I'm gonna be here quite a bit over the next several years,
working with Avery and the rest of the team
to establish the office, and so,
yeah, I'm just gonna be here a whole bunch.
- Cool, I got, probably you get asked this question a lot,
but I did, like, a, you know, call to the WeWork team
in France, and to consolidate your questions.
But one of the questions, you probably have answered it,
like, have you ever gave any advice
without using profanities? (Gary laughs)
(audience laughs)
- Yeah, you know what's funny is,
really, public events bring out more of my cursing.
I think I was so affected by Richard Pryor
and Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock,
I was such a big fan of standup comedy that it,
subconsciously, I think blend into my brain.
And so when I started speaking,
which didn't happen until I was in my mid-30s,
so I never even, like, saw that as something
I would ever do, I mean,
I was running a wine E-commerce and retail business.
I remember my mom watched, like,
one of my first speeches, she said, like,
"What the fuck is that?" (audience laughs)
And I was like, "Yeah, I don't," so.
- Do you stop cursing when you drink your wine,
or how does it? (laughs)
- No, I get sleepy when I drink wine, so, no,
I can give plenty of advice without cursing.
- Okay, that's cool, that's good to know.
So having worked with so many entrepreneurs,
and maybe seen in your travels that,
are there any, like, similarities wherever you go,
or differences, especially here in Asia?
- Yeah, I mean, you know, it's funny.
What I really recognize in Asia,
and as everybody here knows, especially if you're here,
it's just like anything else.
There's so many subcultures, it's tough to bucket,
especially, you know, if you think about Southeast Asia,
there's so many different, using a wine term.
(speaking in foreign language)
There's nuances, but I will say that the
kind of
raw entrepreneurial spirit
in Asia feels exciting to me, you know, I think,
I think that,
you know, Europe doesn't have it at all.
I think America's version of it right now
is a little interesting,
from the standpoint of, there's just so many people
that want to be entrepreneurs, 'cause it got cool,
that we're living through a really interesting time.
But there's,
there's a mix of anxiety and opportunity
in the Asian market that I think has a little bit
of a raw entrepreneurial spirit that is very attractive
to me, like, I feel like there's,
there's a lot of opportunity,
and a lot of ambition, and I think a lot of,
you've got the first generation
that's kind of breaking away from what their parents want
them to do at scale, to do entrepreneurship,
which has a really intriguing dynamic to it.
So the similarity is, at its most pure,
I think entrepreneurs aren't scared,
and that is the one core thing.
And I think the reason I'm aware
that we're living through an over-inflated
entrepreneurial market is I do think we have executives
and students acting as entrepreneurs in this era.
And so there's more fear, and more Excel sheets,
and bullshit in this era, which is fine.
I mean, I don't get to judge, but it
definitely feels like we're in a bubble of entrepreneurship.
And that usually means it's gonna burst at some point.
- So what are your thoughts, like, obviously,
like, in Asia, we don't really have that much
of these developing kind of types of VC ecosystem,
and you talk to a lot of entrepreneurs
in (mumbles), right, so any thoughts on--
- I think that's the, I mean, I'm glad you brought that up,
and that's where I was gonna go next.
I think the great, the great strength
of a lot of the,
the entrepreneurial ventures that I've come across
in this region is predicated on the fact
that outside of a small group of people,
there isn't as much funding,
and I think funding has really destroyed the merit
of entrepreneurship in the US
and parts of Asia, for that matter.
And so, you know, it doesn't take a hero
to lose money each month.
And that's what we have right now.
And so I, you're right, I do encourage people learning how
to make money, I think it's a much better idea.
You build something much more real,
this notion of, just keep fundraising
until an exit feels like a game, not a business.
- Cool, maybe
we'll open this time to any startups on the floor, so yeah.
- [Audience Member] Hi.
- Hello.
- [Audience Member] Gary, my name is,
should I use the mic, or? - I mean, we can hear.
- [Audience Member] Gary, my name is.
(laughter drowns out speaker)
- He's, like, louder than the--
- [Audience Member] I'm glad that we assessed
your size right, we bought you a Perlin T-shirt.
- Thank you so much.
- [Audience Member] Would like to present this to you.
- Thank you very much, my friend.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hurry up, man, but no, but-- - Thank you.
- So pleased to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
- And I'm excited for you to come to Singapore.
- Thank you. - So just as a background,
I did 12 years in the environmental space,
so I was one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment,
I was protecting rainforests, I raised 400 million dollars
for carbon credits, got really disappointed
in the governments, and then turned
to unregulated securities, eg, Bitcoin.
So I'm a real big fan of your assessment,
and your cutting the crap on a lot of cryptocurrencies.
For our, since we ended up raising 49 million dollars
for our private ground last year,
but what we're doing is really quite,
coming to your point, we've signed deals
with the International Chamber of Commerce,
45 million different businesses.
And Singapore has turned out to be this secret repository
of really cool crypto community.
We'd love to be one of your clients,
we'd love to figure out how to work with you,
because we've been offered by Binance and 4B,
like, listings in the next couple months.
My question to you was, you know,
Bitcoin has made a recent run, you know,
you've seen this, being this value of debt,
is it coming back, just overall assessment
on what you're looking to in Singapore,
for example, with the decentralized community.
But also where you see, you know,
cryptocurrencies going in the next year or so.
- So I think, appreciate it, thank you.
So I think Blockchain's been very, you know,
it's funny, and you probably know this,
it sounds like you've been paying attention.
I haven't really had the luxury, you know, the internet,
the maturity of the consumer mobile,
you know, social internet worked out really well for me,
because the timing in my career,
I kind of had my family business in a spot
where it was really operationally running,
and it gave me a little bit of time to,
you know, I was gonna, and where I deployed
that time was to go very deep into the mobile social realm.
And that's what materialized with all the things I did
in being early in Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr.
I haven't had the same luxury with Blockchain.
You know, the last, you know, it's funny,
a lot of, you know, probably two, three years ago,
or a year and a half ago, at its white heat moment,
a lot of people that follow me, or interact
with me would razz me, and be like,
why aren't you on top of this?
And I would send them my Coinbase account,
and show them that I bought, you know,
I bought Bitcoin in 2014, and everyone was like,
what the fuck, you know?
But I didn't have the luxury of going deep.
But what's very obvious to me, and I think you've heard this
from me, which is what you're referencing, is,
I'm very good at pattern recognition.
And the Blockchain technology is very easy
to understand, it's disproportionally valuable to people.
It's going to cut out a lot of in between things
that don't bring value, and skim off the top
for no reason, so the underlining technology,
I'm outrageously bullish on,
no different than the internet itself back in the day.
The currencies that layer on top of it,
I view very similar to the search engines
and the browsers of the, you know,
late '90s, early 2000s, which is the same reason
you were able to raise so much capital,
and that it's a little harder now to do that,
though there is some resurgence.
Like, ICOs were no different than the 2001 internet,
you know, blip, there was completely irrational behavior,
because there's a lot of money in the system,
and people were literally walking around, saying,
we're gonna tokenize oxygen, and people were like,
here's a billion, like, it was very fun
to watch, 'cause I'm like, man, this is
always gonna be the way everything's gonna be.
New technologies will emerge, and this will happen.
And I think your ambition, I'm sure,
and anybody else that's in this space,
is to end up being, you know, a Netscape Navigator,
or a Google, or
whatever the winners are.
And so I think there'll be an enormous amount of money lost,
and there'll be a couple places
where there's an enormous amount of money made
on the back of the infrastructure.
But I think much like the way I thought
about the internet in 1996, 1999, 2002,
I don't, I think all of us are now aware,
and have heard this, no matter how much knowledge
or not knowledge we have around Bitcoin,
or crypto, or Blockchain, it's in the ethos.
But it's grossly underestimated by the masses
of what it looks like 15 years from today.
And that's where I spend a lot of my time,
trying to be thoughtful of, like, who's,
what are the shovels and the picks
of that kind of infrastructure,
which inevitably doesn't have the layer
and tollbooths that the internet has,
because of the framework of the technology.
And so that's kind of how I see it.
- I like how you mentioned shovels and picks.
Is that one, I mean, having gone through so many
of these trends, is that something you use
to kind of cut through the noise?
Because with every trend, you know,
people get overwhelmed, right?
Like, with all these jargon in trends,
like, what, how do you look through, like,
you know, business itself, trends,
and then pick the winners?
- Yeah, I think I do, and I think some of it was intuitive.
You know, I was a super under-educated kid,
I was a really bad student, so a lot of stuff,
I've learned almost absolutely everything,
actually, I've learned everything by doing,
and going through it.
Yeah, I think the gold rush
of the 1800s in the US continues to play out.
And so I do think about shovels and picks.
I think a lot about people building companies
on top of other companies, and then being vulnerable.
I see so much over-valuation, people building
on top of other things where, you know,
it's very obvious, you know, it's funny
to see Twitter reopen its API, you know?
I saw the headlines, I haven't read the documentation,
but I'm like, oh, boy, you know,
this was a funny, you know, play a couple years,
you know, a decade ago, I guess now.
Yeah, I,
now that I'm getting, you know, I'm 43,
so this is, like, maybe a second or a third
or a fourth turn, you just see the same things over
and over, for me, the thing that I always do,
and that has been tried and true,
and that, if I could leave anything for anybody in here
that I do think would be valuable,
I reverse engineer the audience.
Like, to me, what works for my content,
what worked for me in the wine store,
what works for us at VaynerMedia,
work works always is, do you understand
who you're servicing, the end consumer?
And does every decision, thought process,
and maneuver benefit that person?
The cynicism and the scrutiny undertone
that I started with is, I believe 99%
of startups pander to venture capitalists,
not the customer of their product.
So inevitably, they're already in trouble, and so
one thing that would bode well for all of you,
in life, as a human, and definitely
in your businesses, is who are you servicing,
and are you just religious about that?
Oftentimes, people are fascinated by how little
I know about the industry I'm in.
It's because I spend no time on my competition
or anything else, 'cause it's just 100% predicated
on the current state of the end consumer of that product.
And I think that will really matter.
- Yes.
- [Audience Member] Thank you.
So good to finally meet you, I've been following
you for four years, I'm sort of nervous right now.
- Don't worry, thank you.
- [Audience Member] I'm sure you get that a lot.
- I'm flattered.
- [Audience Member] I never thought that would happen,
but yeah. - Thank you.
- [Audience Member] So, I mean, like, I know
you get this a lot, but you fundamentally changed my life,
man, 2017, quit my data management consulting job.
I come from India, I've lived in Singapore
for about nine years, got my cost of living,
that was your call.
Started a podcast for decrypt Asia, it's a crypto podcast,
the only one covering crypto news from Asia.
Started writing for tech in Asia,
which is the equivalent of tech (mumbles).
Started getting hit by family offices, VCs,
to figure out what I was up to, managed,
so one of the VCs that hit me up,
you know, it was a casual meeting from,
from one of the articles that I wrote on tech in Asia.
They liked my views, so it was a combination, I think
you're on one extreme, and then Naval Ravikant is kind
of on the other extreme, and I think my sort of philosophies
of, like, fall somewhere in the middle
of what you talk about, and what Naval talks about.
So he basically talks about leveraging capital,
media, and tech, and so the podcast was leverage media.
Managed to be the first employee at a VC fund,
crypto VC fund, built it up from scratch.
So it's been about a year at this VC fund,
but it's been an absolute, I mean,
it's been the craziest year of my life, man,
so thanks a lot. - It makes me happy.
- [Audience Member] There's no question.
(audience laughs)
- Thank you. (laughs) (audience laughs)
(audience applauds)
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome.
I'm sure you get that quite a lot on the street.
- Yeah, I mean, look, I think, I think, you know,
it's a really fun segue from what I just said earlier.
Like, one of the reasons I have the life
that I have is, every single piece of content I put out
in the internet, I desperately, desperately,
desperately am thinking subconsciously
and consciously of, how will this help somebody
that consumes it, not, how is this going to get likes
or followers, so then I can do a branded post,
and make, like, when you're, when you are 100%,
not 99, and definitely not 30,
when you are 100% consumer-centric, audience-centric,
incredibly good things happen.
And I just, I'm fascinated by people's inability
to understand that providing more value than you ask
for in return is always a tremendous model,
and yet, people are so incapable of playing the long game.
People are so disproportionately insecure
to prove they're successful to everybody,
that they're pandering to such short-term.
And so I believe the world is filled with nothing
but sprinters, and I'm a marathon runner,
and life is actually a marathon.
And so you can imagine the confidence I roll through
in the framework that I've created,
and that comes from the humility of being an immigrant,
that comes from incredible fortune
of having a mother who disproportionately built self-esteem
in me, which allows me not to pander
to outside voices that lack the context of who I am.
And it's been very, it's been very rewarding,
and then what ends up happening is,
when you start getting a little older,
and you start becoming so grateful
for the framework, 'cause you realize you're the byproduct
of circumstance and great parenting,
it makes you then want to do things,
like you're almost, I feel like I'm almost guilted,
and, you know, I always think about guilt and gratitude.
You know, I just,
I feel like, you know those flies go into the light
and get buzzed and die, like, they know what's happening,
but they can't stop, it's kind of how I feel
about making content.
You know, I'll be very frank with you,
it was interesting to hear what you,
your observation of somebody who's consumed me.
I think I am remarkably underrated for my operational
and business capabilities because
of my over-exaggerated personality in producing content,
I'm being serious.
You know, I've taken VaynerMedia, as the CEO
and COO, for that matter, I have operated it every day,
I've taken it from zero to 200 million dollars
in revenue with no cash infusion,
started it in a conference room,
it's now my second company that I've built,
early investor in Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr,
like, all that stuff, yet it's, you know, I think,
it's really fascinating for me that the thing
that I feel that I'm giving the most with is the thing
that also, in return,
creates
a narrative that
actually, it doesn't bother me,
but as you can imagine, when you love what you do,
and you think you're good at it,
there's a fascinating relationship I have
with my content, because I absolutely am very aware
that it undermines my capabilities as an operator
and an executive, which is fine,
because that's so much more fun to hear than,
you know, than anything else, but it is fascinating.
- So you mentioned that this is a marathon,
and you had Wine Library, and now VaynerMedia,
at what, how,
how many areas get you, like, in between?
I mean, obviously people say, oh,
we're successful and what you do is you just make content,
right, but I'm pretty sure that a lot of happened,
else, in between, so.
- You know, I haven't had a macro failure,
because I'm too much of an immigrant,
and I don't over-leverage myself, right?
So I haven't had a macro failure.
I have micro failures on a daily basis.
You know, I lose money all the time on initiatives
and executions and divisions and concepts,
but I've never put myself out of business.
And for me, it's just binary, either you're making payroll,
or you're not, and, you know,
I've made payroll every single week
since I was 22 years old, and I proud of that,
'cause it's practical as fuck.
So, but yeah, I mean, you know,
any time you're running businesses,
you're making super duper mistakes on an every day basis.
And I think a lot of the mistakes
I make are actually the things I don't do,
versus the things that I do.
When you're, when you get into a place
where you're crippled by opportunity,
you're just passing on things left and right.
And so, but, you know, the other thing,
you know, it's funny where my mind goes on this question,
you know, I also don't have a year to really dwell
on losses, you know, I always struggled to,
like, come up with them, because I feel like I give them
so little value.
Like, I'm just, you know, one thing I wish more people did
and had is the year to not dwell.
Like, to me, I'm just thrilled for the at bat,
so it makes me hard to be upset about,
you know, people just beat themselves up.
And, like, I don't know, you know?
- I do that every day. - Do you?
- Like, sometimes.
- Yeah, I'm the other way, I'm not delusional, right?
It's not like, but I'm just,
I just feel like it's the cost of the game.
Like, it's, you know, if you're truly the leader
of something, or if you're truly, like, own something,
or the last line of defense, by nature,
everything is a problem, like,
my entire day is 98% headaches.
Like, I think an entrepreneur is the closest thing
to a firefighter, right, like, you're
just on-call at all times for some shit.
There is no relaxation, like, you know,
you're just always on, I don't like even being
on a plane for 17 hours without wifi,
because something's inevitably gonna be a problem
when you have 1,000 employees, global this and that, so.
I don't even think there's time to dwell.
- [Brian] Hello, Gary, my name is Brian.
So I'm just really passionate about digital marketing.
The truth is people keep beating you up--
- That's a great question.
- [Brian] How did you do it?
- The first 10 or 20 people were either friends
of my brother and I, or
disproportionately delusional fans of me.
(audience laughs)
Because,
because I wanted a very insular family dynamic
that was completely predicated on trust,
so that we could go fast.
I think speed is a stunningly underrated, people talk
about it, but I think people prefer process over speed,
it makes people comfortable.
And I think speed is unbelievably important,
and the only way you get fast
with people is when there's trust.
The reason companies suck is it's all politics,
and everybody gets slow, everybody's worried
about shit that they shouldn't be worried about,
thus not the task at hand.
So I would highly recommend,
if you're capable, I had the advantage
of being in my second chapter of my career,
and I also had the great luxury
that my brother was a much better student than I was,
and hung out with much more capable people than I did,
and so that first group was easier.
But I really believe the way I,
listen, everybody needs to run a company their way,
because there's no right way, there's only right for you.
For me, every, the two companies that I've really run,
and, like, the things that I've impacted,
we just had a very major exit from an incubated company
from my fund, Resy, which just sold to American Express.
And that one, as well, like, it's the same model,
which is, I treat businesses like I think
about parenting children, I believe the first three
to five years is disproportionate, obnoxious love,
honey, warmth, like, nobody's scared,
like, I take on all responsibility.
And then I think about kind of, like,
year seven through 12 as, like, okay,
now we start eliminating entitlement.
And I'll tell you, I think I missed the mark at VaynerMedia,
I think I started creating a lack
of entitlement 18 to 12 months too late,
which created a little bit of a vulnerability
for us for a period, and it was painful.
You know, once, you know, a spoiled,
rich kid getting off a drug is tough, so we had a little bit
of a tough year, because there was too much entitlement.
But I think anything you can do to create safety
and speed, I think those two assets really matter
in the first five years of a company.
- [Brian] Okay, (mumbles), thank you.
- You're welcome.
- We got time for one more, I think.
- [Audience Member] I recently was watching an interview,
which you declared that you missed out on Uber.
- Yes. (audience member mumbles)
- [Audience Member] Even if Travis Kalanick pitch
to you a couple of times-- - Two times.
- [Audience Member] I think, I think you read, the book,
you wrote somewhere--
- The first book I wrote, the only person I thanked was him,
besides my family.
- [Audience Member] Do you have any advice
on the most common errors you should avoid
when you (mumbles) investing (mumbles)?
- I think, you know,
you know what's funny, the mistake I made there was
I was too logical, right, like, it was a side project,
and I don't think side projects tend to turn,
especially 'cause I knew Garrett and Travis super well,
and they were angel investing, and doing other stuff,
and I'm like, they're distracted.
So,
you know, God, the, it is such an imperfect science,
investing, you know,
here are a couple things that have really,
here's where I'm going with the rest of my investing career.
I'm only gonna invest on two core things
that happen with me through my pattern of recognition.
One, I intuitively believe in it, blindly,
no logic against it, I have the feeling,
I have the goosebumps, the hair on the back of my head,
I feel it, it feels it, I'm going, two,
I'm now, at this point in my career,
a believer that it's 80% the founder,
20% the idea, not 50, 50, and so to me,
the things that are obvious to me now are,
bet on the jockey, not the horse, and if you really feel it,
go with it.
But missing out on that Uber bet,
that was so much circumstance, bro, it was a side project,
I had just done two side projects that did not work out,
so I was imposing my belief on that.
I just bought a really expensive apartment
for me in Manhattan,
so I was not as liquid as I was accustomed to.
I'm an immigrant, so sure enough, I go a little on defense,
it cost me a half a billion dollars, you know?
You know, the other mistake I've made a lot,
and I've stopped making,
back to the jockey versus the horse.
Where I really made my mistakes,
where I really lost the most amount of money in 2013,
'14 was, I loved the idea, I knew that I,
what I would do with it, and I misunderstood
that the founder wasn't capable
of operating it the way I would.
So I put myself in the position of CEO,
I knew what to do with it, but she or he wasn't capable
of doing that, and that's why it failed.
- Okay, one last one, sir.
- [Audience Member] Gary, thank you for--
- Thanks for the shoes, bro, appreciate it.
- [Audience Member] Is that--
- These are gonna be the next ones, yeah.
- [Audience Member] All right, I'll have my eyes on it.
- Thank you.
- [Audience Member] I told myself I wasn't gonna be nervous,
but I'm feeling it right now. (audience laughs)
Yeah, 'cause (mumbles).
- Thank you.
- [Audience Member] But I think I should be honest,
prior to that, I didn't like you.
- I understand, it's a very common pattern
of my career. (audience laughs)
- [Audience Member] Yeah, so really,
thank you for what you do, because I'm actually
in the insurance business, financial.
So I do consulting on my (mumbles) client,
and things like that, kind of lost a little bit
of my passion in 2017, 2018.
Well, not really passion, but because of what I've learned
from you, because I feel those are very real things,
I feel like all businesses need to actually go
through probably a different (mumbles) in terms of, like,
how we educate, you know, on the mass market
of the insurance, because so far,
it's always been push, push, push.
And ever since I came into the business,
six to eight years ago, I see
very little improvement in that (mumbles).
- It's a sales organization.
- [Audience Member] Yeah, so,
I started to actually take some of your advice,
as to (mumbles) really try to put out content,
but I feel there's so much I want to learn.
And because the nature of my work is actively controlling
my time, I just want to actually give it one shot,
because I, you know, regret asking you this.
Can I, is there any way, I come, you know, I signed up
for your, like, VaynerMedia to be opened in Singapore.
Is there any way I can actually do a part-time job,
anything, you can pay me (mumbles) anything
outside of my normal working hours?
- Yeah. (audience laughs)
- [Audience Member] Thank you.
- You're welcome.
(audience laughs) (audience applauds)
Just send me an email. (audience applauds)
And we'll try to figure something out.
(audience member mumbles)
Just Gary at VaynerMedia.
- [Audience Member] Okay.
- Yeah, just say you're the guy with the shoes,
and you hated me at first, (audience laughs)
and, you know, just context.
- [Audience Member] Cool, yeah, thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- How are you doing on time, do you have time?
- [Maha] We have a couple more minutes,
I just want to give people a chance to take pictures.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Maha] That's it.
- Okay, why don't I go first, shall I?
(overlapping chattering) (audience laughs)
- Let's sneak in one more, one more question.
(overlapping chattering)
Anybody else?
- [Maha] Anyone else have a question--
- Yes, sir? - Malcolm.
- [Malcolm] I'm Malcolm, I work for WeWork.
You mentioned three times just now,
and you, absolutely screamed at me,
Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, and Eddie Murphy, right?
I'm really curious, and I want to understand how you,
what you took away from these hall of fame comedians,
in terms of their (mumbles) perspectives, how you--
- You know, it's funny, I didn't even realize,
you know, like, I didn't realize I was taking anything away
from them, I thought I was driving to work
and laughing while I was driving to work.
What I've recognized and why I referenced them is,
my cadence and the way I deliver my speeches looks more
like a comedian than it looks like a keynote speaker.
So this is what's so amazing, you know,
these two young gentlemen are mentioning it,
what's amazing when you're a communicator is,
you don't even realize how you're impacting people, right?
Like, even when, even when you don't even realize
you're being impacted, like, when I make video content,
it also, like, when I speak, it's definitely those guys.
When I make video content,
I actually think it's more like Randy the Macho Man Savage.
Like, I think a lot of my cadence
in making videos is more like doing a wrestling promo,
you know, like, and so
I picked up mannerisms and cadence
in communicating from them,
which, you know, what I love about comedy is,
they're taking you into a journey,
and you're not exactly sure what,
and then boom, it's a thing.
And I think that's worked really well for me onstage,
which is, I'm setting up a narrative,
and then boom, I go this way or that,
which makes it entertaining enough.
I'm very happy that I have a, look,
I'm not happy that I have a communication style
that many people initially misinterpret me,
and I understand that.
And I'm empathetic to it, like,
who's got time to analyze everybody?
So they see some brash video, and they're like,
fuck this guy, I get it, but at the same token,
I'm thrilled to have that style,
because the amount of people that are entertained,
and then subtly realize, wait a minute,
I'm learning something, or it's helping them,
or you're saying something they've heard a thousand times,
you're just saying it from such a unique angle,
or some sort of style, that you actually penetrate somebody.
Because you know what's crazy, I'll say this,
what completely blows my mind is how much life is
actually singularly based on perspective.
Like, you find what you're looking for.
Like, if you want to find negativity, it's unlimited.
If you want to find positivity, it's unlimited,
and the reality, and we reference it a little bit before,
and it's very prominent in Asia,
so many people are dictated by the perspective
of their parents, which is a very dangerous framework,
because parents are coming from yesterday,
and we're gonna live in tomorrow.
And this is the death of businesses,
and this is the death of current parenting in the world.
And so
I'm excited that I have a unique, for whatever reason,
communication style that helps sometimes people see things
from a different angle.
- [Malcolm] Cool, thank you.
- Thank you.
- [Man In Green Plaid] Quick question,
is there anyone you follow on social media?
- I don't, I spend all my time reading comments
from my community, and reading the commentary
of trending conversations in culture.
Like, a lot of times, I'm not even sure what's,
the Twitter API thing, I actually don't know the details,
I know the response of 4,000 people's point of view on it.
And so I'm so deeply consumer-centric that
I don't need somebody else's interpretation
of the consumer, I want my own take on it,
and I'm willing to do the work to consume that.
I don't want somebody recapping it for me,
because I think, in the same way I think about,
I laughed when big data became the thing, right?
Became a thing in our, I'm like, big data's great,
analyzing the data and doing something
with it is the punchline, and so a lot of times
we put the thing on the pedestal,
not what we're doing with that thing.
And so for me, I'm, I'm very passionate
about consuming people's reactions to culture and things,
and then synthesizing it, and making decisions,
which I think has historically has allowed me to be,
there's a reason I've been so early on all these things,
and a lot of it has to do with that kind of system.
- All right, all right, thank you, Gary.
- Thank you.
- Can I get a shot of us with the group?
- Sure. - Would it be all right?
Wouldn't it be cool? - I'll get you. (mumbles)
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- All right, get in, get in, everyone.
(overlapping chattering)
One, two, three, and one more.
- Awesome. - Okay, thank you so much.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you, thank you, guys.
(audience applauds)
Thank you, thank you. (audience applauds)
(background noise drowns out speaker)
- Can I get an interview with you?
It's not for mass media, it's for something else.
Whom shall I talk about?
- Where's, Maha? (overlapping chattering)
- [Woman In Pink] Thank you, thanks a lot.
- [Gary] Thank you.
- Can I get a shot with you, Gary?
It's so nice to see you in person.
- [Gary] Thank you.
- I'm Sarah, I work at WeWork.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much, it was inspirational.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] Thank you so much, thank you.
- I'm wondering, are you Ukrainian by origin?
- Belarusian. - Belarusian?
(speaking in foreign language) (overlapping chattering)
Me and Julia are Ukrainian. - That's awesome.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Can we take a picture with you?
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you. - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. - Thank you so much.
- Yeah, of course. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- Can I take a picture with you?
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome. (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Green Plaid] Can we do your signature?
- [Gary] Yeah, of course.
- [Man In Green Plaid] Awesome.
- [Gary] Awesome, brother, thank you.
- [Man In Blue Polo] Very nice to meet you, man.
- Really nice to meet you, man.
Congratulations. (overlapping chattering)
Awesome. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you, brother, hi, hi. (overlapping chattering)
- Nice to meet you, nice to meet you, I'm Bella.
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome, nice to meet you, thank you.
- As well, sorry. - No worries.
- [Photographer] You're popular.
- [Woman In Pink] We're, like, yeah,
in national dress today. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Thank you, thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Man With Fade Haircut] Hey, thank you so much.
- You got it brother, thank you.
- Hi, thank you so much. - I'll talk to you, your--
- Yeah, Avery, you know what, you should talk to Avery,
I saw her perk up when you said maybe work together.
- Yeah. (overlapping chattering)
- [Photographer] One, two, three, got it.
(overlapping chattering)
- You got it, DRock? (overlapping chattering)
Avery! (overlapping chattering)
- Which one's Avery? - Avery.
In the yellow dress back there.
- [Man With Fade Haircut] All right, let me give
you my card, anyway. - Please.
- [Made With Fade Haircut] I'll find,
but done 20 startups, failed six to eight times, move on.
- That's awesome, brother. - And we're gonna do this one.
- [Gary] Pleasure.
- [Man With Fade Haircut] I'll go. (mumbles)
- Please, hi. - Nice meeting you.
- [Gary] How are you?
- [Lilly] Lilly.
- [Gary] So nice to meet you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] One, two, okay, got it.
- Thank you. - Such a pleasure.
- [Lilly] Such a pleasure, thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Man With Fade Haircut] So, yeah, hi, Avery.
- Thank you for your question, thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
You got it. (overlapping chattering)
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] Three, two, one.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thanks. - You got it, thank you.
- Thank you so much, Gary-- - Thank you, man.
- I'll email you. - Such a pleasure.
(overlapping chattering)
Awesome. (overlapping chattering)
- I wish you all the best in Singapore.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
- [Gary] How are you?
- [Man In Yellow Shirt] All right, how are you?
- Pleasure, how are you? (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Pink Shirt] Can we take a selfie?
- Yeah, let's do it. (overlapping chattering)
You got it, cheers. (overlapping chattering)
How are you? - How are you?
- Nice to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Gray Shirt] By the way, Dan Chavel is one
of my best friends. - Is that right?
- [Man In Gray Shirt] He says hello, he's a good dude.
- He is a good dude. - Let's do it.
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome. - So a great job.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- I actually just moved here from LA.
- That's awesome. - So I saw Avery, talked--
- Congrats, thank you. - Yeah, thank you.
- Pleasure. - Good to see you.
- [Man In Camo Jacket] Hello again, Gary, nice to meet you--
- Nice to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
Awesome, thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Hi, how are you, nice to meet you.
Hi, nice to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Thanks. - Thank you so much
for being here, thank you. - Hi, Gary, it's me again.
- How are you, good to see you guys, how are you?
(overlapping chattering)
Such a pleasure. - Thank you.
- Thank you, guys, take care. (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Ball Cap] I was hoping to see Gabby.
- Gabby, (laughs) Gabby's sleeping.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi, how are you? - Hi, nice to meet you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] One, two, three, got it, got it.
- [Gary] Awesome.
- [Woman In Yellow Jacket] Thank you.
- Thank you, pleasure. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you, hi. (overlapping chattering)
How are you? (overlapping chattering)
So nice to meet you, hi, nice to meet you.
(overlapping chattering)
Phone, oh, you forgot it? (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Okay, thank you.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In T-Shirt] Hey, Gary.
- How are you?
- Welcome to Singapore, thank you.
- Nice to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
Hi, how are you? - Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
- Oh, thanks a lot, man. - Nice to meet you.
Thank you for being here, thanks for being here.
(overlapping chattering)
Ready? (overlapping chattering)
Hi, how are you? (overlapping chattering)
Hi, good to see you, nice to meet you.
(overlapping chattering)
Who's taking a photo? (overlapping chattering)
Oh. (overlapping chattering)
- [Photographer] Three, two, one, shot, just a moment.
Just a moment, three, two, one, thank you.
- Thank you. - Awesome.
Thank you, guys, thank you for coming.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Man In White Collared Shirt] Congratulations.
- Thank you. - I follow you
since the Wine Library, and I show your video
to French Quarter, because I work in Italy
with the French Quarter-- - Thank you.
Beautiful sparkling wine, how are you?
- When you were speaking the New York Jets.
- Yes, (laughs) thank you. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much, thank you for having me,
thank you for your question. (overlapping chattering)
All right. (overlapping chattering)
- Is there anything I can help you with
in Singapore, anything you're looking for?
- [Gary] Reach out to me, and we'll,
we'll figure it out, we're just, we're slow and steady,
but there may be. - Whatever you want, right?
- [Gary] Thank you, thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Fan] Thanks for coming down, Gary.
- [Gary] Thanks for having me, thank you, we're good?
- [Fan] Thanks, Gary, I hear you're doing some work
with John Max Bolling? - Yes.
- [Fan] I just wanted to come and say hello.
- [Gary] Thank you, how are you?
- [Fan] Good, thanks.
- [Gary] Good, thanks for having me, yeah.
Thank you, thanks for being here, have a great day.
Ready, let's go. (overlapping chattering)
- Hey, I'm Jesse. - Thank you.
Jesse. - Thanks for coming.
- Thank you so much. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Bye, guys, Risa, you're staying?
- [Avery] Yeah, she's staying--
- Okay, thank you, Jesse. (overlapping chattering)
Hi. (overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] Not bad.
- [Gary] It worked out.
- [Maha] We wanted to leave at 4:40.
- [Gary] We nailed it.
- [Maha] Okay, Gary, is it recording on your side?
Are you ready to go, is it live?
- [DRock] Yeah.
- We're always on.
- [Maha] I'm very excited to have you on my podcast.
- [Gary] Thank you very much, Maha.
- So I have a couple of questions from some listeners,
so I'm gonna start with those first,
'cause I like to take care of the people first.
One of your fans in the Middle East is asking,
what's the best way to grow a community
of people on social media from nothing?
- By not worrying about the growth.
I think almost everybody, when they start at zero,
are so insecure that all these people have tens
of thousands, and millions, and a lot
of people right now feel like they're catching up,
whether that's an A-list celebrity, which is why a lot
of A-list celebrities from traditional media are struggling
on social, they don't like the perception
that they're not big, so they're staying off completely,
or if it's just an average Joe or Jane
that are trying to get onboard.
So, a, don't pander to the numbers, b,
bring value, and whatever value you have to the audience.
Don't fake it till you'll make it,
because there's too much content,
it doesn't work the way it used to.
And, you know, I think of it as, like,
you know, I think of it as, listen,
five years ago, I had zero muscles in my body.
I had never worked out in my entire life with weights,
I had none, and so that first year was, like, painful,
like, eight pushups, real pushups,
not like the fake ones, were hard.
But understanding that I was gonna do this
for the rest of my life was what really allowed it
to be palpable in those first two years,
when it seemed daunting.
And somebody starting a social media account right now,
knowing that this is something they want to use for the rest
of their lives, all of a sudden, how you do
in the first six months doesn't feel like a failure anymore
when you know you're doing it forever.
So having the right perspective and framework
I think matters, and then recognizing why
somebody would listen to you or follow you is if
you're uniquely yourself, then you're different
than everybody else, and leaning into your perspectives,
the things that you actually know, being humble
where you need to be humble, being confident
where you need to be confident is very important.
- [Maha] Yeah, yesterday you tweeted, "Patience,"
and I retweeted it, and I have learned a lot from you.
But if somebody says to me, what's the number one thing
you learned from Gary Vee, I will say it's patience.
It's having the longterm view of the marathon,
not the sprint, and to not be worried
about rushing to get stuff done,
because it'll come if you just focus on the stuff
in front of you, talk to me a little bit about--
- And real quick. - Patience.
- And real quick, yeah, I'm sorry, thank you for the segue.
I wanted to add this, because this is our lives together,
kind of, like, what you know about me,
now as you've gotten closer, I'm macro patient.
But I'm quite frantic on an every day basis,
I'm constantly busy, like, everyone,
when people hear that from me, they're like,
what are you talking about?
I'm, like, you mistake me being productive
on a daily basis in, and you're misusing the word patience.
I'm patient in the macro, I'm productive in the daily.
- [Maha] In the micro, that's really interesting.
So the-- - Like that one, right?
- [Maha] The second question I have for my listeners,
what is the biggest opportunity a 20-year-old,
a 22-year-old content creator living in Dubai is seeking
to empower others.
- There's,
so, you know, the advantage of that is,
if you're actually seeking to empower others,
you need to be self-aware that you're 22 years old,
and that a lot of people are not gonna take you serious
in your self-empowerment, so your advantage is
that you live in a very unique place
that's extremely beautiful, has a lot of access,
and has a lot of unique dynamics,
that I would lean into that, and this is a great place
to talk about fake it till you make it.
It's very not interesting for most people
to have a 22-year-old life coach.
- [Maha] Yeah, of course.
- So you could empower people through your anxieties,
hurdles, strengths, excitements.
I will continue to push people to their truth.
My mom, at 22 years old, lost her mother,
had her dad go to jail for 10 years,
got married, had a child, and moved
from Russia to America and started with nothing.
That's a lot to happen at 22,
a lot of people at 22 haven't done anything yet.
You know, so.
If, what are, you know, what you need to do is tell
your true story, and the uniqueness of being
in Dubai is one of those pillars.
- [Maha] Okay, I will give him that key fact.
What are you obsessed with?
- A lot of things, actually, I can get quite passionate,
garage sale-ing, no, what am I--
- [Maha] Garage sale-ing. (laughs)
- I'm obsessed with seeing it through.
- [Maha] Okay.
- I'm obsessed with seeing it through.
I'm unbelievably aware that I'm not average,
that it's not normal, that it's not, like, the masses,
and that I've been gifted through circumstance,
DNA, parenting, and a million other things,
something that's a little more unusual,
and I'm obsessed with seeing it through.
- [Maha] Okay, I love that, I love that answer.
So you talked about this-- - It's a cool answer.
- [Maha] A little bit at the--
- [DRock] I want you to expand upon it,
'cause I really don't understand about seeing it through.
- I'm hyper-aware that I'm gifted with certain things
that are making me live a remarkable life, and I'm excited
to respect that gift, and put in the work and the patience,
and giving back, and doing as many right things as possible
to allow me to do this for as long as possible,
so I can put a body of work down
that will leave a tremendous legacy, and one that can impact
and create value for people in perpetuity.
Not to go where I like to go in my own mind.
If I'm as special as I like to think I might be,
well, I'm going to be one of the first generation
of special people who's gonna put a lifetime
of content documented throughout.
Do you know how crazy it would be daily vlogging
and content creation was around when people
that we admire over the last 200 years had?
Do you know how much fun it would be, and I'm not,
just to hedge it so people don't think I'm crazy,
but it would be really rad to watch the daily vlog
of Abraham Lincoln.
I would watch that today,
I would today watch Abraham Lincoln at 19 pontificating
about his, and being wrong and being right.
Something I would watch is 19-year-old Bill Gates,
and his thoughts, and how,
'cause I like pattern recognition,
right, it's the great thing that Muhammad Ali did.
Muhammad Ali understood what I understand,
which is why he was always in the media.
Muhammad Ali used Howard Cosell
as much as Howard Cosell used Muhammad Ali,
and that's why we have great documentaries
about Muhammad Ali, 'cause he was a media hound.
And so, I'll say it one more time, not,
you know, I recognize I've used some big names,
so I'm gonna say it one more time, I do not, listen,
fuck it, my ambition is to be bigger than those fuckers,
like, why not have that ambition?
Whether that's true or not, I have no idea, but I'm,
I'm passionate to see it through.
And when you're a marathon runner, like me,
the last chapter is the great unveil.
- [Maha] So the best is yet to come.
- 100%, I'm not, I'm putting down foundational pieces,
I haven't unveiled yet.
- I even think it's interesting,
when I talk to you about some stuff related to work,
and you're like, "Maha, we've got time.
"We've got time, we're 10 years from now,
"20 years from now, we've got time."
So one of the things, I've worked with a lot
of different companies and CEOs throughout my career,
but what makes you different in my view, and I,
well, the one thing I want a lot of people to know more
about in Gary Vee, 'cause you touched upon it in WeWork,
that people see you when your video is talking,
and it's not really maybe who you are face-to-face, or.
You spend a lot of time, Gary, talking about entitlement,
kindness, empathy, and self-awareness.
Not a lot of CEOs are talking about a lot of those topics,
right, and you're all about that, which is what I'm very,
well, that's why I was so drawn to you,
because you talk about being a human,
bringing your whole self to work.
Why are those things so important to you,
and why is no one else talking about it?
- They're important to me because they're the things
that I think that matter.
They're the things that I think have led
to my happiness, they're the things
that I see in others, bring them happiness.
I think that most people don't talk about it because,
a million different things, I don't think it was
in the consciousness, I think most people don't lead.
I think most people follow, so if there's nothing to follow,
then people don't talk.
I think that
most people aren't as emotionally self-aware,
or actually, I think most, listen,
most people are not contradictions.
Most alpha winning business people are not as soft skilled
as I am.
- [Maha] It's still important that they have that.
Like, you talked about perspective,
if you either want to, you see, talk about that.
You, in the-- - You like that one?
- [Maha] Yeah.
- I think it's true, actually, and honestly,
it's a little bit blown my mind, like,
it's weird to me that life is actually just one simple game
of, how do you see it, it actually is weird to me.
Like, I bring up this analogy a lot,
that picture, where it's, like,
either two people kissing, or it's a champagne glass.
That's life, like, everybody's living,
and people have very different point of views on things.
And your parents have historically been a huge factor.
Media has historically been a huge factor,
traditional media, and I think the internet is
creating a whole new dynamic, and I think
we're focusing again on a lot of the negative.
We're going through that right now,
what the internet does in allowing different voices
to, like, spread different opinions,
which can be quite radical in a lot of ways.
But yeah, I mean, I'm optimistic, I'm positive,
I have good perspective, I try to remind people
that, you know, we once had the black plague,
we once had the Holocaust, we once had a lot of things
that are much scarier than the things we're living
through now, and so if you choose to see the world today
and say, at least we don't have slavery at scale,
at least we don't have the black plague.
At least we don't have a World War
that's killing tens of millions of people, huh,
maybe this is better.
Percent of people on social media are like,
"This is the worst era ever," and I'm just,
like, laughing at it, so yeah.
I mean, I'm an optimist, I'm positive,
but I'm not delusional, and so I appreciate you,
you know, when you say I talk a lot about entitlement,
that makes me happy, because that's,
that's the hedge against, when people hear
me spewing gratitude, or kindness, or things of that nature.
It's really funny, when I read my comments,
if we're talking just about left or right, or just, like,
soft or hard, it's almost like I don't have a home.
Like, people that want to see negative are razzing me
for the opposite thing, like, people are like,
he's too soft, he's too hard, like,
it's really funny to watch.
The reality is, I have a lot of views
that scale in a lot of different directions, but I,
I like sharing, I like sharing my truths,
I like it a lot, and I also think,
I also think that it creates context
that allows people to do something with.
And I'm, I like that empowerment,
I love that feeling that, right now,
I'm saying something that actually may benefit somebody.
And I like that legacy.
- [Maha] So what's the deal with the sports cards
and the garage sales?
- Well, the garage, they're a little bit different.
Garage sales has just been a real hobby,
I just genuinely enjoy it.
Like, I'm literally, this is literally what I'm thinking.
I'm thinking, I thought this three times today, damn,
since I'm flying back and I land too late
on Saturday morning, I can't go garage sale-ing,
plus I have to go to Qatar the next morning.
Like, that's, like, inappropriate for me
to come and miss half the day with my family.
But, like, probably I want to, like,
probably, deep down, like, the, like,
it's funny, I think we're passing the golf course,
or I don't know, it's really funny,
I think about golf a lot.
So many of my contemporaries, on a Saturday morning,
will wake up at 6:30 and go play six hours of golf.
And that is, like, a real passion of theirs,
and they enjoy it, and everybody thinks it's a great hobby,
and this and that.
I'd much rather go garage sale-ing
for those same four or five hours,
but it's exactly the same thing.
Hiking, you know, going to a concert, it's escapism.
Garage sales, the thrill of the hunt takes over every one
of my problems, and so I love that.
Sports cards' different,
sports cards was the biggest passion
of my life from 1986 to 1993.
And that completely eliminated, walked,
outside of 2003, when LeBron was working,
I think, is that right, there was a blip
of six months when I bought a boatload
of basketball cards, 'cause I thought LeBron
and D Wade and Bosh and Darko were gonna be great,
Melo, four out of five were.
And I bought a ton of cards, but that was for,
like, five seconds, I believe we're on the,
we're in the second quarter of four quarters
of the sports card industry exploding again in culture,
and I think there's a ton of money
and a lot of fun to be made for a lot of entrepreneurs,
kids, especially sneaker kids,
who can't get enough inventory of hard-to-get sneakers.
But if they want to go buy 5,000 Giannis rookies,
or 400 Darko rookies, they can.
And so I'm excited because it's something I love,
it's something I understand, but I'm in a new era
of my life, it's not about the million dollars
that I'll make in flipping cards in the next three years,
and I will, it's about, it's about,
you know, the tens of thousands of kids
that I'm gonna impact, who are gonna make 100,000 bucks
in profit in the next two years,
instead of raising a million dollars and losing it.
And that I'm excited about, I'm excited
about pushing people, and teaching them how
to make money, instead of raising money,
and raising money has become the sport
of entrepreneurship in this era, not making it,
and it's something that I'm trying to bring conversation to.
- [Maha] And the process of them having
to go through how to make that money--
- I love you, I love you for bringing this,
I love you for saying that, 'cause you help me build
on this, 'cause I wasn't gonna go there.
The things people are gonna learn about,
human behavior, market dynamics, supply and demand,
if you're gonna sell it on eBay, which a lot of people are,
just even copywriting and creative.
Like, I'm really good at selling on eBay,
'cause I know how to write titles,
and I know how to take pictures
that capture people's attention,
that's why my content does well on Instagram.
I think about titles and thumbnails.
Except on YouTube, I'm terrible at it.
- [Maha] Thank you, Gary.
- Thank you, Maha.
- A pleasure, that was really good.
I wanna amplify that message about the human side
of business because a lot of people don't,
everyone understands the yapping CEO.
No one understands this.
- Everybody's judging me on a surface level.
- [Maha] That's what I mean, yeah, and that's the thing--
- And I have no interest in pandering to the machine.
So that, I haven't done anything to clarify it,
but what that does for you is it gives you a--
- [Maha] That's my job, yeah.
- That gives you such a canvas to work with,
especially when it's true. - Yeah, I know.
- It's like, I'm like, it's like a perfect piece
of clay for you.
- [Maha] Yeah, that's what I'm saying, this is--
- I mean, if you fuck it up, you're all-time terrible.
(Maha laughs)
- [Maha] Yeah, I'm not gonna let you down,
'cause I'm not gonna let myself down.
- You've, honestly, Maha, it's no different than the,
the companies I've invested in.
I'm not guessing here, you've already done it.
Like, it doesn't even cross my mind.
They're, I'm being dead serious with you,
like, you getting this opportunity
with me is 100% the same thing I did
with Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter.
I didn't guess, they'd already happened.
We've already interacted enough
for me to know you do it.
- [Maha] Yeah, well, we're just getting started.
- I'm very aware.
- [Maha] And you're very patient, I want to do so much,
and I'm just like, okay, just.
- We will.
- [Maha] Slow and steady, and just--
- We will.
- [Maha] And the fact that I know that you aren't,
like, you know, ramming it down, like,
what's the one, like, that you are saying,
slow and steady makes me comfortable,
that I can now grow it in a way that's--
- Yeah, I mean, it's--
- [Maha] If you were putting pressure on me, that would--
- Where's my article?
- [Maha] Yeah, that would make me feel worse about--
- I only put pressure on DRock, other than that.
He gets so much gold, and just is incapable
of getting it into the marketplace.
- [Maha] When I know, like, if you were to say to me,
do three things, then I would just want to do 10,
you know what I mean? - I'm sure.
- [DRock] I'm holding the camera.
- My best thing right now.
What was the thing that, there was such a fun one.
Oh, God, it's gonna be hard to remember.
It was, like, two months ago, like, a month ago?
Have I ever fallen, have I ever fallen asleep on stage?
- [DRock] No.
- I'm super tired.
- [Maha] You are?
- Yeah, I haven't, I haven't slept
for 20 fucking four hours.
- [Maha] Is this our car when we finish?
- [DRock] Right, you're taking, you're--
- [Assistant] Answer to the question
for the kid about growing the team was be--
- Mm-hmm, macro patience, micro speed.
- [Maha] Hey, you gotta--
- Operationally, operationally you gotta go fast,
you know, theoretically, like, what you're up to,
it makes sense.
- [Maha] That's so cool.
- That's why I'm a hard read, I'm a very,
very hard read, 'cause, like,
it is pulling from opposite directions.
It looks like it's a contradiction,
but if you think about it visually,
I'm telling you up here to go slow,
I'm telling you down here to go fast.
So people think it's all one plane,
all my content, all my vision, everything I am,
they think it's one plane, so, like,
what the fuck, it doesn't make sense.
What they don't understand is it's this.
In real life, in the most important shit, it's slow.
Down here, all this shit means nothing,
you have to go fast, but people go slow down here.
Have to be thoughtful, let's have meanings,
let's fucking over-process it, but up here,
they're like, money now, money now.
Like, everyone's got it reversed.
Got it? - Yup.
- Good job catching that, DRock.
- [DRock] Almost put my camera down.
- But that was a good visual to it,
that was a good way to explain it, that's what it is.
(slow music)
- All right, why Singapore, actually?
I heard the initial plan was to go into China first,
and then to Asia, but, you know, why the change?
- I don't, I don't think that's necessarily true.
You know, I think, you know, I'm not sure where
that comes from, or, like, if I've--
(interviewer mumbles)
Or maybe, you know, to me, it's, yeah, no.
There was never the initial plan,
to me, Mainland China has always been a far away thing,
because I know I want to do, you know,
kind of a partnership into that market,
and it'll take time to build that kind of relationship
that would make me feel comfortable.
But Southeast Asia has been kind of
on the roadmap for at least three years at this point.
Just, it's extremely obvious that the growth is here,
and more importantly, 10 years ago,
I set out to build a global communications structure,
and so it was just inevitable.
And I think some of it is circumstance,
you know, just serendipity,
but obviously it's a very, I mean,
this is maybe my fourth or fifth trip here.
And so there's a comfort for me here,
there's comfort to do business here.
My CFO in the Publicis holding company spent five
to seven years out here, so there's just the familiarity,
and a lot of our global Fortune 500 clients have
their offices here, and so it just became very obvious.
- Are there plans to also support some
of the Singapore listed companies
that (mumbles) as well listed on the Singapore Exchange?
- 100%, I mean, we're,
we're coming here to do business
with every single person that's interested
in doing business with us, so.
- So you're focused on what kind
of sectors you want to target?
- No, anybody who wants to communicate to end consumers
in a B-to-B or B-to-C environment, and recognizes
that the capability of how to do that
in the actual world we live in in 2019
and 2020 is our interest, and that means everybody.
- You mentioned Singapore
and Southeast Asia have huge potential, how much revenue do
you think that's gonna generate for you, any projections?
- No.
But to try to bring new value, like,
from an ambition standpoint, you know,
we'd like to be doing, you know,
tens of millions of dollars in revenue
in the next 36 to 48 months, 'cause we think the potential
in the marketplace is here, so.
You know, because I'm building it for myself,
you know, I think what's unusual
about VaynerMedia is, I'm not trying to,
you know, maximize profit because I'm publicly traded.
I'm not trying to flip it to a holding company,
so I'm not trying to maximize by EBITDA.
I'm trying to build something that's evergreen
and in perpetuity, that I can use
for my future business behaviors.
So, as you can imagine, the short-term
or medium-term revenue goals is not something
I'm spending any time to calculate.
It's, get established, understand the marketplace,
understand the opportunities, whether it's in the nuances
of American-centric digital companies, or if it's Asian,
you know, whether it's Line, or Cow, or, you know,
eventually WeChat or Weibo, and things of that nature,
understand how to be the best in the world in communicating
on where the consumer's spending their time
in every part of the world.
- But I guess that's. (background noise drowns out speaker)
Right, because, I mean, unless you have a lot of cash
to flood into this region, you have to be a bit more careful
about your strategy, maybe?
- Yeah, I mean, I think anybody
who's running a business should always have a strategy
of not losing money, no matter how much, you know,
I don't have the luxury of raising capital.
So most, many businesses in today's world,
strategies are very weak, because they're over-funded,
and they're losing money, I don't have that luxury,
to your point.
So yeah, so I think it's a good idea
for businesses not to lose money.
- So what's your strategy for the Singapore office?
- To take advantage of the fact
that there are very few organizations
in the entire region that are doing proper Facebook
and Google and YouTube media and creative executions,
just like basically every other part of the world.
- So would you, I mean, that sounds like
what an agency does, right? - Yeah.
- So, I mean, how are you going to differentiate yourself?
- By being better at it, it's like--
- Can you give, like, more specific?
What do you mean by better?
- By showing clients that making their judgment
on better should not be based on impressions and likes,
and arbitrary brand lift studies.
It should be predicated on the actual business results
that the company is trying to achieve.
That has been our calling card, you know,
if you are deeply in the agency world,
the majority of brands in the world measure success based
on arbitrary reporting, headlines, awards,
or internal MMMs that are laughable.
And what we've been great at is helping show sales lift,
or subscription growth,
or what companies are actually doing.
And so I don't say it vague, I say it kind
of the way I think about everything in life.
I could say I'm here to swim,
and then somebody's gonna win the gold medal
in 2020 in Tokyo, like, I really genuinely believe
what I said, which is I think we're going
to take clients' money, and return more business results
for them than the alternatives.
- Is that something you guarantee to clients,
that if you don't get X results, then--
- I wish we could, I mean, there are three
to four scopes we have in the US
where we control all the media and all the creative,
and then we do have profit sharing.
But the reason we don't do that in 90%
of scenarios is, unless we control everything,
I'm not in a position to, you know,
guarantee when you don't control every lever.
- So in the US, I think I saw from a Forbes article
that clients pay a minimum of a million US dollars,
I think it's a yearly retainer--
- Yes, that's right.
- In Singapore, how much is that gonna be?
- Zero, and what I mean by that is,
any time you enter a new market,
you have to come with enormous humility and patience.
And so I don't have a good enough sense of the budgets
and the appetite and the full landscape outside the macro,
so I don't come in with requirements in any new market,
because I think that would be audacious.
And so obviously, you know,
what we're doing is more listening, and having real,
you know, we're 10 years deep in the US,
and we understand the landscape.
Here, my passion is to spend the first 18
to 24 months listening and creating ad hoc executions,
and then getting our feet underneath us
to understand what the, what the requirements
of minimum spend would be, you know,
three, four, five, six years from now.
- Okay, but isn't that also a bit risky,
that you don't really have a range
for the kind of fees that you want to charge?
I mean, it sounds, like, highly negotiable.
- It's short-term risky that you could be unprofitable
within the region, but for me,
the macro business can afford the investment,
and that's why we're doing it.
- Okay, I understand that you also run a VC firm,
Vayner/RSE, are there any plans to take
that to Singapore, or Southeast Asia?
- Not right now, that fund has been deployed,
actually, today's a really fun day.
We sold an incubated company from the fund,
Resy, to American Express, in a large acquisition
in the US, that fund has been fully deployed.
I didn't raise another fund, so now my investing is just
my own personal investing, which I'm not doing a whole lot
of, 'cause I'm very head down in operating this business.
But I am taking and have been taking meetings
with startups in the region because there's a lot
of interesting stuff going on.
And so there's no plans right now, but what's great
about being an entrepreneur is, if I decide
that there's so much going on here that I need
to be a part of it, then I would consider
to grab some LPs, and maybe raise some capital.
- How much, or rather, how big is your fund right now?
- That fund was deployed, it was a 25 million dollar fund,
and so that, all the capital's deployed,
and so I don't have an active fund right now,
but Vayner/RSE was 25 million.
- And you no plans to raise some more?
- Not right now, no. - Okay.
And I, I mean, your company sell,
who are your biggest investors--
- We don't, we don't have any investors.
We sold a percentage of the company to Steve Ross,
the real estate tycoon and owner of the Dolphins,
but my brother and I took that capital off the table.
So we didn't raise any capital for the company,
and if my brother didn't want money at that time,
we probably wouldn't have sold any piece of it.
And there's no plans to raise any capital.
- [Maha] Thank you, thank you so much--
- Gotta run?
- [Maha] One more question?
- Just the last one? - Yep.
- Okay, so also, actually, in Singapore,
and most of the global PR industry,
there's a lot of consolidation happening.
- Yes.
- Are there any plans to perhaps, you know,
grow your business inorganically
in Singapore or Southeast Asia?
- Meaning me doing M&A? - Yeah.
- Yeah, I think that's very realistic.
We've done some
acquisitions, we bought a publishing company,
PureWow, a couple of years ago, and one
of the things that I am interested
in is spending time auditing the landscape of five
to 50 person shops and capabilities throughout the region
because I think there's a ton of talent,
and some under-priced talent.
And so I wouldn't, I wouldn't count that out.
- So you're looking at, say, buying another agency?
- Yes.
- Okay, any targets right now?
- No, I haven't even, couldn't even name one agency
in any part of Asia.
- Prior to this, was there ground research, that
you send someone to kind of look at the landscape first,
or is this just jumping in?
- This is just jumping in, I mean, this is,
the landscape work we've done is the behavior
of the biggest brands in the market on their executions
on creative and media, against the platforms
that we feel are the most underutilized in,
you know, and so that's the homework we've done,
consumer behavior in the region, what are consumers doing.
And are the brands taking advantage of that
from a media and creative standpoint,
and once the decision made was no,
that's when it was a blind, let's go.
- And the biggest challenge for you?
- Health.
- Oh, sorry, I mean the Singapore operations.
- Making sure the people that run it are healthy.
- [Maha] Thank you so much.
- Awesome, thank you. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you so much.
- [Maha] We have one more, Gary.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- Hello. - Hi.
But firstly, I think we have to ask you,
why do you pick Singapore to set up an office here, why--
- You know, it's my, I'm comfortable with it.
My CFO was a CFO of a large agency here.
I've enjoyed my trips here, a lot
of my global clients' offices are here,
so actually practical, just very practical.
A good place to do business, and a couple serendipitous,
you know, relationships internally
that made me feel comfortable.
- So what's your impression of Singaporeans
to work with, in general?
- Highly disciplined, pretty entrepreneurial,
very creative, you know, the executives
on the big companies here I think have more
entrepreneurial spirit than I've seen in other parts
of the world, including the US.
Polite.
- Oh, wow, okay.
That's not the term always used to describe us.
So you've really created sort of a cult of personality,
in the sense, when you speak across the world,
people follow you not just for your business,
but also for your personality.
Is that something that you consciously build up, do you?
- It's something that I stumbled into in 2011,
'12, '13, '14 that now I'm unbelievably aware of.
And so I think very, you know, I know
you're not gonna be able to reference it,
but I'm sure you're listening.
For me, things are very macro, you know,
very, just way up here, then I live,
then I counterpunch opportunities.
So I, I mean, I was 34 years old the first time
I gave my first speech of my life, it never even crossed
my mind that anybody on earth would ever know
who I was, because I was a businessman.
Then the internet comes along, then YouTube comes along,
then I start making videos, then I write a book,
and then all of a sudden I'm being invited to speak.
And the first time I give a speech,
it was, (claps) I was like, oh my god,
this is, I like this, and I'm good at it.
And so you start doing it, and then you start realizing,
maybe you're really good at it.
And then you start understanding
what it means for all your businesses
when you're building brand, and so, you know,
now I'm very aware of what the top
of the funnel brand awareness I create
for everything I do, whether it's sneakers,
or wine, or my agency.
So yes, and I, you know, it's interesting.
I run 1,000 person marketing communications infrastructure,
and so it's not so easy for me to speak.
And so now I try to be very strategic
about where I speak and why, but it also is something
I'm very aware brings a lot of value
to the overall business ecosystem.
- But when you're speaking, you're kind of bold,
and very straightforward, and very blunt.
Is that your personality in real life, as well,
or is that something-- - Yeah.
I think I manifest differently in interviews
and in videos and onstage than maybe
who I am as an executive, I think I'm,
I think I'm more aggressive when I'm not speaking
to a single human, and I'm speaking to humans.
So I think that's where you see my most
raw part of me, and then I think, ironically,
I'm quite the opposite way when I'm individual.
I think my compassion and kind of my soft skills play out
when it's a human in front of me, versus humans.
So I think there's different versions of all of us,
and I think it's not that it's my shtick
or my persona, it's just, it's just how I communicate
when I'm speaking to a general audience around macro
things.
- So you made really a name for yourself
on social media, and I know you talked a lot
about how important social media is in marketing--
- Yes.
- And a lot of people are making use of it,
a lot of young people are making use of it
to become, like, influencers, travel, food,
it's very saturated, what do you think of that?
Do you think that trend will die out?
- I don't, I think-- - You don't?
- No, I do not, I think the internet infrastructure allows
for KOLs and influencers at scale.
I don't think everybody's destined
to make five million dollars a year being an influencer,
but I think what we're gonna learn is,
there's a very long tail of it, and I think there's a lot
of practical lives to be lived that way.
Today, we view it as somebody who makes a lot of money,
probably, to do something very extreme,
like travel and things of that nature.
I think what's exciting is that there's a lot of people
who make $64,000.00 a year doing something they don't love,
and I believe can make 64,000, or let me use this example,
59,000, or 48,000 speaking about shoes, or cars,
or hair, or wine, and will have much happier lives
for it, and so I don't think we've even begun
to see the long tail of personal brands, influencers.
And I'm excited for humans, because I think a lot
of people are gonna be happier.
- So if you, do you feel that opens
up a lot more opportunity, in that sense?
- I do, I do.
- You've kind of, you know, some people,
some influencers don't really have strong content,
in that sense, it's just photos, and--
- But, but that's what you think.
- Okay, okay.
- You know, and I don't think I'm right, either.
If an audience likes it, then they like it, like, right?
Like, and so does a model got good content?
Like, is somebody who models clothes,
making four million dollars a year,
good at what they do, I guess so, there's a market for it.
So I don't judge if you're funny or overly sexy,
or whatever the hell you're doing.
If an audience decides that it's good,
the audience decides, not me, not you, and I think that
that is something that people struggle with
because we like to impose judgment,
it is the great flaw of human beings.
I tend to let the audience decide.
I genuinely never think I'm right,
I just think I'm analyzing an audience at all times.
And I think too many people walk around with audacity.
- Okay, so another thing I wanted to ask you about is
because I've heard you talk a lot about ads,
and how you think marketing online is really the way forward
to go, what do you think about the ethics
of marketing online, because people are mining data
for everything, your credit card history,
browsing history, voter registration,
and that can really influence things like elections,
for example, what do you think of the ethics of that?
- I think humans are capable of,
of not wanting to be accountable for their actions.
So I think that
ads
that are targeted are a hell of a lot better than ads
that are not targeted, I prefer
that advertisers have all my information
because I do not want to see ads for things
that I'm not interested in.
As far as
elections, those aren't ads, that is propaganda,
and content, and humans choose to believe
what they want to believe, people go on television
and newspapers and read the left and the right, as well.
So I think it's very lazy for us to blame Facebook,
or China, or things of that nature.
There's a ton of people right now
that are pumping propaganda that 5G causes cancer,
and people choose to believe that,
or not choose to believe that.
So I think we're living through an
incredibly interesting era where mainstream media is
desperately scared of the new media platforms,
and so they're pumping a lot of interesting information
that is molding people's decisions.
But as for me, I'd prefer that advertisers had all
my information, because I'm not worried
about them knowing about my credit score,
or my preferences of fruit, or bicycles, or clothes.
I think people love to talk about privacy,
but don't actually believe it.
- What do you mean by they don't believe it?
- I don't think people care about privacy.
- [Interviewer] Okay.
- You've got Russia and China citizens living life knowing
they have no privacy at the macro,
you have naive Americans thinking they did have it,
and ultimately, nobody gives a crap.
You're more than welcome to not put your information
on the internet, you don't like it, don't use the apps.
Instagram's not making you do anything,
WeChat's not making you do anything.
People don't want to be accountable
for their actions, so it's easier
to blame big internet companies, versus blaming yourself.
- Too true, so in the sense, Singapore audience is a bit,
you've worked in the US for, like, 10 years, right?
But the Singapore audience is quite different from,
the demographics is quite different.
So do you think how you might, you know,
marketing to Singaporeans, as well,
some of the concerns that you suspect you have to--
- There's no concerns, I think, you know,
and I think you'll appreciate this.
There's 17,000 different Singaporean audiences,
psychographic, demographic, experiences,
there's no American audience, I think the world's starting
to realize there's two very different Americas,
and then there's 50 different Americans
underneath those two different Americas.
What's amazing about humans is they have many truths,
and then all you have to do is be culturally relevant.
So being able to synthesize the pulse
of a 26-year-old Singaporean single female takes research
and development, and testing of creative.
I don't come in with opinions, I come in listening
and reacting, it doesn't take very long,
if you're willing to listen, so I go into every market very
easily, I just listen, and then I talk.
- So what advice would you have for people
who are looking to make it using the media,
whether they be influencers, or people
who are using the media to sell something?
- By trying not to sell something.
- Oh, okay.
- I think the biggest way to actually build an audience
and create leverage is to bring value, not extract it.
And I think one of the biggest reasons
so many people will not be influencers is
they are sitting right now, thinking,
I'm gonna start this page,
and these people are gonna pay me, or brands are gonna pay
me to put something in front of these people.
But I haven't brought any value to these people yet,
so I don't have any leverage to put this bottle
of coffee, or this T-shirt.
And I think the reason you saw
so many people win four years ago was
they didn't realize they were influencers,
they were just posting their passions and interests,
and they built an audience, and then they leveraged it.
Now you've got a whole generation
who wants to be influencers from day one,
so their intent in making the content is to monetize,
which we feel as an audience, thus we don't give them
our attention, and so the number one strategy
and the number one piece of advice I have is,
actually bring value to your audience
before you ever think about monetizing it.
- So would you ever think of moving to Singapore?
Some people have moved to Singapore after speaking here,
for example. - Yeah.
Definitely not, but that's only because I'm so in love
with New York, I can't even move out of New York City
to the suburbs of New York City.
So I don't think that's in the cards for me,
but I'm unbelievably excited to spend a lot of time here.
Every trip is better than the last one,
as I continue to get to know the city and the people,
and obviously now we've created a structure
that's gonna force me to be here quite a bit,
and so I'm really excited about that.
- So where do you hang out when you come to Singapore?
- Wherever your meetings are. - Oh, okay.
- So I'm not living a, I'm not living a,
I'm living a business life here.
So I haven't begun, I don't even hang out
in New York City, let alone anytime,
so I don't, to me, it's wherever the meeting is,
hotel lobbies, restaurants that clients
or friends or startups want me to go check out.
But it's not been anything of, like, thought.
- Oh, so you haven't actually gone out exploring the food
or the sites or anything like that?
- I've never done that anywhere ever.
- [Maha] We need to wrap up,
we have to do some book signings.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
Do you have one more question?
- Yeah, I know you are in the wine business?
- Yes.
- So I just wanted to ask you if you're planning
to bring that here, or.
- We are, we actually teamed up with Vinomofo,
V-I-N-O-M-O-F-O, and we actually can sell in Singapore.
We're selling in Australia, New Zealand,
and Singapore, so I'm pretty excited about that.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you so much.
- [Photographer] Okay, sir, just a quick photo?
- Yes.
- [Photographer] Just stay there.
- Yep.
- [Photographer] (mumbles) here.
(shutter clicks)
Look down a little bit. (overlapping chattering)
Great, thank you. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
You're welcome.
- All right, thank you so much.
- You're welcome, sign?
- [Maha] Yeah.
- [Gary] Thank you, guys, thank you for your time.
(overlapping chattering)
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- [Danny] Gary (mumbles) his book signing.
- I, this is something I've got down now.
- [Danny] You're crushing it. (laughs)
- Danny, thank you for your time.
- [Danny] Sorry?
- Thank you so much.
- [Danny] Oh, you're most welcome,
Gary, you're most welcome. (quiet overlapping chattering)
- Okay, there.
One more allowed?
Thanks a lot. - Fantastic.
- Thanks again, thanks for doing this.
- Thank you, all the best, cheers.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- You guys are the best, it's like an operation here.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
Thank you. (quiet overlapping chattering)
- [Danny] Could we stand on two of these for the report?
(overlapping chattering)
- What's that?
- Can I take a picture-- - Picture, yes, yes.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Danny] Thank you so much for that.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
I really do appreciate it, it's been a pleasure.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much, friend.
- Thank you, you got it. (overlapping chattering)
- [Danny] Thank you, everyone.
- [Maha] Thank you, everybody.
- Thank you, guys.
- [Maha] Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Assistant] Push back about 10 minutes,
or are we fine for time?
- Am I gonna be 50 then? (overlapping chattering)
- No, but you've, they told me to do 45 and 15,
45, too, I mean, for that keynote, 15 minutes.
(overlapping chattering)
So what we're shooting here is 15 second swipe ups
for all the markets, so we have the list.
Simon will take lead on how he wants to put it,
and then just one 45 second piece
that's just gonna be him commenting--
- So we'll cut it, yeah, so if we,
if you can keep a mark, make sure we stay
on the same page, so what we'll do is we'll just go,
hey, Sydney, hey, Brisbane-- - I get it.
- And then we'll cut it, yeah, so if we--
- What do you want me?
- Finally got your spot, you happy there?
- Yeah, I'm happy with it. (overlapping chattering)
- [Simon] If I'll just get a testing, testing going.
- One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
- Cool.
All right, so we'll start off by just running
with the cities, so hey Sydney, then--
- Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, London, Dubai, India.
(quiet overlapping chattering)
- We'll do, hey, India, and hey, Bangalore,
just 'cause that's where, just to cover--
- [Photography Assistant] And then also Russia,
Saint Petersburg. - We'll do it all, just.
- All right.
- Hey, Sydney.
So just, that's all you want, right?
- [Simon] Yeah, just say Sydney,
then we'll go to the next one.
- Hey, Sydney, hey, Melbourne, hey, Brisbane.
Hey, Auckland, hey, London, what up, Dubai.
Hey, Dubai, hey, India, what's the other one?
- There was a, hey, Bangalore, as well.
- Hey, Bangalore.
- Russia and Saint Petersburg.
- Two separate ones?
- Yeah, hey, Russia, and then, hey, Saint Petersburg.
- Hey, Russia, hey, Saint Petersburg.
(speaking in foreign language)
- Cool, all right, stand on your mark,
and then it's, so this is gonna be for the swipe up,
so try and keep them under 15 seconds.
So a quick spiel, guys, I'm coming to see you,
however you want to word it.
Less than 10 seconds, and then we'll land on,
well, that's it, just give them a quick speil for--
- You're cutting the first part, adding this,
swiping up, right?
- Well, at the end we're gonna go, so swipe up.
- Yep.
- So that's gonna be a third section,
so this is now the middle section,
so about eight, nine seconds would be ideal.
- Understood, and you're gonna use the same one
for all of them? - Exactly.
- Understood, do you want me to finish the whole way
through, this way you don't have to edit.
- If you want to, okay, we'll do that,
and then we'll do it again for, click on the links.
So swipe up-- - We'll see it through.
- (mumbles) swipe up, and then spiel, click link.
- Spiel all, got it, so.
Do you want me to just do the spiel,
and then later we'll do the click, and?
- Let's just do a little take now, yeah.
So we'll do all the swipe ups first, so spiel, swipe up,
and then spiel, click link, we'll do that afterwards.
- I'm coming to bring the great communications
and entrepreneurial keynote to your city.
Swipe up to find out now.
- [Simon] Perfect.
- Okay.
- [Simon] Now the click link.
- I'm coming to give you the content you need
to run your business and to market perfectly
in today's day, click now.
- [Simon] Perfect, now let's do just a big,
a generic spiel for what you're gonna be bringing
to each city, but-- - I can go long, 45 seconds?
- [Simon] Yeah.
- Guys, I'm so excited to be coming to your town.
Really, I'm gonna be giving a state of the union
of where we are in entrepreneurship and marketing.
For me, the last 25 years of my career have been predicated
in a very simple game of, do I know how to run a business,
and do I know how to market to the consumer
in the way they consume content today.
I'll bring you the tips, the tricks,
and the execution needed to win today's day.
- [Simon] Cool.
(overlapping chattering)
Let's do, price on tickets is going up today, so act now.
- Prices on the tickets are going up today, so act now.
- [Simon] Cool, so how was all of that?
So do you want to do 2B57?
- [Man In Suit] No, leave that there, done.
- [Simon] Cool, all right, thank you, mate, appreciate it,
easy. - I mean, it's a whole lot
of practice that goes into that.
- [Simon] Yeah.
- [Production Assistant] I'm ready.
- So we're gonna do a drop for.
- Okay.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
Okay.
- So if you need anything, you just let me know
to make yourself more comfortable.
- [Gary] Thank you, I'm great.
- [Production Assistant] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(slow pop music)
- [Miles] You know what, while we're here,
let me get a shot with you, bro.
- You got it, bro. - Let's do it.
I didn't know you were this tall,
I thought you was real short, bro.
- Thank you, I'll take it.
- Awesome, that's-- - Thank you, bro.
- I'm serious, I thought you were shorter.
I meet a lot of people and they're really short,
but they look tall on TV, you look tall--
- Good, good, I appreciate it.
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] I prayed, I prayed for,
what are the odds? - What's that?
- [DRock] No, he was just saying, another guy has--
- [Assistant] Someone else has the same color shirt
that he has in this room.
- Never, I. (overlapping chattering)
What? (overlapping chattering)
Yeah, so I'm in Singapore, super excited
to give this talk on,
yeah, we've been running it,
like, completely misplayed my flight from LA
to Singapore, slept for six and a half hours,
and I just stayed up, looking up sports cards
on eBay the whole way, paying, like, $8,000.00 in wifi.
So probably the most tired I've ever been going onstage,
which probably sets up, like, a great, yeah, like--
(DRock mumbles)
I feel the adversity is gonna bring a great talk.
So we're just gonna, we're gonna drop our knowledge,
see what happens. (slow electronic music)
(overlapping chattering)
I just want to get everybody.
- All right, so here's what we're gonna do.
Everyone will get content, we want you guys to do is,
we want you guys to put all of your energy,
we're getting ready to take a photo real quick
with all the speakers who are lined up,
and also everyone here, so we're gonna have our.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
A quick little selfie, so if you guys can kind of stand up,
(mumbles) while we take this photo really quick,
and then we're gonna bring more things to do.
(overlapping chattering)
(slow music) (overlapping chattering)
♪ Oh, sometimes I feel real deep, yeah ♪
♪ I gotta figure out, out, out, how I feel ♪
♪ No, no, gotta be, yeah ♪
- [Photographer] Okay, look here, one, two,
three, smile, one more time.
- We're now gonna take, do things with Gary Vee.
Also, I want put something on the screen here,
all the speakers today gave you a lot of great content, yes?
(audience cheers)
So I know you guys probably didn't have the opportunity
to write everything down, so what we have flashed
on the screen right here is a piece of art,
they covered all the content, and it's a real easy-to-learn,
easy way to gain information, so it's up there real quick.
But I want you to put this thing in your heads,
June 12, say, June 12.
- [Audience] June 12.
- Success Resource will email you all the information,
and give you, check your email for content,
and they'll share with you, and guess how much it costs?
It's free, the only thing it costs is your time
to come learn how to do this, so that you can be able
to write down notes fairly quick, good stuff?
- [Audience] Yes.
- All right, so now, we're gonna do something
really cool here, we're going to do a closing song.
- [Maha] Wow.
(audience cheers) (overlapping chattering)
("The Power of the Dream" by Celine Dion)
At least we got the words.
("The Power of the Dream" by Celine Dion)
Oh, it's this song.
("The Power of the Dream" by Celine Dion)
♪ Deep within each heart ♪
♪ There lies a magic ♪
♪ That lights ♪
- Aren't you singing?
♪ That lights the fire of our imagination ♪
♪ And since the dawn of man ♪
♪ The strength of just I can ♪
♪ Has brought together people of all ♪
♪ Nations ♪
♪ There's nothing ordinary ♪
♪ In the living of each day ♪
♪ There's a special part every one of us will play ♪
♪ Feel the flame forever burn ♪
♪ Teaching lessons we must learn ♪
♪ To bring us closer to the power of the dream ♪
♪ As the world gives us its best ♪
♪ To stand apart from all the rest ♪
♪ It is the power of the dream that brings us here ♪
♪ Your mind will take you far ♪
♪ The rest is just your heart ♪
♪ You'll find your fate is all your own creation ♪
♪ And every boy and girl ♪
♪ As they come into this world ♪
♪ They bring the gift of hope and inspiration ♪
♪ Feel the flame forever burn ♪
♪ Teaching lessons we must learn ♪
♪ To bring us closer to the power of the dream ♪
♪ The world unites in hope and peace ♪
♪ We pray that you will always be ♪
♪ It is the power of the dream ♪
♪ That brings us here ♪
- All right, wasn't that good?
(audience applauds)
Well, now we're getting ready to close,
but we're gonna start from this side
with the words of wisdom to close out with you guys.
- Actually, my name is Ken, I work
for the Success Resources, the notes
that you saw onscreen were done by me,
and it's our gift to you, and we'd love
to teach you how to do it yourself,
so enjoy the slides June 12th.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi, everybody, Scott again, my philosophy is,
for us to become somebody we've never been,
we have to be able to do something we've never done.
(audience applauds)
- Thank you, my name is Michael,
I'm the Director of Success Resources.
I've been doing this for 16 years alongside these guys,
and I was a part of the team
who put the 25 year NAC Tour Anniversary together,
and what's special about that is, 25 years ago,
these guys created the first NAC.
About 25 years later, we're starting it here
in Singapore again, and we're taking this around the world.
I want to say a thank you for being a part of it,
I want to say thank you to Gary for being a part of that,
as well, and to Richard Vorinko
for making this dream happen.
Thanks, guys. (audience cheers)
(panel applauds) (audience applauds)
- Thank you. (audience applauds)
Now, this event would not have happened if it's not
for the team, so I want all of us to help me
to thank the team, who's all in the back of the room,
just clap. (audience applauds)
Thanks all of you in the team.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
And thank all of you for surely coming,
so keep doing, okay, thank you, bye bye.
(audience applauds)
- Thank you.
- I got you.
- There's one guy in the room, other than anybody else,
none other than our MC, Miles,
so let's give him a big hand, thank you, Miles.
(audience applauds)
And there's a lot of people doing this, so let's,
another big hand. (audience applauds)
(background noise drowns out speaker)
So we are always, we are always looking for people to serve
and the best way, the Protege Program, all plays a part.
Before I pass this to Gary for the last, last final word,
I (mumbles) and each and every one of you is,
is fight for your dream, and your dream will fight for you.
Don't stop when you're tired, stop only when it is?
- [Audience] Done.
- Done, thank you. - Yeah.
(audience applauds)
- Good. (audience applauds)
Thank you for listening to the keynote,
I'm really, really just very grateful for your attendance
and attention, look, the odds of being a human being,
currently, by modern scientists, is 400 trillion to one.
The fact that you are even a person is
so ridiculously impossible, you have one life,
please do something with it, thank you.
- Thank you. (audience cheers)
- All right, all the platinum and diamonds,
make your way into the diamond, thank you, guys.
(overlapping chattering) (upbeat music)
- [Photographer] Gary?
- [Gary] Yes?
- [Photographer] Let's do one picture with--
- [Gary] Yes.
Yes, with everybody? (upbeat music)
- [Photographer] Just smile.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
(upbeat music)
(background noise drowns out speaker)
(upbeat music)
- [Maha] Thank you.
- Okay, you're awesome. - Thank you, brother.
- Everybody's waiting for you. (upbeat music)
♪ Looking for a better way to get up out of bed ♪
♪ Instead of getting on the internet ♪
♪ And checking out who hit me, get up ♪
♪ Thrift shop, pimp strut walking ♪
♪ Little bit of humble, little bit of cautious ♪
♪ Somewhere between like Rocky and Cosby ♪
♪ Sweater game, nope, nope y'all can't copy ♪
♪ Yup, bad ♪
- [Maha] Thank you so much.
♪ This here is our party ♪
♪ Our posse's been on Broadway ♪
♪ And we did it our way, grown music ♪
♪ I shed my skin and put my bones ♪
♪ Into everything I record to it ♪
♪ And yet I'm on ♪
♪ Let that stage light go ♪
- [Production Assistant] Careful.
♪ Shine on down ♪
♪ Got that Bob Barker suit game and plinko in my style ♪
♪ Money, stay on my craft and stick around for those pounds ♪
♪ But, I do that to pass the torch and put on for my town ♪
♪ Trust me, on my I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T shit ♪
♪ Hustling, chasing dreams since I was 14 ♪
♪ With the four track busing ♪
♪ Halfway cross that city with the backpack ♪
♪ Fat cat, crushing labels out here ♪
♪ No, they can't tell me nothing ♪
♪ We give that to the people ♪
♪ Spread it across the country ♪
♪ Labels out here ♪
♪ No, they can't tell me nothing ♪
♪ We give it to the people ♪
♪ Spread it across the country ♪
♪ Can we go back, this is the moment ♪
♪ Tonight is the night, we'll fight till it's over ♪
♪ So we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us ♪
♪ Like the ceiling can't hold us ♪
- [Man In Blue Jacket] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
♪ Now can I kick it, thank you ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm so damn grateful ♪
♪ I grew up, really wanted gold fronts ♪
♪ But that's what you get when Wu-Tang raised you ♪
♪ Y'all can't stop me ♪
♪ Go hard like I got 808 in my heartbeat ♪
♪ And I'm eating at the beat like you gave a little speed ♪
♪ To a great white shark on Shark Week ♪
♪ We raw, time to go off, I'm gone ♪
♪ Deuces goodbye, I got a world to see ♪
♪ And my girl, she wanna see Rome ♪
♪ Caesar make you a believer ♪
♪ No, I never ever did it for a throne ♪
♪ That validation comes from giving it back to the people ♪
♪ No, sing a song and it goes like this ♪
♪ Raise those hands, this is our party ♪
♪ We came here to live life like nobody was watching ♪
♪ I got my city right behind me, if I fall, they got me ♪
♪ Learn from that failure, gain humility ♪
♪ And then we keep marching I said ♪
♪ Can we go back, this is the moment ♪
♪ Tonight is the night, we'll fight till it's over ♪
♪ So we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us ♪
♪ Like the ceiling can't hold us ♪
♪ Can we go back, this is the moment ♪
♪ Tonight is the night, we'll fight till it's over ♪
♪ So we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us ♪
(overlapping chattering) (upbeat music)
♪ So we put our hands up ♪
- [Gary] I got it, it's signed.
(overlapping chattering) (slow music)
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you, Gary. - You're welcome, brother.
- [Fan] Thank you so much.
- [Gary] You're welcome, thank you for coming.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Miles] All right, guys, we want everybody
to head over to the platinum and diamond lounge.
You got your ticket, get ready to work your way over
to the platinum and diamond lounge.
- Thank you. - You got it.
(upbeat music) (overlapping chattering)
Hi. (overlapping chattering)
I hope so. - Nice.
- Thank you for coming. (overlapping chattering)
♪ Can we go back, this is the moment ♪
♪ Tonight is the night ♪
- [Gary] You're welcome.
(overlapping chattering)
We gotta go? (overlapping chattering)
Whose is this? (overlapping chattering)
You're welcome. (overlapping chattering)
- Let's get you de-mic'd.
- You got it. (overlapping chattering)
- [Production Assistant] All right, 30 seconds.
- [Gary] Yes.
(overlapping chattering) (upbeat music)
- So this is the question I gotta ask, man.
I lead with the heart, I do breakthrough summits,
and the biggest thing is that I really overcame the abuse
with my father as a young boy, and I faced him as a man.
And that breakthrough has allowed me to be more authentic,
more real with people, and now I'm taking that same message.
And when you said, "Most of the problems happen
"with the parents," yes, that was so true.
And it's been, it was affecting everything in my life.
- Everything.
- I was successful, but there was something missing,
and that was that insecurity and the love I didn't get
from them. - That's right.
- So how do I go about continuously sharing that message,
but allowing my dad not to feel the way he felt?
But we shared that moment, but I want to take it public now,
and just let him know that I love him,
it was true what happened, I forgave him,
and now I'm gonna share it publicly.
- You just crushed that, you say that to him,
and then you hedge it up front every time you go there.
You make it clear, I do the same thing,
listen, there was a lot of friction
for me and my dad, too, but I make it very clear
that I love him with all my heart.
Not everything was perfect, not everything's perfect
with anybody, but you're right, that truth.
- Yeah.
- Like, it took me 10 years to even mention
that my mom's dad went to jail for 10 years in Russia,
'cause everybody Jewish had it, you know?
Like, we're always growing into sharing more truths,
and so that's how you do it, hedge it, hedge it up front,
so it doesn't make your dad feel terrible,
but it still gives everybody the truth.
- [Miles] Man, I appreciate that.
- [Gary] You got it, brother, see you later.
- [Miles] Later.
- All right, where we going, thank you, everyone.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Red] Gary.
- Yes? - Remember me?
- Yes, I do, it's good to see you, how have you been?
- [Man In Red] I promise you, it's ready, the--
- It's ready?
- [Man In Red] The artist proof.
- Oh, man. - This is for you to sign.
- [Gary] Oh, thank you so much.
- [Man In Red] Here, and I sign, and then.
- [Gary] Dude, that's amazing.
- I don't want you want to do, but.
- Oh, there it is, yes.
- It's all here, minis for Tyler, Caesar, and--
- [Gary] It's fucking amazing.
- And Tyler got the most photos.
- Yes. - DRock's again.
- What can I do, sign? - Sign here.
Then it kind of, like, six months ago,
what we wanted to do, we're gonna do it
with this signature together, yeah.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much, brother.
(overlapping chattering)
Sign it? - Sign it, just sign it.
Thank you very much. - You're welcome.
- So it's all here.
- [Gary] Dude, I'm so proud of you, dude.
- [Man In Red] Thank you--
- [Gary] You're really doing it.
- [Man In Red] (mumbles) in Indonesia, right?
- [Gary] What's that?
- [Man In Red] Paxton from Salling Group?
Yeah, he told me about.
- Yes, I'm so proud of you, dude, to keep this family,
like, I need this. (overlapping chattering)
- Which is the third generation--
- I know, I know, I know, it's good to see you, bro.
You've been well? - I'm good, I'm good.
- Hi, Gary, can you (mumbles) this sign?
- Yes.
- Can we take a photo? - We can.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
- [Gary] You're welcome.
- [Man In Red] This is 3D office.
- [Sherman] Hi, Gary, I'm Sherman, nice to meet you.
- So nice to meet you, how are you?
- [Man In Red] He did the 3D rendering,
I send to Thailand.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much, okay, real quick.
- [Director] We've got to (mumbles) right here,
come on here, please. - You ready?
- [Director] No, no, no.
- [Maha] Gary, we just want to get a photo
with him, with you.
- [Gary] Yes, okay, one second.
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] One, two, five.
- Sorry. (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Red] Thanks, Gary.
- [Gary] So proud of you, brother, it's great to see you.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Woman In Black Blazer] Thank you.
- [Masha] Hey, Gary, what's up?
- [Gary] Hi, I love that you snuck out--
- [Masha] Say something nice, my name is Masha.
(overlapping chattering) (speaking in foreign language)
- [Director] Yeah, fast, please.
(speaking in foreign language)
(slow electronic music) (overlapping chattering)
- Okay, so we'll do this quick, easy, and fast.
Fast. (speaking in foreign language)
Gary needs to catch a flight, 'cause he needs to be
in (mumbles) quickly, so there's one official photographer.
You can pick up your photos on the website link
that we will give to you, it will be really quick,
no personal photos, no selfies, so a really quick one.
And then off the stage, Gary, off the stage,
and then we'll get through everybody really quickly.
Can we do this, okay, thank you so much.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] You're welcome, right there?
- [Miles] Most of this rather quickly, and I'm gonna be
directing traffic, so you come up, take your photo.
- [Production Assistant] Thank you, Gary.
- [Miles] Say goodbye.
- [Gary] You're welcome.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Miles] One camera.
- [Production Assistant] Nice to see you,
thank you. - Good to see you.
- [Director] If they're taking a long time,
Gary, don't sign. - Okay.
- [Director] No signing.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Anthony] Just a quick one, that's all, so Anthony.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Photographer] One, two, three, wait.
- Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
- It's a natural reaction. - I know, I'm gonna go.
- Next, please? (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you for your question.
(overlapping chattering)
Of course. (overlapping chattering)
Of course.
- [Photographer] All right, one, two, three, okay.
- So next, please. - Congratulations.
- [Fan] Thank you.
- [Gary] Pleasure.
- [Fan] Love you.
- [Gary] Love you back.
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
- Thank you very much. - So nice to see you.
- [Gym Owner] Hey, man, a pleasure.
- Thank you so much for your question.
- I own a gym in Indonesia, can I be your trainer
for free when you're here?
- Send me an email, put it in the title.
- This is for you, man. - Thank you so much, Steve?
- [Fan] Can we do a show down?
- [Gary] We can.
- [Fan] Like this.
- [Gary] I got it.
- [Fan] So I was trying to be an MME fighter.
- [Gary] Good for you, awesome.
- [Fan] Thank you, I'm so inspired, thank you.
- [Photographer] Next, please.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] How are you, good to see you.
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
(speaking in foreign language)
- All right, next, please? (speaking in foreign language)
- How are you? - Hi.
(overlapping chattering)
- Awesome, take care. (overlapping chattering)
- What's up? - How are you?
- Yeah, good.
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
(overlapping chattering)
- Nice to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
How are you? - All right.
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
- Oh, awesome (mumbles).
- Thank you, thank you, brother, it's good to see you, hi.
- [Fan In Red Dress] This one, they make a movie based
on my life story, so I already sign for you.
- [Gary] I love it, thank you.
- [Fan In Red Dress] Thank you.
- Thank you for coming. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- How are you, brother? - How are you, man?
- Looking sharp, bro.
- (mumbles) it's nice to see you, man.
- Thank you so much, thank you, I hope you enjoyed.
- Hey, Gary, here's your painting.
- Man, that's amazing, dude.
- You like it? - I like it a lot.
- Yeah, you can-- - It's incredible.
Yeah, of course. (overlapping chattering)
Great work. - Thank you.
- Thank you so much, put out content for them,
not for the funnel, then it will come.
- [Painter] Okay, sure.
(overlapping chattering)
- I get some energy from you. - Cool, such a pleasure.
(overlapping chattering) (speaking in foreign language)
- It's always a. (mumbles)
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
- So good to see you, brother, thank you.
Thank you so much, brother. (overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary. - How are you?
(man in black shirt mumbles)
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Such a pleasure. - Thank you so much.
- Take care. - Thank you so much.
- Hi, Gary Vee, I'd love to work for you at VaynerMedia.
- Is this a real, I gotta go check it out.
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
(overlapping chattering)
- I have a T-shirt for you. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you, yeah, I'll take it, Steve?
- Gary, thank you very much for everything.
- Thank you for those kind words, sorry for your loss.
- [Woman In Yellow] It's hard, but hey.
- [Gary] The problem is there's no alternatives, right,
you just gotta move.
- You're a blessing in disguise, thank you so much.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
How are you? (overlapping chattering)
Thank you for coming, I hope you enjoyed.
- Thank you very much, thank you--
- Thanks for shaking your head at the right moments,
I noticed you in the crowd, you know,
sometimes you see somebody who gets it,
I saw you. - Thank you very much.
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- My man.
- So quantity, or quality content?
- Both. (overlapping chattering)
You can do both. - Really?
- 'Cause nobody gets to decide quality.
- Okay, but if you are to do it every day.
- But if the audience likes it, it is quality.
- Okay. - You understand?
Don't let your insecurities disguise as perfection,
decide quantity or quality, do you understand?
- How you doing? - Hi.
- Great to meet you. - Such a pleasure.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you. - Thank you so--
- Hope you enjoyed, take care.
- Gary, my man. - How are you?
- I'm good. - It's a pleasure.
- I've been touched by your message about the kids.
- Thank you. - I'll DM you.
- Please. - Let's work together.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much. - You take care now.
Have a good trip. - You too.
Have a great day. - Hello, Gary Vee.
- How are you, bro, good to see you.
- Thank you, thank you for coming here.
(overlapping chattering)
- It's great to be here. - Thank you so much.
- Take care of yourself. (overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary. - Hi.
- Thanks for coming down. - Thank you.
Thanks for saying that. (overlapping chattering)
I hope you enjoy. - Thanks, I did.
(overlapping chattering)
- We're going up, we're going together, brother and sister.
- Let's do it, such a pleasure.
- Thanks for coming on focus, it was really good.
- That makes me happy, yeah, I saw you guys reacting--
- Thanks, man. - Thanks.
- Yeah, good luck. - Cheers.
- Cheers. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much. - You're welcome so much.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Thank you.
- Take care. - Have fun.
- Thank you, my friend.
- I'm one of the old fuckers, Gary.
- Hey, I get it, me too, brother, it's great to see you.
(overlapping chattering)
I hope you enjoyed it. - I did, fantastic.
- Thank you. - Keep up the good work.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- Hi. - How are you?
- Thank you so much. - You're welcome.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you so much, brother, take care.
(overlapping chattering)
How are you? - Gary Vee.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you so much. (overlapping chattering)
- Can you take a photo with my new book--
- You got it. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Okay, thank you.
- Thank you, take care. (overlapping chattering)
- How are you? - Thanks, Gary.
- You're welcome. (overlapping chattering)
I hope you enjoyed. - Yeah, I did.
- Thank you. - Thank you for your answer,
man. - You're welcome.
- I brought you one of my books.
- Thank you. - As a gift.
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
- I want to hug you. - Please.
Have a great day. - Thank you.
- You smell great. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- How are you? (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi.
- Gary, you've changed my life.
- Thank you, that makes me so happy, you well?
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
- I hope you enjoyed today. - Yes, I did.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Here you go, man. - How are you, brother?
- [Man With Badge] I'm good.
- [Photographer] One, two, three.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you for coming. - Thanks, man.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hey, man, hi. - How are you?
- Good. - I hope you enjoyed.
Yes, of course. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you for coming, take care.
(overlapping chattering)
How are you, a pleasure. (overlapping chattering)
I hope you enjoyed. - Thank you.
- Yeah, take care. (overlapping chattering)
(speaking in foreign language)
Hi. - Hi.
- How are you guys, how are you?
How you doing? - Good, good, I'm good.
(overlapping chattering)
Can you do a quick sign? - Yes, you got a pen?
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - You're welcome.
- Thank you. - Bye bye.
- Bye. (overlapping chattering)
- Hi, thank you so much. - Hi, you're welcome.
- [Photographer] Okay, one, two, three.
- Thank you for coming. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary, nice meeting you-- - It's a pleasure.
Thank you so much. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you for coming. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary. - How are you?
- Real good, thank you. - Pleasure.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you for coming. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Nice to meet you, man. - Nice to meet you, bro.
How are you? - Great.
Thanks for all the tactics, we're running good companies.
(overlapping chattering)
- Makes me happy, take care. (overlapping chattering)
- Gary, I'm from Taiwan, this is your--
- Thank you. - I'll pass it.
- And really, thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - You're welcome.
(speaking in foreign language)
I will. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you, my friend, thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary, nice to know you. - How are you?
- I'm good. - Thanks for coming.
- Thank you for coming. (overlapping chattering)
- You enjoyed? - Yeah.
Sure, of course, very much. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Nice to meet you. - So nice to meet you.
- Oh, yes. - You enjoyed?
- Yes, very, very much. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you so much. - Thank you very much.
- You're welcome. - Okay.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary. - How are you?
- Great. - Pleasure.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Thank you, Gary.
(overlapping chattering)
- Hi. - How are you?
- Nice meeting you, man. - Real pleasure.
(overlapping chattering)
I hope you enjoyed. - Yeah, I enjoyed very much.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Hi, brother, how are you? - Not bad.
- So good to see you. (overlapping chattering)
I hope you enjoyed. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- How are you, so good, good to see you.
- Good to see you. (overlapping chattering)
- I hope you enjoyed the keynote.
- Thank you. - Thank you, take care.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Man Wearing Glasses] Good to see you.
- Thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you so much, thank you for coming.
(overlapping chattering)
- Gary, she's our GM in China, she's the chair
of the China market. - Thank you,
how are you? - So I was thinking,
yeah, very well, so I was thinking--
- We are thinking of bringing you to Japan, or (mumbles).
- Oh, fantastic.
- You've been in China, maybe,
because I want to find out a little bit more
about your China set, how you do it.
- Happy to talk to you about it.
- Yeah, okay. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you. - Okay, thank you.
- Such a pleasure to meet you. (overlapping chattering)
Hi. (overlapping chattering)
- I came from Russia, you know you're coming to Russia--
- I know. - I'm so excited.
(overlapping chattering)
(speaking in foreign language)
- Yes, so we'll see you soon,
we heard you're doing (mumbles) Masterminds, so we wanted
to invite you to do something during together--
- Okay, let's talk, please. (speaking in foreign language)
- [Man In Blue Suit] Yeah, he speaks Russian, huh?
- Uh-huh. - What's going on, man?
- How are you, brother? - Very good, very good, man.
(overlapping chattering)
I'm gonna be helping you a lot in Russia and Kazakhstan.
- I can't wait.
- Business (mumbles) successful--
- Awesome. (overlapping chattering)
- Look forward to seeing-- - Looking forward to it.
- What you're doing, man. - Thank you, brother.
- Hi. (overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] How are you?
- Very good. - Good.
(overlapping chattering)
Great to see you again. - Great to see you again.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] What's been going on?
- I've been busy with my podcast.
I just recently did one with Grant Cardone.
- I love it. - Yeah.
- It's great. - So I'm thinking of,
how do I scale it up, like, scale the podcast
to do more downloads, and et cetera?
- Instagram story ads. - Instagram story ads?
- Against people that follow other entrepreneurs.
- Okay. - It will work.
- Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
- He's our partner for--
- And when you do that, you swipe,
swipe up to your subscribe page.
(overlapping chattering)
The ad, you say, swipe up to listen, got it?
When you have Grant on, you target fans of Grant.
(overlapping chattering)
- Gotta talk with another people.
- How are you?
- [Woman In Plaid Pants] Russia, from Poland.
- Such a pleasure.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] Please come, nice to meet you.
- So nice to meet you, how are you?
- [Woman In Plaid Pants] We want to invite you to Poland.
- Let's go, I'm super into it, I mean,
it's very close, let's go right now.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] Next year, yeah?
- I would love to. (overlapping chattering)
- No, maybe this year. (overlapping chattering)
- Such a pleasure. - Why not?
- I'm, listen, it's very close to Babruysk,
you know, it's like my, back of my neighborhood.
- Yeah, we'll take you on a date with Lenny.
- Awesome. (overlapping chattering)
- Hi, Gary, this is a dream come true to see you.
- [Gary] Thank you, brother.
- You inspire me to document my life.
- [Gary] Thank you, brother.
- [Man In Ball Cap] Big deal.
- Thank you, brother. (overlapping chattering)
It makes me very happy, take care.
- Give me a hug. - You got it, brother.
- [Man In Ball Cap] Thank you.
- You're welcome very much. - Thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
- I love you, Gary. (overlapping chattering)
- I love you back, brother. (overlapping chattering)
Good to see you. (overlapping chattering)
- I already took a photo with you.
- I'm aware.
- So I just want to ask you two questions.
I want work for you when you're here,
so how do I reach you? - At VaynerMedia.
We go through all our email.
- I'm also doing an interview series,
I wanted to see how I can reach out,
like, (mumbles) my friend, and--
- If you send me an email to Gary at VaynerMedia,
the first one, I'll put you in the process,
second one, I don't want to bullshit you,
we're trying to do less, because I'm running out of time,
but tell me why the show is right,
and I'll take a look at it. - Okay.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you so much. - Good to see you.
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you, Gary. - Such a pleasure.
- Nice to see you again. - It's good to see you--
- We took a, a selfie last year.
- Let's do it again. - Thank you.
- No selfie, no time-- - Thank you.
- Take care. (overlapping chattering)
- Looking sharp, brother. (overlapping chattering)
- I was loving those kicks, man,
by the way. - Thank you, brother.
- I was checking them out. - Thank you, bro.
- Yeah, yeah. (overlapping chattering)
Yeah, we gotta do American, I used to the Asian thumbs up.
- I know, it's a pleasure, bro.
- Yeah, man. - Real pleasure.
Take care of yourself. (overlapping chattering)
Hi, how are you? - Hi.
(overlapping chattering)
- How are you, hi. - We've been following you
for years. - Thank you, hi, team, hi.
- [Team] Hi.
- Hi. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you, thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you so much. (overlapping chattering)
- Can I have one with you? - Please.
(overlapping chattering)
- I'm working out the date (mumbles) for Japan.
- Thank you, I'd love to go, I've never been.
- I'm taking care of Japan. - I've never been.
I, there's a lot of fans there, too, so.
- Yeah, that's right. - Thank you.
- Good? (overlapping chattering)
- [Miles] Could you follow me on social media?
- 100%. - I'm gonna tag you.
I'm gonna tag you on that-- - Tag me on Instagram.
On Instagram, okay, I'll find it, I'll do it.
(overlapping chattering)
Yes, real quick, come on, quick, I just don't want
to get in trouble. - Yeah, a quick one.
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] Sorry, he's got a flight to catch.
- [Gary] Turn around, turn around, turn around.
- [DRock] Quick, quick, quick, quick.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Fan] Last question, one more, could you?
- [Gary] Go ahead, they're not gonna let that happen.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Assistant] He's got a flight to catch.
Sorry, guys, sorry, guys. (overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] He cannot miss his flight, guys.
- Gary, how would you attempt to change hearts
and mind of people whose culture is so (mumbles)
with the pleasing and honoring others, especially parents?
- Through action, like-- - Through action.
- Like, through action, like, the only way to,
how do you learn how to swim, you jump in the pool.
- Absolutely.
- When you're scared to kiss a girl for the first time,
there's only one way to fix it, you kiss a girl.
You don't want to disappoint your parents,
you're scared, you have to disappoint them.
- Got it. - The end.
Action. - Got it, action.
Thank you, Gary. (overlapping chattering)
- Can you do a short video, just say something about Japan,
culturally in Japan? (overlapping chattering)
- Japan, it's Gary Vee, I am so fired up
to finally come and give the great keynote
of our time, I've been dying for this trip.
Japan, I will not let you down.
(overlapping chattering)
I don't know. (laughs)
They're working on it. (overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] Somebody's doing it.
(Gary laughs)
(overlapping chattering)
- What, coming in 2029. (overlapping chattering)
Japan, 2037, I'm gonna bring the house down.
(overlapping chattering)
Sure, real quick. (overlapping chattering)
Quick, quick, I'm gonna miss this flight.
(overlapping chattering)
Come on. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you for your question, bro.
- [Woman In Blue Dress] I left my husband.
(overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] Once you tell him the truth up front,
then you can do everything, you understand?
- Hi, Gary, thank you so much. - You're welcome.
- [Man In Maroon Shirt] Thank you, all right, thank you.
- [Gary] Awesome, take care.
- [Man In Maroon Shirt] Thank you, have a safe trip.
- [Fan] Bye, Gary.
- [Gary] Bye, guys, thank you for coming.
(overlapping chattering)
Let's go, let's go, let's go, boys.
(overlapping chattering)
Walk along, walk along. (overlapping chattering)
You guys couldn't have the cameras ready?
What the fuck, let's go. (overlapping chattering)
- [Man In Ball Cap] Hey, Gary, it's my birthday,
can you just wish me-- (overlapping chattering)
- Happy birthday, bro. (overlapping chattering)
Let's go, let's go. (overlapping chattering)
- Gary, I just want to ask you one question.
- Yes. (overlapping chattering)
- Here it is. (overlapping chattering)
Okay, you know how you told me, you told me to,
keep preaching that you have to post content every day,
every single day, how do you start off,
how do you kickstart the content?
- You just did it. - Like this, just this?
(overlapping chattering)
- Dude, it's all about judgment, you can't worry
about how many likes it gets, or what people say.
The only reason you don't post is you're worried about
what people are gonna say. (overlapping chattering)
Do you understand? (overlapping chattering)
Let's go, real fast, let's go, fast.
(overlapping chattering)
Got it? (overlapping chattering)
Got it. (overlapping chattering)
- [Photographer] Thank you, thank you, thank you.
(overlapping chattering)
All right. (overlapping chattering)
- [Assistant] Thank you, thank you.
Flight's leaving, hurry up, guys.
(overlapping chattering)
Come on, Gary cannot miss his flight,
come on, guys. - Thank you, Gary.
- You're welcome, guys. (overlapping chattering)
- [Photographer] I've got it, look at me, look at me.
- Quick one, quick one, last one.
All right, thank you, guys. (overlapping chattering)
- [Gary] All right, guys, appreciate it.
Thank you, take care. (overlapping chattering)
(overlapping chattering)
- [Fan] How do I get on your podcast?
- Listen, it's very simple, it's Gary at VaynerMedia.
If you say something compelling, it becomes real.
That's it, you gotta convince us.
- [Fan] Thank you.
- See you, thank you so much, thank you, guys.
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Now I can't, I've got to get in it for a day.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [DRock] Well, if we can figure out the--
(overlapping chattering)
- I said, hey, everybody, I said, friends, listen to me.
(speaking in foreign language)
I'm not sure how you think.
(speaking in foreign language)
(slow electronic music)
- [DRock] What?
- I said, but I can definitely tell you this,
DRock's a big idiot. (group laughs)
(slow electronic music)
Actually, this Russia thing is starting
to sound exciting to me.
- [Maha] You're like, I have kind of some good content here.
(slow electronic music)
(overlapping chattering)
- Thank you, thank you. (overlapping chattering)
Thank you, thank you, I'm thrilled to be here.
(overlapping chattering)
Thank you. (overlapping chattering)
So thank you guys so much for being here,
I'm super pumped, actually, the only thing I'll say is,
super excited for intros, and the one recommendation
I'll have is, I think we should have one conversation.
One conversation is always a lot of fun
in these environments, and it keeps it, like,
not, like, you only talk to those people.
So I will give thoughts while we,
while we go around and intro for the opening subject matter,
and then we'll just let it ebb and flow.
(overlapping chattering)
Yeah, I don't what the, do you have any sense of
who might or might not come from the group?
- [Facilitator] I think we're gonna do it to (mumbles).
- Cool, yeah, I think that's a good idea.
Yeah, awesome, we'll wait for two seconds.
For now you can do not group conversation while we,
while we tighten it up, and then we'll tighten it up
and get into intros, dude, that is.
All right, first question, we're gonna go right back
around the room, Maha, so I know you're texting somebody,
but now you have to focus.
I'm curious, so I'm unbelievably passionate about voice
and audio, I think it's very clear to me,
like, the same patterns that have made me successful around
what is obvious consumer behavior, but not at scale yet,
is how I think about Alexa and Google Home,
and whatever other competitors they'll have globally.
But actually, I'm gonna go slightly different,
which is, I'm curious, very simple starting question,
do you listen to podcasts, and if you do,
what are you listening to, and how much more do you listen
to it now than you did 24 or 36 months ago, Maha?
- [Maha] I listen daily.
- To how many things?
- [Maha] I listen to The Daily New York Times,
every single day, it's 20 minutes, I can't miss it.
I listen to dramas, so Blackout with Rami Malek is
really good, I listen to the Gary, I listen to your show.
I listen to How I Built This, and Comments by Celebs,
gotta have some entertainment in there.
- So you're consuming a ton? - Yeah, I do.
I have it on, like, so Joe Rogan's ones are really long,
so on the weekends, I'll put it on,
and leave it on in the house on, like, a Saturday.
But I listen in the car, and I listen when I work out,
and when (mumbles).
- And The New York Times one is, like, your go-to,
'cause that's how you know what's happening in the world?
- [Maha] Yeah, and it's also super smart,
and they bring interesting people.
It's not news, some of it's news of the day,
but some of it's, like-- - Takes?
- [Maha] Longer form content on an issue,
you know, just, it's really interesting.
- Awesome.
- [Dinner Guest] I don't listen to a lot of podcasts, but--
- Ever?
- [Dinner Guest] Seldom, but when I do,
it's actually for my quiet time with God.
So, like, I use it for (mumbles) church,
so that's where I actually (mumbles).
- That's really cool, okay?
- [Dinner Guest] I have created podcasts for work.
- Good for you. (overlapping chattering)
- [Dinner Guest] But I actually don't listen
that much because I'm trying to read more, so--
- Read more? - Yeah.
So I'm not, personally I don't--
- I understand, Aves?
- [Avery] I love podcasts, similar to Maha,
I love The Daily, Michael Barbaro is my guy.
(overlapping chattering)
But I'm more of an audiobook listener,
actually, I love to listen to books,
especially when I'm walking around, love a book.
And one really interesting execution
of podcasts that I think is awesome
that I think about a lot is Chompers,
if any of you guys have kids, it's a podcast basically made
to make kids brush their teeth, which is so fun.
But the twist is, of course, that it's sponsored
by Crest, which I think is really interesting,
to see how, like, and it's downloaded a ton,
used by-- (overlapping chattering)
It's by Crest. (overlapping chattering)
- Toothpaste. - Toothpaste brand.
- [Dinner Guest] How?
- [Maha] It's a two minute podcast,
the length that a child needs to brush their teeth
in the morning and the evening because they can't,
parents can't get their kids to brush their teeth,
so they make it entertaining, dragons,
monsters, they story tell, it's really good.
- [Avery] Yeah, and they're also launching it
in different languages very soon.
- Very cool. (overlapping chattering)
- [Dinner Guest] I don't listen to podcasts,
but it sounds like I'm missing out on a lot.
(group laughs)
Sorry, I don't know. (laughs)
- [Dinner Guest] I don't listen to podcasts so much,
the only one I listen to is opera podcasts,
and I listen to audiobooks, for me,
it's been quite revolutionary, because I'm not a,
I learn through hearing, so-- - Me, too.
- [Dinner Guest] So that really helped me,
the whole shift to audio, it's been like,
oh, that's so much easier. - Me, too.
Yeah, I can't contain information from reading at all,
to the point where, like, company emails
that are important, my reply is,
let's get on the phone for three minutes.
Like, I literally, like, at that basic of a level,
which explains a lot for my report cards,
but, like, it's, like, in the last couple of years,
I'm like, wow, I'm not even willing
to read four sentences from an employee.
If I can indicate from the title or the first sentence
that it's important, I, like, literally reply
with, like, get on the phone with me for three minutes,
let me hear it.
- [Dinner Guest] Do you guys use Slack, or--
- Oh, Slack's the biggest problem,
my company's only vulnerability is Slack.
(group laughs)
- [Dinner Guest] Explain that.
- I will, Slack is a complete infrastructure
of communication in our company,
but it has 700,000 sub-Slacks for escapism.
So it's great, you know, but the reality is,
people literally spend an enormous amount of time
on sub, no business-related stuff.
Which is fine, like, I'm not, like,
but it's extreme. - I see.
- Which, especially, as you can imagine,
manifests in fun conversations, where people come to me
and say they need more team members on their business.
And I was like, you know, if some
of your team members didn't spend four and a half hours
on Slack bullshitting,
maybe you wouldn't need eight more people.
- [DRock] I never listen to podcasts,
I mean, I film and edit them. (group laughs)
But I will say that over the weekend, I did work out,
and I was listening to my first Joe Rogan podcast.
- Ever?
- [DRock] And I was like, I only listen to music,
and I love music, but when I was working out,
I listened to it-- - Who, who is he?
- He was a guy (mumbles).
- Yeah, I'm getting bombarded with that today,
and he follows me, and everybody, like,
is all about him after that interview.
- [DRock] That's good.
- Yeah.
- [Dinner Guest] Do you generally not listen to them
because it's your work, and you want to take a break--
- [Nerd] Yeah, I'm either filming or listening.
- [Dinner Guest] So it's kind of like a.
(overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] Yeah.
- [Dinner Guest] Okay.
- [DRock] So I kind of just let it go into my (mumbles).
- [Dinner Guest] Okay.
- [Dinner Guest] Yeah, I don't do a lot of podcasts,
except listening to silence, and mainly
because when I do longer runs, 45 minutes or.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
For me, but I like listening to music a lot more, so.
- [Dinner Guest] I listen to a lot of music,
but I do listen to (mumbles) podcast.
I listen to at least two of his podcasts a week--
- At least two a week? - Yeah.
(overlapping chattering)
And it's also 'cause when I work, I can't listen
to somebody else speaking while I'm doing my work, so I--
- Me neither.
- [Dinner Guest] I don't really have much time for that, I--
- I need, I actually, when I work,
I need to listen to the same exact song on repeat.
- [Dinner Guest] Which song is that?
- Whatever the song of the moment is, like.
- [Dinner Guest] So does that make the people around
you want to kill you, or?
- It's in ear, you know.
- [Dinner Guest] Only in private, yeah.
- Only private.
- [Dinner Guest] Is it the movie soundtrack making
your whole world experience feel--
- [Dinner Guest] So you don't get distracted, so you?
- It becomes white noise.
- [Dinner Guest] I don't listen to podcasts.
What I do is sort of my own version of it,
and it's usually when I walk a lot.
Before living in Singapore, I guess
I walked a decent amount, and I'll put on a YouTube video
that doesn't require me to be watching it,
so, like, I'll watch it with the time difference.
I'll watch, like, the opening monologue of Colbert
or something, and I'll cue it up,
stick it in my pocket, and then that becomes my journey--
- Yep.
- [Dinner Guest] And I'll listen to all that,
and I can sort of catch up on the stuff.
- [Dinner Guest] A lot of people do that.
- [Dinner Guest] Yeah.
- Yeah.
- [Dinner Guest] I have a short commute,
so I just started listening to podcasts, (mumbles)
and yours, and (mumbles).
- Thanks for the download. (group laughs)
- [Dinner Guest] Yeah, I don't know, I haven't,
I'm behind the curve, I don't listen to podcasts.
I actually do quite a bit of reading, even outside of work,
but I can't really say I download a lot of podcasts.
- I don't think I've ever listened to a podcast.
I listen to you sometimes.
I've got 14 other people in my company, and you,
what you said about the email, I don't,
I don't get more than 15, 20 emails a day,
even though I have 14 other employees.
- Wow. - Wow.
- And the reason is, what you just said,
get on the phone, if you're sending me an email,
it means I have to read it, and you're expecting me
to respond, if you don't expect me to respond,
where you can't make a decision, then only send me an email.
Otherwise, emails are not for communicating
that things are done, or it's not information.
Email is the worst form of information,
sort of communication-- - For you.
For you, right? - For me, for me.
- 'Cause I think that's the important part, like, I think
so much, like, one of the reasons I asked this question,
it's gonna build, and you just took it there, which is,
it's just so fascinating of, are you causing friction
for the other person?
So one thing that I've been doing for a very long time
that more people over the last couple years have commented
on, is I put my entire email in the title of my email.
My entire email (overlapping chattering)
is in the title.
- [Dinner Guest] Just one sentence, or?
- Well, whatever I have to say.
Usually less than two sentences,
'cause the way I communicate, but,
and I didn't even know why I was doing it.
I've been doing it forever, and then,
in the last year or so, or two, I'm like,
oh, I'm obsessed with eliminating friction
for the other person, it's what I do with all my content.
It's how I think about user experience,
it's how I think about business.
So what I'm doing is, I was deploying
what would have worked for me to people
by putting everything in the title,
and now I'm on a whole array of things.
I know, I subconsciously know who I'm calling,
I send voice memos to certain people,
I text certain people, I write email to certain people.
I reverse engineer the, if I have the context,
the way the person likes to get the content,
and I think that is an interesting insight,
where I can see a product or a service developing where,
if you can build a product that understands the easiest way
for me to talk, but the best way
for it to be delivered to you,
now you've got something, right?
Like, if I can just talk it, but it comes to email for you,
'cause you're great at fucking reading,
and now for us idiots, right?
So it's interesting. (quiet overlapping chattering)
I don't listen to anything, either, ever.
I don't consume anything, I don't watch any shows.
I don't read anything, I literally live
my life consuming commentary on content.
Basically everything I know comes from the comments of,
sometimes, I always use this example,
I knew more about Cardi B before she even knew
what she looked like, or had ever listened
to a song of hers, because of commentary
on the social web about her.
That's how I consume.
- I'm a reader, although too, for,
I started listening to podcasts because of you,
because our whole thing was, you know,
understanding how that audio is a form
of convenience, most people of how they want to communicate.
And now the only thing I listen to is the FT,
because they're super, actually, like,
economic structure I find super fascinating.
Like, you talk about this a lot, like, the shift in the '70s
to, like, shareholder value being the only thing
that mattered, destroyed longterm R&D, destroyed, like,
longterm, like, you know, investment and stuff,
and I think is, like, the root of a lot of issues.
And I find the FT interesting because they're actually,
like, exploring a lot of other ways
of thinking about economics, like sustainability,
and, you know, things like that, and they're really pushing
the button in that sense. - Thank you.
It's cool. - But yeah, so that's all.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] I do listen to podcasts,
exercising in the morning, quite often yours,
get a little bit of motivation at the start of the day.
And then probably when I go to bed.
But I don't really focus on it,
it's like a way to tune out, to kind of relax.
- What do you listen to then? - Not you.
(group laughs)
- So what do you? (overlapping chattering)
- [DRock] I feel that.
(overlapping chattering)
- I listen to a bit of Tim Ferriss.
- Yeah, that makes sense, interesting,
that makes a lot of sense, no, that makes a lot of sense.
- [Dinner Guest] Yeah, it does.
I'm pretty new to podcast, I started listening maybe six
to 12 months ago, but for me, it's more entertainment.
So I listen to more, like, you know, true crime,
serial killers, that kind of stuff.
I don't know if that says a bit too much about me,
but I also listen to it at the gym.
- No, it's good. - Yeah.
- I think escapism is foundational of happiness,
and, like, it's fun to see, like,
I just think history tells you the future,
and so you're basically doing what people did
with radio in 1935, we listen to entertainment.
Like that's, Serial is soap operas on radio,
it's crazy, it's amazing, I mean,
Serial is the podcast that started the culture movement
towards podcasts, it was the first,
podcasts had been around for a long time.
There was bubbling up in, like, '13, '14,
like, more of the kind of stuff I do,
and then it was Serial that just swooped the US,
the UK, many other parts of the world,
where people were like, you've gotta listen to this.
And that became the entry gateway drug
to podcasting for a lot of people.
It was a cultural phenomenon.
- [Dinner Guest] Well, you have now Dirty John,
which was a podcast that then became a--
- A show, yeah. - A show, and then the book,
and it's the first time it's gone the opposite way--
- I like that maybe you--
- [Dinner Guest] And Bad Blood, with The Dropout,
with the Theranos story with Elizabeth Holmes,
which is a fascinating podcast, it's,
like, six episodes to listen to it,
and then they did an HBO special from it,
and all that kind of stuff--
- It's the biggest strategy we have
with Gallery Media Group, three years ago,
I bought a publishing arm to add to our coms company,
and right now, the biggest thing I'm doing is,
I'm doing one-off special podcasts, four episodes,
you know, series, with basically the main intent
for us to give us leverage to sell the documentary.
- [Dinner Guest] Amazing.
- So literally, we're thinking about the podcast
in the thought of, strictly it's being created
to give leverage to own the IP against the rights
to a documentary.
Which I think is really cool,
because I think one of the things
that has happened with influencer marketing is
many more people can do many things.
I actually think that's what podcasting is gonna allow.
I think there's so many amazing stories.
I'll give you an example, this is super left field.
I have re-found my passion for sports cards,
which was my first business as a kid,
on the back of, it's actually happening in America,
like, it's getting popular again,
the prices are going through the roof.
So I've been doing just enormous amounts of homework on,
what cards are under-priced, you know,
where's the arbitrage, what can I see
that other people don't?
So, for example,
I'm buying up as many Jackie Robinson rookie cards
because I think he's a cultural icon,
and I think race and inclusion, and, like,
I think his meaning of breaking the color barrier in the US
around baseball is gonna grown in importance, not decline.
And so little things like that, so this is very long-winded,
I apologize, there's a set, on the flight here,
this is why I didn't sleep enough.
This literally happened today, on a flight out today,
I found a 1952 set,
Wheaties, the cereal, had a set
where it wasn't cards inside,
it was on the box itself, and people cut it,
it's called hand cut.
When I was in collecting, it wasn't even a thing,
like, if it wasn't an official card,
it wasn't a card, but then, like, seven years ago,
all these little weird things that happened
through the years became accepted as a collectible,
as a card, there's nothing on the back,
'cause usually it's just the cardboard.
It's called hand cut, I think they're grossly under-priced,
if you just understand basic supply and demand.
Anyway, I started studying for, like, two hours the history
of this 1952 set, who's in it, and something catches my eye.
It's a mix of sports, this is 1952, and I'm like,
man, there's a lot of women in this set,
which I was excited about, I was like,
this is amazing, like, you know,
like, if you think about, like, even today,
I don't think we have the proper conversation
about female athletes, this is fucking,
you know, 80 years ago.
So, and then there's, I'm like, who are these women?
So I start googling them, right?
And, like, one woman is, like, this incredible,
like, she was the first person to win a gold medal
in the US as a skier, so I literally, I'm on wifi,
I'm literally, like, this is how my brain works.
I'm like, oh, all right, so I'm gonna buy up all her cards,
'cause they're, like, $4.00,
and there's no collectible market for her at all,
right, you know, sports collecting,
it's usually extremely male card, you know, like, da da da.
Like, the other average good players from that era are,
like, 80 bucks, she's $4.00, so I'm like, hmm.
I can buy up all her cards,
then I can do a four part documentary series on my podcast
about this woman, then sell Netflix the documentary,
make her a cultural icon, which will create the demand
of her cards to go from $4.00 to $400.00.
So this is how I'm gonna make, like, $8,000.00.
But I'm like, (group laughs)
but I'm sorry to give you that story,
but here's where it goes, I really got into,
like, Wikipedia, you know, you go into stuff.
And, like, 20 minutes later, she's an incredible woman.
I can't even imagine the shit she probably had
to go through to get to where, during that era,
and I was like, man, does she have any siblings still alive?
So I literally sent it to the editorial team,
and I was like, go find people that,
go find her granddaughters, go find, like,
you know, and, like, it's just,
there's so many stories that are lost in history.
Like, there are obviously the Muhammad Alis,
or the Kings (mumbles), there are clearly the icons
that have been able to sustain and have their story.
But if you just think
about how many all-time stories there are,
that they didn't have the luxury of a movie being made
about them, or a documentary being made of them.
I think, when you think about a podcast,
or a YouTube video, the cost to tell a story continues
to decline, and I'm really excited,
'cause it really made me think, like, wow.
There's probably really some incredible way
to unearth 1,000 icons from 50 years ago
that this last 50 years was the era
where they lost their kind of story,
and bring those stories to the forefront,
is, I think, gonna be a real opportunity.
- [Dinner Guest] And that's what more empowering
for the audience, that these people,
you know, are not famous. - Correct.
- [Dinner Guest] For the people listening to it, think, oh--
- Or they've never heard it before, right?
Like, you're like, wait, she was the most famous athlete
in the world, how did I never hear about her, you know?
Yeah, there's a more, you can touch it more than somebody
you've heard stories about 800 times.
- [Dinner Guest] Yeah.
- [Maha] We should go to Wheaties, Gary.
- The company?
- [Maha] Yeah, and maybe they have some information.
- They may, they may.
Yeah, it's, it was super interesting.
What, we're done with the podcast thing?
All right, I got another one that always plays in this.
I'm gonna start in the other direction.
What are you, (overlapping chattering)
what are you most obsessed with?
This can be a physical new product in your life,
this could be a Netflix show, this could be a person,
what are you currently, and don't, by the way,
this has gone really awry the last couple times,
because, right, DRock, the first three times we did it,
it was awesome. - It was awesome.
- The last two times, it's gone very awry.
Very cool.
- [Dinner Guest] My obsession right now is
understanding stories of just people, entrepreneurs,
and, like, what was that starting point for them,
and just trying to, trying to see their thought process
and where they were going.
And so it's, like, not the end idea,
but it's, like, that first idea,
and how many time that has changed
to get to where they actually were going
with what they were trying to do.
But just that, like, little unique story.
I don't need the whole long time,
but just something, the tipping point,
essentially, for them, in whatever that is.
- Very cool.
- [Dinner Guest] I'm obsessing over my renovation.
I have, trying to redesign this place for,
like, seven months, and I haven't even got around to, like,
choosing the contractor. (overlapping chattering)
Just killing me, but. (overlapping chattering)
- The worst experience of my life by a country mile,
like, was building the Wine Library, the physical,
'cause my dad was a builder in Russia,
and loves, loves, like, building,
but doesn't want to commit to any decision ever.
So his natural state is
to get blueprints done.
- [Dinner Guest] To plan--
- No, but this is funny, but then be on staff as the GC,
and change everything, he can't visualize it on paper.
So when he gets it, so we were,
we were four million dollars over-budget
on a three million dollar project,
and two and a half years late, and I still,
like, genuinely resent my dad for it.
Like, it was the most pressure, like,
I was running the business.
I don't know if you heard me,
I'm gonna say it one more time, four million over
on a three million project, and two and a half years late.
When you're a small family business,
you're supposed to go out of business.
And, like, to this day, nothing scares me anymore,
because I feel like, if I could get through that shit.
(group laughs)
And the economy collapsed, and, like,
it was super rough, to the point where,
like, everything, like, my wife and I bought a second home,
it was so new, it was uncomfortably new.
Like, I don't want to do anything ever,
it will never happen, I don't want to build shit, fuck that.
- [Dinner Guest] But just turnkey, right?
- Like, triple turnkey, like, I want you to carry me
to my home, like, I don't want, I'm, like, so burned.
So burned, yeah, you haven't even started.
- [Dinner Guest] I haven't started.
(group laughs)
We bought the place a year ago,
we were gonna start three months later,
and then one year later, I'm still here.
I haven't even figured out the contractor yet.
- Oh, no. - It sucks.
- [Dinner Guest] It sucks.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] Mine is more
of a capitalistic obsession right now,
it's been going on for a few months, I would say.
There's a company that has operating margins of 70%,
and a net income margin of 35 or 30%.
And I'm thinking, I want to take that company down,
there's something off, if they're making that much,
they need competitors, so I've been obsessing over that.
I'm been setting out-- (group laughs)
- By the way, the thesis is 100% right.
- It's like they don't have enough competitors, or,
(overlapping chattering)
this needs to be changed, they can't.
If there's something out there, you got to--
- And they're terrible people, right?
- They're terrible people. (group laughs)
They are.
- I just think every, I just, amazing.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] So if you don't jump in there,
you're wasting your time. - Any wine?
- [Man Wearing Glasses] No wine, please.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] And the name of that company?
(group laughs)
- It's too important to keep.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] No, no, no, it's not, it's Axon.
- Axon?
- The taser, body camera manufacturers.
(overlapping chattering)
So, so with that said, I have launched a company,
which actually, Gary, thanks to you,
two of the investors were, I met them over here.
- That's awesome.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] So one is.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
- I love it. (overlapping chattering)
- Government Ministry of Defense, the other investor,
and 500 startups. - No shit, that's awesome.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] So if you recall, they were the--
- Yes, I recall, I recall.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] And so they went,
when I, six months back, I'm like--
- Axon?
- [Man Wearing Glasses] Yeah.
- Axon.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] They're the manufacturer.
And they're about three, four billion market cap,
and I'm just kind of obsessed, like,
they need to be taken down. (group laughs)
This is--
- What's your company called, Ax-off?
(group laughs)
- It's Seven Cents.
- Seven Cents, that's awesome, bro, my obsession is
a really interesting one,
'cause it's been around for a while,
and it also is the one thing the company has done well
in eight years, I genuinely believe
that Apple has been one of the worst run companies
for the last eight years by a big margin.
And that Tim Cook will go down as an all-time terrible CEO
because everyone will blame him for the demise of Apple
because he's completely mis-strategized this whole era,
and just basically has milked everything
that was done before him in his quest
to be considered a good human,
which I think is amazingly noble.
And I love that, white, please.
So I like him very much for what he stands for as a human,
and I hate him as an executive,
but my EarPods are my favorite obsession
because I'm just blown away by how great that product is.
It is, all the seconds that
that product saves me every single day is a very big deal
for me, like, anything that saves me time is my number one.
And I, like, what happened, oh.
I was, like, why am I saying this?
Because I've been so hot on it, my pair,
you notice, my black ones are gone, like, my pair,
something happened, I don't know what happened,
but they just stopped working.
And in that day and a half of traveling
and, like, I didn't lose them, it was just in that,
they weren't working, so in that day and a half
where I didn't have them, and I had to use it normal,
it, like, blew me away, how much friction
that was, in comparison to having them,
which makes you appreciate things, obviously.
So that is my current obsession.
- Honestly, this is, the first thing
that came to mind was anime, I think, like,
it's because, like-- - It's a great thing.
- Yeah, I mean, we've been so heads down with everything,
and, you know, when you say escapism,
like, I don't watch any television, I don't watch,
like, but I love anime, and it's also just fascinating
because, from a story perspective--
- It's so good. - It's crazy.
It's, like, war, and power, and, like, insanity,
and, like, things that you, like,
would read in a Russian novel, but, like,
you know, with crazy, cutesy little characters.
And the most, and, that, like,
if you want any recommendations, I've been,
like, bombing through some great series--
- Where are you, what are you consuming it on?
- Netflix, Netflix going into anime was fricking genius,
and now they're doing their own stuff, that, like--
- [Dinner Guest] Yeah, they're doing their own thing.
- So clever.
- That's their entire model, overpay for IP
that gets you in, leverage the eyeballs
to the stuff they own. - Yeah.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] I was struggling,
'cause I think my current obsession,
and it would be the EarPods if I could keep them.
I always lose them, like, I've got--
- [Gary] Really?
- [Man In Pink Shirt] 20 pairs (mumbles).
- Seriously? (overlapping chattering)
It's amazing how much I don't lose shit.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] It's so frustrating
to go back to the normal ones, so I feel that, that--
- You mean, like, the wires?
- [Man In Pink Shirt] Yeah, it's frustrating,
but it's, I keep losing the bloody cords.
But my current obsession is the next three years
of Vinner, we're in a really kind of interesting time.
- How old is your company?
- Just over eight years.
- [Dinner Guest] Wow.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] Yeah, but it's,
we're in a really interesting phase--
- [Gary] Good for you.
- [Man In Pink Shirt] Really exciting, but it's all
in the kind of three year strategy phase at the moment,
and then there's a lot of thought, there's a lot
of kind of branding work, yeah, it's interesting.
- That's awesome.
- [Dinner Guest] Sorry.
(background noise drowns out speaker)
I actually have my own communications company,
and that would be my current obsession at the moment.
It's still very much a baby, it's about 18 months old.
So my obsession is very much about how to grow it,
how to do things better, how to, you know,
develop a team, but then also, at the same time,
how to give myself more work life balance,
how to not be so stressed all the time,
how to sleep better, and all that kind of stuff.
So it's constantly just going and going and going.
- I get it.
- [Maha] I have so many things, I'm just--
- I'm sorry, you're gonna have to pick one.
(group laughs)
- [Maha] I'm obsessed with, so I have a niece
and nephew who live in the States,
and I'm obsessed with connecting with them,
helping them, being there for them, talking to them,
sharing with them, like, not to stress out about everything,
and how to, they're going through a,
they're teenagers, they're on social media,
a lot of pressure at school, all that kind of stuff,
transitions to high school, transition to college.
And I'm obsessed with, like, them being the best humans
they can be, and how can I use my successes
and failures to be there for them.
- That's awesome. - It's just--
- [Dinner Guest] How often do you get in touch with them?
- [Maha] Daily.
- [Dinner Guest] Wow.
- Yeah, they're very close.
- [Maha] I talk to them daily, my sister lives
in the States--
- They're so close that somebody, I apologize,
Maha, but this is just to, like,
give an indication to the room,
somebody in the office was just like, "What's Maha about?"
Like, her, literally, that, my answer started with,
"Her relationship with her niece
"and nephew is a good starting point."
Like, it's, like, the biggest thing,
it's the biggest thing I think about
when I think about you, that's,
like, the first thing I think.
I know how that, it's really interesting,
which is unusual, like. - And it just grows.
Like, I just feel like I have to do everything I can,
and I love spending time with them.
- [Man Wearing Glasses] Is this a cultural thing,
like, in the community, is it that way, or?
- [Maha] You know, I'm Egyptian, so,
I mean, I think they're just, like, I'm Auntie Maha,
and they're just, like, but all of their friends
in high school follow me on Snapchat and talk to me daily.
All of their friends, like in high school,
they wanted to me to give the speech
to the graduating class-- - That's awesome.
(overlapping chattering)
They couldn't afford you? (group laughs)
- [Maha] All the parents are, like, "You're Auntie Maha?"
Like, I'm, like, I feel like-- - You're like a meme?
- [Maha] Yeah, and I like that avenue
where they can talk to me, I can talk,
and then the moms are like, "What are the boys doing?"
I'm like, "I'm not telling you," like,
I want them to feel bad, and so--
- That's cool.
- [Maha] That's my obsession.
- [Dinner Guest] Is it always visual
when you are interacting with them, is it FaceTime, or--
- [Maha] No, I Snapchat, and I VoiceNote them.
And they always reach out to me, but, like,
I have my niece and all of her girlfriends,
it's prom tomorrow night, and I have--
- Shit's going down. (overlapping chattering)
- [Maha] Who, you know, now follow Gary,
they learn all about entrepreneurship,
so they're learning, so I'm trying to educate them.
Like, this is what you guys should be following,
these are some, like, their parents are grateful,
'cause I'm trying to at least help them see things
that they wouldn't normally see.
- That's awesome.
- [Maha] So that's my obsession.
- [Dinner Guest] My obsession right now is actually
with the Kardashians. - Oh my god, so good.
- [Dinner Guest] So I really think of them as.
- Maybe Tuesdays could work, I'm sure (mumbles)
they could create, you know, so people would show up.
But the question for me is more, like,
I feel like there's an increasing need
to have moments where there's no tech.
So, you know, like I say, when you create rules,
or you create frameworks, and you set things clearly,
like, what this space is for, and the more restrictions
you have, the more-- - Powerful.
- The community, and the more sticky the community becomes--
- Yeah, I agree. - So--
- You're saying that's a layer, listen,
I think it's a great thought. (slow electronic music)
- [Chatri] The Jets, and all that stuff?
- I sure am, I sure am.
- [DRock] You got a date, you got a date on that?
- I'd love to pull it off, what am I, 43?
I'd love to pull it off in 22 years.
Like, I'm, I'm basically holding
my breath the whole way through, I'm not extracting--
- The journey is-- - It's so much better.
- 'Cause what you do-- - I don't think I--
- He's gonna crash, like, that's the thing is,
like, even, like, for me, like,
this ONE Champ thing is like,
I started seven and a half years ago,
and it's gone ballistic, and, like,
I've been trying to enjoy the journey, and everyone's like,
oh, man, you're gonna be bigger than the NFL.
But I just, the day that happens, I'm not,
like, it's not,
it's the journey. - It's the journey.
- Yeah, it's the dream, the dreaming keeps you going--
- You either like the process, or you don't.
- Yes, exactly.
- Too many people want, this is the reason
we have such a fucked up entrepreneurial ecosystem as,
you know, people in this room
that all are executing different things, like,
if you genuinely are building a business
for the flip to take the money and do douche bag things,
you're just a broken framework.
- I totally agree.
- Like, you're a broken framework, you're, like,
if your entire life is predicated on,
how do I get the VC money, and what bigger company do
I sell it to, so that I can then take that money,
and get a boat, and go to fucking Mykonos,
and go fucking get the fucking biggest setup at Burning Man,
and, like, do all that shit, you're gonna fucking lose.
- Yeah, 'cause-- - You're broken.
You're so insecure and so not in love with your process
that your ability to actually pull it off becomes so,
so minimal. - I totally agree.
I was just telling Raj, right, the first three years,
my partner and I, we lost 50 million dollars
of our own money, zero revenues, no TV ratings,
no metrics, no distribution, nothing.
And we're throwing this shit, and nothing was happening.
But what kept us was, I believed, and I was--
- [Gary] Lost five zero, you said?
- 50, between me and my partner.
- [Gary] You guys, from prior businesses,
or raised capital, or?
- We were both independently wealthy before this,
and then we both plowed everything into this,
and just kept on losing money,
kept on losing money, and just bombing,
and nothing was happening, and then year four,
five, six, seven, just, we went--
- What happened, give me, a lot of things happened.
Is there any, was there an athlete
that caught the attention of everybody?
- [Chatri] No, but there's a few things,
right, so-- - Was there an upset?
Was there a match? - Right, so.
Well, first of all--
- 'Cause what's so cool, right,
like, I apologize for interrupting,
you brought it up twice now, there is a signature NFL game,
an overtime game between the Colts
and the New York Giants that was aired on television,
which was a new technology at the time,
that changed the NFL.
The NFL was so unpopular
compared to college football, you couldn't imagine.
Nobody gave a fuck.
- [DRock] Was that, right, right.
- 'Cause Super Bowl One didn't sell out.
- [DRock] Yeah, yeah, when was that--
- In 1967, that was the NFL championship game.
I think that was 1958,
I think, I'm guessing now,
'cause I know DRock's filming now,
so I won't go with conviction.
But it was, I think it was, like, '58, Super Bowl,
and it was live on TV, and it was an overtime game,
and everybody got sucked into the drama,
what's amazing about sports, and that was it.
The sport was never to be the same.
- Exactly, so it's kind of funny, 'cause, like,
in seven and a half years, we're now bigger than F1
in all the metrics, just because of technology,
social media-- - Of course.
- Virality of content, and all that technology,
you know, I was thinking about, like,
Bernie Ecclestone's whole journey with F1, 1950 he started.
He had to go brick by, country by country,
city by city, car by car, it was like, insane, right?
- [Gary] Scale.
- Here--
- [Gary] Scale.
- It's, exactly, so what happened with us was pure luck.
In Asia, the last five years, mobile devices took off,
social media took off, our content happened
to be short form, exciting, entertaining.
And no one's gonna watch a 90 minute soccer game,
you know, where you can't see the ball on your mobile,
no one's gonna see a basketball game and,
and everything they, but you'll watch two guys go at it
for two minutes-- - Do you know
that this is my biggest thesis about sports?
In America, which is what I can speak to,
radio was the number one medium, and for that reason,
boxing, ironically, fighting, horseracing,
and baseball were sports that people could imagine,
where football struggled in comparison,
basketball struggled, when television came along,
football was made for television.
And so what's interesting to what you were saying,
and I couldn't agree with you more, I mean,
I don't think people understand
how rawly human two men fighting is.
If me and DRock decided to fight right now
and livestream it, it would be my most viral content.
Forget about people knowing, forget about even,
actually, if I filmed two people
that nobody even knows right now fighting,
like, people don't know how deeply human that is.
You know what else is actually that way
that I can't stop thinking about?
I'm thinking about starting the national racing league,
there's, and I mean foot racing.
There's an inherent, raw, every six-year-old's like,
I'll race you, like, I think the amount of people
that would watch two random people race each other
and bet on it is enormous.
- [Chatri] Well, here's the thing, right--
(quiet overlapping chattering)
When I started-- - But it's head to head.
- When I started ONE Championship,
okay, I lit up all the sports around the world, okay?
And I've been doing martial arts for 36 years, I--
- [Gary] You're passionate.
- This is my--
- [Gary] You do it, you love it.
- I was doing it, professional fighter,
coach, everything, I've done everything.
And I laid it down, and I said, okay,
socioeconomic on one axis, okay, rich man, poor man--
- [Gary] Love.
- Or woman, whatever it is, tennis, golf,
da da, that can't scale, soccer can scale, okay?
Because it's simple, you don't need to explain
to anybody, there's no rules, it's just literally--
- [Gary] It also is not expensive
to start when you're young.
- Exactly, and then, (overlapping chattering)
then the horizontal axis is, American football amasses
for 80 billion dollar property in America,
but American football does not transfer--
- [Gary] Only America, nowhere else.
- Nowhere else-- - Nowhere else
- There's only two sports, and now you say foot racing,
that's another potential, there are only two sports
in the world that have this, it is exactly what Gary said,
soccer, easy to understand, and fighting, so for--
- The one, the emerging one is basketball,
the emerging one, if you look at the same data,
and I'm looking at the same thing, it's,
basketball is unbelievably global.
It's, I'm so impressed by it.
- [Chatri] Well, like.
- Good seeing you, all the best, good trip.
- [Chatri] Nice to meet you, brother.
- Congrats, bro.
- [Chatri] We should hang out.
- Yeah, real proud of you, bro.
- [Chatri] Thanks--
- [Gary] It's really fucking awesome, really.
(overlapping chattering)
(slow electronic music)