The "Missing Ingredient" You Need to Build Your Brand

0:00Man, I really hate the Bulls. Yo, I fucking hate the Bulls. No, no, you gotta let us intro, Gary. I really hate the Bulls. Like, I'm a real Knicks fan. Like, that fucking song. I might not do this podcast. For real. I might not do it. Fuck that song. You're gonna play it anyway. If you love fire, you're gonna play it anyway. And now, you are joining us in Chicago at the National Card Collectors National Convention in the Ludox Lounge. Fucking song. Ian Schwartz. I hate the Bulls. My co-host, Conway the Machine. Yo. And a very, very special guest with us today. Gary Vee. The wine whisperer. The future owner of the New York Jets.

0:55I guarantee it. I guarantee it. CEO and co-founder of VaynerMedia, CEO of Vee Friends Collectible, a serial entrepreneur and badass, but most importantly, the friends are ripping together. Please give it up for Gary Vaynerchuk. This is the Gary Vee audio experience.

1:26I respect that you played this song. I just want everybody to know. Cut that off, cut that off. This is going to be one of my worst interviews of all time because that song fucks with me so heavy. Why? Because the 90 Bulls came out to that shit and I hate that team with my entire heart. The amount of tears teenage Gary had because of that squad. How old were you then? I was through high school. The Bulls won all those championships in my prime. You know when you're a die hard, it's those high school years when you're in most prime because you're grown a little because you know But you're not grown up enough that you have other responsibilities So your whole life is your favorite team.

2:02That's right. And those 90 Knicks with Ewing and Starks and Oakley and Mason That was my fucking squad. So that song really I can't even believe you're fucking playing it with the Knicks Shurs Hold on. Let me get something right for you guys. Give him. He's a New Yorker at heart. Give him something He would appreciate and then I'm gonna give him a kiss. Okay Yes. This is how I feel. Now I'm back. Yes, now I'm back. I'm back. Thank you, brother. Thank you. I'm back. I'm back. Keep going. Hold on. Now, you know this record? Yes. Okay. What is it that Conway and I, only 10 episodes into this show ripping together, should understand that most people who are into collecting don't understand?

2:44If they want to have a future in it, they want to make it lucrative, they want to enjoy like what is the missing link that everyone's overlooking discipline discipline the thing with collectibles is especially when you're getting new into it especially when it's in hot moments like this is people get intoxicated right by the paper right the money always you know they get intoxicated by it's fun it's one of those things where like it's also fun and you're making paper and so the game of collectibles which i've been in for 40 years requires discipline right when When it's super hot, stash a little cash to the side.

3:21Don't think the good times are always gonna roll. When it's quiet, when no one's talking about it, that's the time to strike. Like me, I'm in the cut waiting for all this heat to get caught and then I'm gonna go buy my shit. So I would say it's discipline. And it's really hard to be disciplined when the hype's going. Right, because you wanna be a part of all of this. Yeah, bro, everybody FOMO's in. And there's so many people watching this, that this show, this is why, this is one of the only things I'm doing, besides being at my booth. I love it. Because what you guys represent is something I understand, which is it's onboarding new people.

3:57Right now. It's, you know, I've always thought that collectibles were eventually gonna be fucking cool instead of dorky. Yeah. I wanna say something about that. Okay. All right. Being here, this is my first convention. Yeah. I'm in the media business. Heavy. and I'm here with Conway who's a successful hip hop artist right and I'm looking at all the opportunity around with the brands the technology the product integration everything that does not exist in hip hop like if how the fuck how the fuck do you even excuse my language but how do you pass up on the opportunity to be involved in something that I don't know any kid that was 15 years old that didn't like collecting cards as an adult I have a little extra money.

4:45Now I want to get back into my hobby. I was prompted by something else, but I got back into the hobby and realized, wait, this could also make me money too. This is like investing in stocks. It's investing in things you believe in. Yeah, it's like, I think it's most similar to what happened with contemporary art. I agree. If you look at contemporary art in the 60s, 70s, 99 % of that shit went to zero, but Basquiat, Warhol, Jackson Pollock, some of that shit's hundreds of millions of dollars. 99 % of the shit downstairs will go to zero. Of course. It's all on high. Yeah. Yeah, and I'll tell you why.

5:16For example, if we went downstairs right now, go to every dealer, ask them how well they're selling Tim Duncan, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Isaiah Thomas. It's not selling because it's not the current thing. But then everyone's spending all their money hoping that Jackson Dart or Chianti George even becomes half of Isaiah Thomas. So over time, you see where I'm going? Now, when you get to that next level, LeBron, Curry, Jordan, right? Icons. Correct. Then it flips. And so what a lot of people get caught on is they don't realize how attention and demand work. Sickly. Right? Let's go back to hip-hop.

5:59If this was all, you know, I've always wanted great hip-hop trading cards to come out. People have fucked with it, but it's never really hit. But if it did, let's say in an alternate universe, they've been real for 40 years, I'd be buying Biggie and KRS-One and Big Daddy Canes while the kids would be trying to speculate on the latest, not even Drake, I'd be okay with because that's more like Victor Wembeama. No, kids would be buying the latest Lil' fucking this and Mumble Rap this, praying, you know what I mean? Praying some kid crosses over. Or look, in this era, the current guys, Victor, Step, those could be Kendrick Lamar, those could be J.

6:40Cole, they could be Drake. Those are guys that we could see 30, 40 years from now being around. Me, what I buy, I buy OG shit. I buy Superman rookies, Spiderman rookies, I buy Will Chamberlain, because they're more Biggie and Pac, got it? Is it because, are you buying them because their history's already laid? Yes. And they can't fuck it up for themselves? That's right. I love that because it's like, that is, it's a finale. They can't come back out and decrease their value. People downstairs are taking very high risk moves because they want the high upside. Let me fuck with Jackson Dart because if he wins the Super Bowl in New York next year, I'll three, five.

7:20Meanwhile, you could buy Patrick Mahomes, who's already done it. And so, you know, I come from this like a business man. Me too, man. And so, listen, I work in New York, LA, London, 360 days a year, like a real businessman. Do I want to go to Vegas with the boys for a weekend? I have some fun? Sure. So you take some high risk, some entertainment, but that can't be your 360 days. Right. You got to have it. Got it? And so the biggest thing for everybody who's watching, and I really do think a lot of people that are watching that crossover with the hip hop community that love sports are going to find their way into this game.

7:58if you look at my old videos in 2018 I'm like the sneaker kids are going to come into this like I think what you guys represent I think you guys have a really big opportunity I know I really see it and I'm really cheering for y 'all and that's why I jumped on here because I want to see you win for real but for the audience that's already watching or people that in two years come back and watch these OG episodes listen to me be disciplined be smart it's always okay to have 20 % fun take a risk you're a big fucking Utah Jazz fan and you want to like shoot your load on Chianti George by the way I think Chianti George is a gangster he could become a real player but he's not guaranteed he could get hurt look what happened to Derek Rose he was already doing it it looked like he was going there and injuries derailed so it's sports it's hard to get to that goat status it's near impossible which by the way which is why I fuck with things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles why I'm building V Friends Spongebob Snoopy Kermit the Frog you know Smurfette that shit's those are icons I agree Doug from Nickelodeon I agree Doug from Nickelodeon can't get into a scandal what about Sesame Street Big Bird what is Big Bird going to do wrong Big Bird can't tear his ACL right or say a comment that's going to get him cancelled so that's why this whole weekend downstairs I've been looking for OG fictional characters I'm going to give you an OG go ahead guys give me some 90s It's more 90s hip-hop music, New York made.

9:30We have a 92 NFL product. Give me a little, like, who the fuck is this paging me at 546? Can you give me a little warning? Can you give me a little warning? You got that in there? You got that in there? You got that? He might not have it. He is? He's been like, look at what's, oh, shit, the fuck's he doing? I have to figure it out. I got it.

9:51Man, that's crazy. You're getting close. To get it that close that fast. All right, here we go. He said, OG, I want to know where you stand on rookie to mid-90s Vinny Testaverde. Vinny's my fucking guy, man. Me too. Vinny's my fucking guy. The 98 Jets is my favorite. I'm so 11 years old. I mean, first of all, Vinny, it's Vinny. It's Vinny. You know, it's Vinny. Elmont Vinny. From Elmont. Yeah, bro. From Elmont. One of the things that I think needs to come back is a little more Italian culture, bro. We need a little more Italian culture. A little more Vinny. A little more fucking meatballs. A little more sauce on Sunday.

10:32I'm a bear. I'm a bear. Nice. 92 NFL primetime. Let's go. Let's open. Let's go. I love it. I love it. Cut that sick. I do it old school. Look at that. I also want to mention Glenn Foley. So. Shout out to Glenn Foley. Glenn Foley. Big shout out. Boston College. Glenn Foley is who got benched for Vinny in 98. We were one and three, and then we went fucking off and went 12 and four. You remember that? I was a kid. Do I remember it? I was a fucking kid. I can tell you the one game we lost with Vinny was against the fucking Colts and Indy. I was at the game. I was at the game. And fucking Fred Baxter, for no reason, jumped up and stepped out of bounds.

11:12We would have won that fucking game. I was in section 326 with my father, rest in peace. I was all the way to the top of the stadium. Fucked up. If someone who's watching is related to Fred Baxter, number 84, tight end Jets in the 90s. Oh my God. Tell him first I love him, but tell him second. I'm still mad about that game. And Indy, Fred, you didn't need to jump. You should have just stayed planted. We were going to the champion. Oh, wait, hold on. We lost in Denver. I know we're ripping football. The Knicks just brought home a championship. When is it going to be time for the Jets to win a ring?

11:41The Jets are going to win a Super Bowl in my lifetime. I'm sure of it. Will you own the Jets when they win? I don't know. That's God's plan. Can I be the coach? Definitely not. Okay. I'm trying to win. I'm trying to win. I'm trying to win. Machine. All right, so will the Jets win a championship? By the way, if you keep stacking, you can be a partner. I'd rather invest. I'd rather invest. Right? I'd rather invest. Fuck that. All right. Something real to say. Gary, here's my real thoughts. Real thoughts. My real thoughts are, Tom Wake, Tom Wake, I want you to hear what I'm thinking about where hobbying and car collecting is.

12:17Rob Moore, number 85 from Syracuse. We took him in the supplemental draft. This guy was a fucking dog. This guy was a fucking dog. You don't know about Rob Moore. Rob Moore? Rob Moore? You remember Chris Furman? Why isn't car collecting, why hasn't car collecting crossed over to the urban culture? Why? Why are black people not collecting cars? Why is there no representation? That's why Conway and I made this show. That's it. It's that simple. It's as simple as that. Because it takes people like yourselves to put it into the language that makes it interesting. It's never been complicated. It's why when black culture has something going on that white culture doesn't know, someone comes along and crosses it over.

13:02It's like when the Latin music movement was happening with Nicki Jam and fucking Balvin were going and then you get Bad Bunny and the momentum comes and then you got white kids fucking singing Spanish songs. They don't even know what the fucking words are. You know, it fucks me up. We're downstairs. They see it and I know it's so topical but like I can't ignore the fact that they just think he's cool. And there's something. Yes, bro, black people are cool. We fucking know. No, I know. What are you fucking trying to news alert something we've known for 100 years? Why doesn't the hobby know? The hobby, bro, I came to the National eight years ago.

13:35There wasn't a fucking person here under the age of 30. Not one. Excuse me, 2017 in Cleveland. I went to the National doing my homework. I'm like, this thing might pop. I was like, let me go check out the scene. I went to Cleveland. there was 30 kids under 30. Wow. So first, you know, we haven't, you know, listen, we got, and by the way, black people, there wasn't a woman in sight nine years ago. Not a woman in sight. So listen, section by section. That's right, bro. It's section by section. And then, like you're saying, this show, inevitably, inevitably this show is going to talk the language that's going to have a superstar in black culture.

14:16Pay attention. and listen, by the way, Michael Rubin and Fanatics Fest is on board Fanatics Fest look different than downstairs you saw a lot more Latino, black culture it was New York Michael Rubin actually gets that and that's why he has and by the way, he owns the biggest most important company in the space in Tops and over time, it will happen do you think it'll surpass a convention like this altogether? Fanatics Fest? I would argue it did this year, I mean these are They're right in the same pocket. They're right in the same pocket. They're both the best. I'm so happy we have both. I fucking hated Dan Marino.

14:53All right, hold on. Yeah. Oh, the fridge. All right, hold on. The fridge. Oh, my God, my favorite Jets quarterback as a kid. Who does this? Kenny O. Oh, my God. Kenny O, baby. We took him before Dan Marino because he was my childhood. And we were good, man. We made it in 86 to the playoffs. We made a 91 with him in the playoffs. Like, he was decent. 85, we're a good team. 85, 86, 91. He took us to the playoffs. Like, he was real. That's not a joke. Kenny O. Yeah, he can play. Al Toon was unstoppable. Don't sleep on Al Toon. That looks like something. Nice little Jerry Rice. That's nice.

15:36It's stuck together. You're opening cards from 92. Do some glue on it. All right. Go on. So, be friends. Yes. Before we go on Ninja Turtles or Garfield, that's all great, iconic, and legendary. What gave you the idea to create your own plot? I'm an 80s kid. So, you know, looking around, a lot of youngsters here. But, you know, what year were you born? 75. Oh, man, you look fucking good, bro. You look good for me. You look good. So you're going to know exactly what I'm about to say. When we grew up, we were bombarded with new IP. Right? There was Disney and Looney Tunes before us. But then, watch what he's doing.

16:14Thundercats, He-Man, Transformers. And I had a sister close to my age, and we were immigrants, so we were super close. And she was into My Little Ponies, and Care Bear, and Cabbage Patch Kid, fucking Alf, Strawberry Shortcake. We were getting bombarded by new shit that now all you youngsters are like, oh, Transformers been around forever. But we saw it day one, and it always stuck with me. Even as a kid. I'm like they just invented shit so as I got older as my business career started to get bigger and bigger and my belief in me being able to do bigger and bigger things I actually thought about for a long time buying an old IP and making it cool so like buying the Smurfs or buying Scooby Doo and refurbishing it and making it culture oriented and then when the blockchain NFT movement came I was like you know what this is an opportunity for me to create and that new thing.

17:07And it was at a time that the Gary V brand was ripping hot. And I knew, and you guys probably, when I say this, a lot of you are gonna know this. I'm a little bit different than a lot of the content creators. Like, I can still hang from a, I fuck with him, he's cool, I fuck with it. But I'm preaching a little more love than a lot of people. 100%. Like, I'm on some real, like, value shit. And I think people sense it. But I realize I'm not gonna be able to reach all 8 billion people because me as a person is not gonna be a vessel that everyone's gonna fuck with. Some people don't like the cursing.

17:38Some people don't like that I'm a white male. Some people don't like that, you know, the way I talk. So I knew I wasn't gonna be able to get to everybody. So I was like, fuck it. If I can't get to everybody, yeah, I'm gonna create a world of 200 characters. Empathy elephant. You know, fucking tenacious termite. Who came up with these characters? Because I'm bigger. Oh, bro. I want to know. Who do you come up with? Bro, better than you think. Bro, not only did I come up with it, I have a full documentary that's gonna come out one day. I went to Malibu during COVID and for a week drew every character with my own hands.

18:13Doodle, would doodle like this, like the elephant, right? And would like, I'm the original, I literally originally, I'm the sketch artist and then we built out the IP. Wow. How big are you going with this? What's the plan? Tell me. What's your vision for it? 10 years from now, where do you see it? 10 years from now, I see it at a place where your 11-year-old child is wearing fucking the friend's fucking pajamas when she goes to sleep. I don't know why I wouldn't try to be Stan Lee and Walt Disney or Jim Henson. I agree. I love when people are like, when they yuck your fucking ambitions as if their opinions have anything to do with your ambitions.

18:54Never does. Why the fuck wouldn't I try to be that? Well, they're scared of themselves. And I have empathy for that. Yeah, me too. I really do. Me too. But honestly, it's real talk while I'm on this platform. Every fucking person in this room, let alone the ones watching, need to have bigger dreams. I agree. Well, because you shoot small, you land lower. Yeah, I'm pretty good. Just settling. Because I promise you, just like athletes, the crowd booing or cheering has no impact on what you're doing on the court. Yeah, that's right. 100%. And so, right? So in life, people saying you can't make it, I get why they say that.

19:26But you can see genuine giraffe become, like my big - Who are we looking for in these things? Tell us how this - The black hat. So my big thing is the black cat, the very, very, very, very lucky black cat. I am super angry that black cats are bad luck. I wanna change that whole perception. I think it's fucked up, I think it's grounded in some bullshit, by the way. Yeah, it's superstitious bullshit. Yeah, but it goes a little bit deeper than that. Black cat, I love deeper than that. Yeah, yeah, that's what it is. I'm gonna make the black cat, the Pikachu, the Mickey Mouse, the Hulk Hogan, the Vince McMahon.

19:58So that's gonna be the grail. That's the grail. A million dollar card guaranteed. There was a card last week, the best card in our Topps product is like a Kaboom. It's made by the same artist that did Kaboom. It's called an Erupt. Here it is. The Erupt. Somebody pulled a card out of this box that sold on Fanatics auction last week for$132 ,000. Are you kidding? Which is crazy. That's right. Does that freak you out? A little bit. It's a lot of pressure, right? I'm like, fuck, I gotta come through. But I'm about that pressure. I know you are. I don't think you function without pressure. I think you're miserable.

20:32I'm miserable. Me too. I would die if I retired. You know how some people retire after working and they die the first six months? That's me. Like if I ever had some weird thought and retired at 83, I know I'm in the ground within six months. So yeah, I want the pressure. Can we open this? Please. All right, so. Yeah, this is a con. Sorry, sorry. I want you to open this actually. Machine, open this, because I think you'll fuck with this. This is actually the most important thing I'm doing. I want you to sign this. I will sign it. I bought that yesterday for$100. It's incredible. $100. Drip of Dragon.

21:03Drip of Dragon, Gary V. Like, the comics are very important. And you know this. One of the things that I actually think in black culture, because I grew up in it, the comic world, right? So I actually, uh-huh. And so you can imagine, back to hip-hop and the comic world, this is the notorious ninja. Yeah, I know. Let me see that. I didn't see that from the cover. Oh, yeah, you got it. This is amazing. So this is a story of a kid that grew up in the 80s in California skateboarding, but he doesn't realize that he comes from a lineage of ninjas. It's like, and it's a whole fucking like, and I invented these stories, bro.

21:40I'm way more creative than I've shown the world. My family knows it. I do a lot of storytelling and shit like that. The world's known me as a businessman, but the world knew me as a wine guy first. Yeah. I said you're the wine whisperer. So I'm not scared to have different versions of myself. I always think about Marky Mark and Fresh Prince. Oh, my God. Right? And The Rock. You knew him as one thing and then another thing. Yeah. I feel like my story arc as an entrepreneur will come out. No. And this is. I know what I'm doing. A hundred percent. This is so different. That's exactly right. A hundred percent.

22:15A hundred percent, my guy. Yeah. We've known each other through music, but I saw him. I was doing. I was collecting cards just for fun. Yeah. And I saw him post on his Instagram story while he was in the studio opening cards, and I was like, hi. What were you opening? Do you remember? Prison. Prison. Basketball? Oh, you got a manga. Bro, you got something. All right. Your last card, you got something, bro. You got something. We just said we were going to start collecting manga. Gracious Grizzly, warm Wolverine, and you can see I do a lot of contradictions. Like, a Wolverine's a fucking gangster, but this character's going to be nice unless you put him in the fucking corner.

22:53and then he's going to slash your fucking heart out.

22:58Dedicated dragons are my niece's favorite character. Wow. Show them this. Show them this. Look at this. Scan that. So yeah, bro, honestly, I'm shooting big. I'm trying to build on some no bullshit. I'm trying to build the next remarkable, phenomenal, massive intellectual property. I'm shooting for Disney and Pokemon and Marvel, but if I land at G.I. Joe and Transformers I love that you think like this man us too, look, let me show you this so you were talking about, this is our company Center Cut we're making all hip hop music cards right now, not just hip hop I did the OAR there's 300 ,000 tickets over on tour I made 100 cards a night put them in one touch cases all band autos now 100 a night just selling 100 feet it's huge, it's all coming some of the K-pop cards are going crazy in Korea right now.

23:52I'm going to do all the hip-hop. Oh, got one. Look at that. Oh, this man is, I want you to look at that character, Wolf of Wizard. A little nod to my old world. Last. Oh, yeah. Look on the back of these cards. Everyone shows my original sketch of me drawing these. Oh, shit. You see that? That's my original sketch. And then if you read it, so parents fuck with this, because if you want me to tell you what VFriends is, it's purple. The world right now the world as you guys know it's either too red or it's too blue. You got people spitting straight fucking anger and hate and you got people spitting fucking delusion of socialism.

24:33We need purple. This shit is not red and blue. This shit's fucking purple and that's what BeFriends is. It's a universe of characters that are gonna teach the world purple. Hey everybody hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast. That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. It'll make my mom super happy. Gary's bullish. Yes, I am. Bullish on - Like a fucking bull. He's bullish on collectibles. He's bullish on cards. He's bullish on iconic. You can't fuck up your brand. That's the type of collectibles. No, that's above my pay grade.

25:08I went out and got DJ Kaufman, Jim Rugg, like real comic artists. It's hard parenting out there. It's hard parenting out there. and I think people like me and others have a responsibility to try to help a little. When a little kid reads this and goes, what's empathy? What's compassion? You know, like, I mean, when I... I'm definitely trying to be Jim Henson. I think if you really look at Jim Henson, when he built Sesame Street, I don't know if you guys know this, you might want to fucking claw it or chat CPT it. Go look at the history of what Jim Henson did. Do you know what Sesame Street was about?