00:00:00
and pleased to be joined by uh noted
00:00:02
entrepreneur and investor Gary
00:00:04
vaynerchuk Gary pleasure to have you
00:00:06
with us today thanks for your time thank
00:00:08
you for having me hey so give us the the
00:00:10
background here on vcon and obviously
00:00:12
that's where you are in Indianapolis
00:00:13
right now and the kind of the importance
00:00:16
of this type of event for uh for so many
00:00:19
people right now
00:00:21
you know I think you know I I have a
00:00:23
pretty prolific uh public speaking
00:00:25
career here over the last 15 years so
00:00:26
I've been to you know hundreds and
00:00:28
hundreds and hundreds of conferences
00:00:29
around the world and kind of always
00:00:30
wanted to have one
00:00:33
um when we innovated the V friends
00:00:35
project we wanted to use the smart
00:00:37
contracts and nfts so we provided
00:00:40
um three tickets uh when you minted the
00:00:43
nft two years ago to three business
00:00:45
super conferences that we wanted to
00:00:47
throw once a year this is year two in
00:00:50
Indy last year we did it in Minneapolis
00:00:53
um this year we're doing it at Lucas Oil
00:00:54
Stadium where the Colts play uh and and
00:00:58
what's really fun for the audience that
00:01:00
I know you have is look it's the most
00:01:02
contemporary kind of cool contemporary
00:01:04
uh business marketing entrepreneur
00:01:08
conference is the ambition in mind I was
00:01:10
very affected by South by Southwest
00:01:13
um back in the mid 2000s
00:01:15
and so that kind of confidence mixed in
00:01:18
with some of the other events that I've
00:01:20
been through in years has been an
00:01:21
ambition and so whether it's pop culture
00:01:24
or innovation whether it's the CEO of
00:01:27
lvmh North America
00:01:29
or Scooter Braun who's done it in music
00:01:31
or Dave grubman who's done it in
00:01:33
Nightlife or Jessica Alba who's done it
00:01:35
from Hollywood then into consumer
00:01:37
packaged Goods
00:01:38
um and and many you know 125 plus other
00:01:42
speakers
00:01:44
um we're just looking to blow people
00:01:45
away with the magnitude of the content
00:01:48
and then really focus on the community
00:01:50
we've built and really one of the things
00:01:52
I've always loved about great
00:01:53
conferences is the people you meet in
00:01:54
the Halls the chats you have when the
00:01:57
content's not going on or even when it
00:01:59
is going on and so the layout is very
00:02:02
conducive for interaction whether you're
00:02:04
consuming the content or not what do you
00:02:06
think is kind of the state of
00:02:08
Entrepreneurship right now and I say
00:02:10
that obviously because the pandemic
00:02:12
changed so much for so many people on so
00:02:15
many different levels and and we've
00:02:17
talked on our show about how many times
00:02:19
businesses had to Pivot in the pandemic
00:02:22
to be able to survive I'm wondering if
00:02:24
you've seen some of those changes within
00:02:26
entrepreneurship itself
00:02:27
you know I think there's two extreme
00:02:29
counterpoints that I most recognize that
00:02:32
are happening over the last four years
00:02:33
more people than ever are now tasting
00:02:35
entrepreneurship because the concept of
00:02:37
a side hustle or you know the micro
00:02:40
economy or gig economy is very real
00:02:42
people learned how to use the computer
00:02:45
more you know in social media more and
00:02:47
zoom more and I think a lot of people
00:02:49
had to do things during covet found new
00:02:52
passions
00:02:54
um the economy has gotten softer people
00:02:55
have been laid off people are learning
00:02:58
skills flipping stuff online starting a
00:03:00
podcast people have gone you know viral
00:03:04
on Tick Tock without knowing that that
00:03:06
was their Destiny and so more people
00:03:08
have tasted entrepreneurship and are
00:03:09
doing versions of it on the flip side
00:03:12
another opposite thing has happened the
00:03:15
last three four years more people in the
00:03:17
last three four five years have realized
00:03:18
they're not capable of being an
00:03:20
entrepreneur if you go back and you know
00:03:22
this three four five years ago there was
00:03:24
almost this concept of like anyone can
00:03:26
do it like the amount of people jumping
00:03:27
into it there was there was this
00:03:28
confusion that you being an entrepreneur
00:03:31
meant the same thing as being a
00:03:33
successful entrepreneur
00:03:34
and a lot of people were playing
00:03:36
successful entrepreneur on Instagram but
00:03:38
not actually living that life and so
00:03:40
it's a really interesting time more
00:03:41
people than ever tasting versions of it
00:03:43
more people than I think a half decade
00:03:46
ago coming to terms with it's okay of
00:03:48
not being an entrepreneur you just might
00:03:50
be a number three or a number seven and
00:03:52
so it's an interesting time for that
00:03:53
combo I I think people a lot of people
00:03:56
forgotten and this is something that
00:03:58
I've heard through the professors here
00:03:59
at the Wharton School is that people
00:04:00
forget that the success rate on ideas as
00:04:04
entrepreneurs is still relatively low
00:04:06
it's not like you know you come up come
00:04:08
up with an idea and it's a sure winner
00:04:10
right out of the gate and you know this
00:04:12
given you know the pedigree and the
00:04:14
caliber and the relationships of the
00:04:16
kids that are popping out of war and a
00:04:18
lot of them
00:04:20
are in a position where they are able to
00:04:22
raise Capital against ideas
00:04:24
and you know this and you know people
00:04:27
that pay attention though there's been
00:04:28
more capital in the system than ever and
00:04:31
so the success rates are still
00:04:34
incredibly hard but you you know and you
00:04:37
know this when you and I were kids small
00:04:39
businesses would usually die within the
00:04:41
first year because there's so much
00:04:43
capital in the system where these
00:04:46
companies are taking three to four years
00:04:47
to die and a lot of times they're doing
00:04:50
M A's you know on a penny on the dollar
00:04:53
so it doesn't look like it died it
00:04:54
looked like it got eminent and so
00:04:55
there's a lot of variables that go into
00:04:57
this conversation you know you mentioned
00:05:00
about uh with vcon the use of nfts and
00:05:03
there's still a lot of conversation
00:05:04
about where that's going to head uh
00:05:07
there's obviously like we we're seeing
00:05:09
with with openai and chat GPT there's a
00:05:12
lot of early jumping on board getting
00:05:15
involved in it
00:05:16
it seems like with nfts it's it's maybe
00:05:19
hitting a slow I don't know if it's a
00:05:21
slow patch or it's kind of hitting its
00:05:23
Pat its normal path right now what do
00:05:25
you see as the pattern with nfts
00:05:27
my intuition is that I always thought
00:05:31
that the pattern and at the height of
00:05:33
the height of it I started making these
00:05:36
videos after being like hey everyone
00:05:37
should learn about this and get involved
00:05:38
I started making these videos that 99 of
00:05:41
nft projects were going to go to zero
00:05:42
which wasn't Landing so well with the
00:05:45
community except for the small
00:05:47
percentage of the thoughtful ones I I
00:05:50
and the reason I did that was it
00:05:51
reminded me of the hysteria of things
00:05:53
and collectibles like Beanie Babies
00:05:56
but just because beanie babies aren't
00:05:59
worth a fortune doesn't mean stuffed
00:06:00
animals aren't a huge category it
00:06:02
reminded me of the.com bubble
00:06:05
just because those companies were wildly
00:06:07
overvalued because of greed didn't mean
00:06:10
that
00:06:12
the internet wasn't going to be a thing
00:06:13
so I think it's going to be in between
00:06:15
what it is right now
00:06:18
and what it was 24 months ago in the
00:06:20
hysteria because right now people are
00:06:22
scared to innovate in it because there's
00:06:24
not a lot of clarity not to mention
00:06:25
there's not Clarity yet we're waiting
00:06:27
for legislation
00:06:28
right so I think people are kind of
00:06:31
stuck a little bit but the macro
00:06:33
technology ironically you bring up AI I
00:06:36
actually think the blockchain's about to
00:06:37
become a hero in society when people
00:06:40
realize what deep fake videos are and
00:06:42
how many there will be in the system in
00:06:43
three years and how we will rely
00:06:46
on decentralized servers to prove
00:06:49
Providence and that we will all interact
00:06:51
with the blockchain to make sure the
00:06:53
video that we just saw of a public
00:06:55
leader or a famous person what they said
00:06:57
we today every one of us default into
00:07:00
when we see a video to believe it to be
00:07:01
true
00:07:02
within the next decade it will be the
00:07:04
reverse there will be more fake videos
00:07:06
of people saying things than real videos
00:07:09
of people saying things so we will have
00:07:11
to reverse and we will need the
00:07:13
blockchain or some combination of new
00:07:15
technology that I don't understand or
00:07:17
hasn't been invented to create
00:07:19
affirmation and so I have a hunch that
00:07:21
the blockchain is going to go there and
00:07:23
I think nfts
00:07:25
again are stuffed animals not beanie
00:07:29
babies and I think
00:07:30
just like sports cards 99 of them won't
00:07:34
be valuable from a collecting lens but
00:07:37
Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky rookie
00:07:39
cards are and then there's the whole
00:07:40
smart contract of it all right Title
00:07:43
Insurance
00:07:44
signing a deal like literally actual
00:07:47
contracts a lot of those things are
00:07:48
going to be in non-fungible token form
00:07:51
so right now we talk about nfts as a
00:07:55
collectible the world does
00:07:57
but we used to talk about the internet
00:07:59
from a place of it just being about
00:08:01
information remember the information
00:08:03
the internet is much more than just
00:08:06
information nfts are much more than just
00:08:08
a collectible so I think over the next
00:08:10
decade that will play out well and the
00:08:12
thing about blockchain is I it's been so
00:08:14
associated with cryptocurrency that uh I
00:08:18
think people forget that it's so much
00:08:21
more than just that and obviously with
00:08:23
some of the the negative things that
00:08:25
have gone on with cryptocurrency in the
00:08:27
first few years I think it's been
00:08:29
Associated to the downside with that
00:08:31
blockchain seemingly has so many more
00:08:33
options it feels like moving forward
00:08:35
that we really haven't even kind of dug
00:08:38
deep into at this point this is why when
00:08:40
you know when people like to razz Bill
00:08:42
Gates for underestimating the internet
00:08:44
what he was doing in that micro moment
00:08:46
was he was only looking at it from the
00:08:48
lens of like this is good for Academia
00:08:50
and government to get information he
00:08:52
hadn't played out all the other use
00:08:54
cases and as soon as he did he went Full
00:08:56
Throttle I think what you're touching on
00:08:58
is exactly right but it's also a
00:09:00
branding game you know this greed and
00:09:03
all this effects it's going to take a
00:09:05
half a decade to shed some of that bad
00:09:08
taste right the media is going to run
00:09:11
with it for a while and so that will
00:09:12
evolve but like look when you're running
00:09:14
a marathon
00:09:16
versus a hundred yard dash you're not
00:09:18
devastated if you're falling behind in
00:09:22
the first leg it's a long race
00:09:25
what's the advice you give to
00:09:26
entrepreneurs the best advice you give
00:09:28
to entrepreneurs right now
00:09:30
me personally my favorite is
00:09:32
accountability and patience I'm shocked
00:09:35
how many entrepreneurs want to buy a
00:09:37
boat next year with their big business
00:09:39
and I'm shocked by how many
00:09:40
entrepreneurs when they are fully in
00:09:42
control of their business like to blame
00:09:44
everybody around them besides themselves
00:09:48
I think the best way to be a happy
00:09:50
entrepreneur is to be 100 accountable
00:09:54
and try to play the long game
00:09:56
otherwise you get too anxiety now and
00:09:59
you get blown out of the game
00:10:01
is the landscape there for young
00:10:03
entrepreneurs right now or do you have
00:10:06
to have a little bit of that life
00:10:07
experience in you before you make that
00:10:10
jump
00:10:12
the answer is both I mean the
00:10:13
opportunity is greater you know this
00:10:15
like I mean I don't know if I my mom and
00:10:17
I laugh all time I don't know if I would
00:10:19
have graduated Middle School let alone
00:10:21
High School in college if I lit if I was
00:10:23
growing up in this technology era the
00:10:26
opportunities are just obnoxious uh on
00:10:29
the flip side as someone who had great
00:10:32
success as a child and a young man in
00:10:35
business it was my talent I can tell you
00:10:38
47 year old Gary runs circles around 25
00:10:42
year old Gary as an entrepreneur because
00:10:44
experience matters so and and then I
00:10:46
think you see that in sports a lot right
00:10:49
like unless your body starts to break
00:10:50
down which it does to every athlete even
00:10:53
the the best of best players the LeBrons
00:10:55
the Kobe's the Jordans you know or a
00:10:58
Federer or Brady whatever they are
00:10:59
they're they're clearly very good when
00:11:02
they get out the gate but you get into
00:11:04
that five years later seven years later
00:11:05
nine years later they just know the
00:11:07
whole game everything slows down and so
00:11:09
I think the answer is both what do you
00:11:12
think the landscape is then in the world
00:11:13
of advertising with digital and and then
00:11:16
the next step which I know you've talked
00:11:18
about is web3 and how that's going to
00:11:21
impact a lot of this
00:11:22
you know look I mean the first part of
00:11:25
that question is we could we should do a
00:11:27
four-hour podcast on that because I can
00:11:29
tell you right now I think one of the
00:11:31
biggest elephants in the room globally
00:11:33
in the world in business is the sheer
00:11:36
amount of money being wasted by big
00:11:38
brands on traditional advertising and
00:11:40
when I say traditional I don't mean just
00:11:43
television print and outdoor I mean
00:11:46
traditional digital programmatic banner
00:11:48
ads you know and then you have to
00:11:52
actually be good at Social or influencer
00:11:54
or this stuff so you know I think the
00:11:57
way Technologies affected the
00:12:00
advertising industry is profound and we
00:12:02
have not calibrated that on Madison
00:12:04
Avenue yet
00:12:05
and I mean you're talking about 80
00:12:07
billion dollars spent on television
00:12:08
commercials
00:12:10
media placement forget about the
00:12:12
creative in a world where like I'm
00:12:14
struggling to find the human beings that
00:12:15
are able to consume commercials on cable
00:12:18
and television I'm struggling to find
00:12:20
people that watch cable and television
00:12:23
outside of live sports
00:12:25
because they're all living in streaming
00:12:26
services and so
00:12:28
and and so you know I guess the answer
00:12:30
to the question is we need a Day of
00:12:33
Reckoning in adland
00:12:35
and we need to recalibrate the way we're
00:12:38
scoring success and measuring brand and
00:12:40
media efficiency and I think there's
00:12:42
gonna be a lot of Carnage in the next 20
00:12:44
years and a lot of big brands that we
00:12:46
know today are going to lose profound
00:12:47
market share because every time somebody
00:12:49
walks into Walmart and buys a Mr Beast
00:12:51
chocolate bar that's a chocolate bar
00:12:53
that Hershey's does not sell every time
00:12:56
that somebody goes into a Target and
00:12:58
buys a Prime energy drink I got bad news
00:13:01
for Powerade that used to be your sale
00:13:03
and so there's there's a lot going on
00:13:06
out there and I see Fortune 500 Brands
00:13:09
putting their head in the sand and
00:13:10
they're going to get run over by this
00:13:11
tidal wave well and I'm just amazed how
00:13:14
many secondary brands have come onto the
00:13:17
market and had unbelievable success you
00:13:20
think with some some of the companies
00:13:22
that are out there that are doing golf
00:13:23
shirts and polos and all these different
00:13:25
companies and they have that digital
00:13:27
connection and they are doing just as
00:13:29
well as some of the big name brands
00:13:31
these days
00:13:32
it's because media has become
00:13:33
commoditized and so has distribution you
00:13:36
have to understand in 1984 Kraft or
00:13:38
PepsiCo or Procter Gamble or Unilever a
00:13:42
small entrepreneur couldn't get their
00:13:44
product inside of Walmart or Kmart or
00:13:46
ShopRite right they couldn't get on
00:13:48
television
00:13:49
as a commercial today you can post one
00:13:52
tick tock
00:13:54
and it can go viral and your product can
00:13:55
sell out and they all go to your Shopify
00:13:57
store and they have it delivered to
00:13:59
their home
00:14:00
yeah
00:14:01
awareness marketing and distribution
00:14:04
selling at stores has been completely
00:14:06
wiped out as something that costs tens
00:14:08
of millions of dollars to get into thus
00:14:10
rendering competition being able to
00:14:12
start taking market share from the
00:14:14
biggest brands in the world
00:14:15
Gary great to have you with us enjoy
00:14:17
your time in Indianapolis thanks very
00:14:19
much for joining us today thank you my
00:14:20
friend have a great day thank you Gary
00:14:22
vaynerchuk joining us here on the show
