# Social Media Is Dead

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Gary Vaynerchuk
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWqpfx2iM2g
- **Дата:** 12.03.2026
- **Длительность:** 38:19
- **Просмотры:** 149,630
- **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/16755

## Описание

In this talk, I share why attention is the asset, why personal brand is becoming the moat, and why building your individual empire matters more than ever. I also explain why social media is now interest media, and how organic content can help you reach the right audience across every platform.

We also get into team building, brand, money, mental health, collectibles, and the future of technology.

If you’re building a business, a brand, or a career in this new era, this conversation is for you.
—
Thanks for watching!
 
Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and serves as the Chairman of VaynerX, the CEO of VaynerMedia, and the CEO and creator of VeeFriends. Gary is considered one of the leading global minds on what's next in culture, business, and the internet.

Known as "GaryVee," he is described as one of the most forward thinkers in business. He acutely recognizes trends and patterns early to help others understand how shifts in consumer attention impact the realities of the busi

## Транскрипт

### Segment 1 (00:00 - 05:00) []

Social media died 4 years ago, and for the last 4 years we've been in interest media. You no longer get the content on your feeds from the people you follow, like your [ __ ] cousin or your best friend from middle school. You get content based on what you've recently been into. Do you know that if you went outside right now and made a video of eating a banana and drinking a rum and Coke and posted it, that people that have a high propensity of interest in bananas and rum and Coke might be the first people that see that content. All you have to do is make organic social media content over and over again in as many different ways as possible across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, LinkedIn, different thumbnails, different hooks, complete insane psycho discipline. You need to become a psycho at that. It's a real honor to be here. We are living in an extremely interesting time where the competitive landscape is changing quite a bit because of the convergence of social, blockchain, and AI all at the same time. And obviously, there's some OGs in here. Actually, for context, by show of hands, how many people have been in this business for over a decade? Raise your hands. So, a lot of OGs, respect. Um Obviously, all of you know that so much has changed in this industry over the last decade and how much has happened with technology. And so, I think for me personally, the last 10 years of technology shifts are going to seem slow compared to the next 10. The amount of people that are going to be using AI agents and AI bots and agentic agents, how much does anyone here want to build a personal brand or not as a moat and as a lead gen machine, I think is very important. And just in general, like what other things very honestly, from my standpoint, can your skill set bring other opportunities in the business world. I would say couple things that I think about. Number one, everybody in this room, me included, and pretty much everyone in this hotel, this city, this country, we're all battling right now for the same thing. Even though you might not think you're in the same business as someone else, this is a full battleground now for attention. You know, attention has always been the asset, but what has changed is attention used to be available to a small group of companies that had a lot of money. Prior to 1990, to get attention, you had to be a very big company and spend big advertising budgets on billboards or radio or television or direct mail or print. The fact that like as I look around this room and just look at the individual people in this room, I'm actually writing a book right now that will probably come out next year. It's called Your Individual Empire. And basically, the argument that I'm making is that the individual person now is about to build a billion-dollar corporation. If you look at the Rogans or the Alex Earls or Coopers or Mr. Beasts or me or Bartlett, like it's incredible once you amass attention, what it can be deployed against. When I come to a talk like this and think about this sector and think about especially cuz, you know, I'm 50 now, not a kid, you know, I was buying my tickets from resellers like at the stadium physically before the game started 30 years ago to where we are now, a lot of [ __ ] has changed. And there's ebbs and flows of who has the leverage. All of you know it's a game often of like cops and robbers with technology. Everybody's looking for their arbitrage. One argument I'd like to make to everyone in this room is the only arbitrage you can rely on long-term is the brand you build either for yourself, if you are comfortable and interested in being out in front, or putting those energies to building some sort of brand equity in a brand that you create, which is incredibly foreign to a lot of people who really come from the angle often of just sales and arbitrage and flipping. And it's just a extremely worthwhile conversation for everyone in this room because I will say it again, please do not underestimate what is happening in the modern technology stack. By show of hands, how many people in this room now will go to ChatGPT or some or Gemini to look up something that only 18 months ago they would go to Google search for? Raise your hands. Raise it high. High? I just need people [clears throat] to look around, especially front row, to see what I'm looking at. Let me save you some time cuz I see some of you are not that athletic. Um We're about brand, not less. What I've been yelling about for 20 years about social media and building a

### Segment 2 (05:00 - 10:00) [5:00]

brand, again, has often not hit every industry and every sector cuz they didn't believe it mattered to them. I believe more day by day it will. And again, my intuition, back to my thesis of where the world's going in an AI world, back to your individual empire, I believe a lot of you are going to have more opportunities to do more things. People continue to look at AI as a job killer. I continue to see it as an accelerator for people that are on that grind. And you were going to be able to do more and get into more, and all of that is going to lead itself to a question of are you building a brand or personal brand? And if you're not doing either, the person sitting next to you is going to and they're going to take more market share. So, that is my marketing plea to a sales DNA cuz I believe in both. Separately, I think the biggest thing that I'm fascinated by is how bullish I am on experiential, which I think fits incredibly well to everyone here. I believe it is very clear what's going on in society, which is we're going into a barbell. On this extreme side is extreme technology. AI, AR and VR are not are now within a decade's striking distance. And then all the way on the other side with nothing in the middle, the winners are going to be the people that are living in real life. You know, I think events are going to explode over the next decade. I think you'll see more events stand up. I think Oh, one thing that I'm paying a lot of attention to as an investor, and again, thrilled to answer any questions if people want to go with this, is alternative sports. I think if you look at what's going on with alternative sports, I mean, the sailing league, the golf the new golf leagues, pickleball, all this stuff. There's just so many sports standing up because the attention of social media and streaming services has allowed more opportunity. I think that experiential and events, marathons, and punchline being more tickets will be sold because of how long the tail is going to be of events over the next decade. So, I think that's going to sit extremely well for this audience. So, I think these are the themes that I'm thinking about. Then I get into the other thing that I would love to answer question. How many people here have multiple employees? Raise your hands. more than five? So, the other thing that I'm happy to go into the Q& A is how to build out teams and incentivize. You know, right now, I know a lot of you, if you even know who I am, are aware of my content in social. This part of my life, what a lot of people don't know is that I'm the active CEO of a 3,000-person advertising agency called VaynerX. Has three agencies underneath including VaynerMedia. And so, like I was sitting in my hotel room since 7:00 a. m. doing calls until about 15 minutes ago to come here. And having meetings with hundreds and hundreds of employees in different group settings. And I do think a lot about team building and how to manage and how to get the most out of. But I really just want to go into the details. I don't think people need to hear my macro spiel. I want to get into the dirt. But I will say for the people with the hands, like team building, brand building, entrepreneurial opportunities, I'm incredibly bullish on what's going on in the collectibles universe. I think we haven't even begun to see what's actually happening. I think it leads to my thesis about the real world. When you see hundreds of thousands of people show up to Comic-Con and the National Trading Card Convention and things of that nature. So, if you look at the LaBouBou phenomenon, if you look at kind of what's going on, I think collectibles is a huge green shoot for the next decade. Social media died 4 years ago, and for the last 4 years we've been in interest media, which means you no longer get the content on your feeds from the people you follow, like your [ __ ] cousin or your best friend from middle school. You get content based on what you've recently been into. Does everybody agree with that? Raise your hands. So, this is your biggest opportunity, brother. It's super crazy where we are in social. Do you know that if you went outside right now and made a video of eating a banana and drinking a rum and Coke and posted it, that people that have a high propensity of interest in bananas and rum and Coke might be the first people that see that content. All you have to do is make organic social media content that starts with why every ticket broker should use this over and over again in as many different ways as possible across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts, LinkedIn, different thumbnails, different hooks

### Segment 3 (10:00 - 15:00) [10:00]

complete insane psycho discipline. And hopefully the product's good enough that when you acquire you're getting LTV and getting word of mouth, you can actually reach these people in their feeds by making the contact organically without them even following you. You need to become a psycho at that. Like a lot of people in this room are young entrepreneurs, maybe with one company, maybe with a handful of employees, maybe none. How did you go from or do you have any advice for people very early in their entrepreneurial endeavors like going from one company to maybe two and being able to wear those different hats and now if we even look at the screen, all of the different companies that you're a part of? Most of my richest friends [ __ ] on me for how I do it. That screen represents not maximizing dollars, it's maximizing what I'm interested in. I like juggling, I like the chaos. I'm like really involved in a lot of if not all of those business. Here's what I would say brother, if you actually if that is scratching your itch. So, what I'm trying to say with my first answer is you don't need to do more than one company. In fact, a lot of people should only do one company because they struggle with the juggling. I don't know who the [ __ ] the best juggler in the world is right now cuz I'm not into circus [ __ ] but whoever that person is, I am a business version of that. I'm very good at this. This is all built on turning employees into family. The reason this works is because my brother runs our sports agency. And somebody I've known for 20 years runs my TV production company. And Resy, which how many people familiar with Resy, the restaurant app? How many people here had no idea that I co-created, invented, and ran that company? So like there's so much [ __ ] I do. Like that was done because I had dinner with one of my best buds in business, Ben Leventhal. For 7 years we had a really strong relationship and I just started a fund and he had just left NBC and over dinner on December 15th we invented Resy, which was the restaurant app, like the Uber of restaurant apps is how we first thought about it and then we evolved and evolved. Every single thing there, VaynerFriends is run by two kids that have been with me for 15 years, right? Everything there is based on my first core business that was my own, VaynerMedia. Building it, building employees that stayed there for a long time because I cared more about them than I cared about myself, and then I had the emotional and financial leverage to create more opportunities with them. And so, if you want to go into a lot of stuff, you can't run you can be the I am the CEO or chairman of all. And how many people here have more than three children or three or more children, raise your hands? So, the people that just raised their hands are going to understand this. You know, when you have three or more children, you're giving your energy to the child that's most [ __ ] up at the moment. And you bounce around. Same with me, right? I'm driving but I'm my weeks, my days, my months can go into different places. That works for me. That does not work for everyone. It's not even the most efficient thing for everyone, but it will be creating family members. The way you do that at this young of an age is really give a [ __ ] about the other people, too. You know, to start building that longevity. I love football, American football. Like I think about offensive lines that have continuity always leads to good stuff. That's how I think about businesses. I want continuity. Um and but ultimately for everyone in this room, the biggest financial upside is on the other side of the self-awareness rainbow. Do you know yourself? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you're good at? What I knew was I wasn't a nice guys finish first. I knew I was going to be good to people, which allowed me to build a huge human infrastructure. Most people in business are straight dick faces to people. They can't build that same thing, but they can build something else. And so, it's a self-awareness game. You got to know yourself, but if you want to do a lot of different things, you're going to need real relationships. Cuz if it's just based on the money that's being made, it will break. — Thank you. Is the customer always right Yes. — in your world? And if they're not, what do you do about it? The customer has been right 100% of the time in my entire 30-year career. Because my opinion that they're wrong based on my emotions or my financial status is always wrong. This is sports. The customer's always right. I mean, they could like you can I'm going macro. When I say the customer's always right is your business results are your business results. Do I like in the individual instance can a customer like do the wrong thing? Of course. They can commit fraud or lie or do the wrong thing, but in the macro, if my shit's not selling, that's on me. So, that's what I spend all my time. So, I don't have an answer for you of when they're wrong. All I think about is product market fit. The results are the results. This is sports. It's my favorite thing about sports

### Segment 4 (15:00 - 20:00) [15:00]

Randy. Do you know why everybody loves sports? Cuz everything else is [ __ ] with. Politics, university, corporations, sports it's sports. That's why I love UFC. It's the best version of sports. Nobody can get knocked the [ __ ] out and then in the post-game be like, "I won. " — But we do that in life all the time on some [ __ ] And um that's why I love sports the most and business second most. It's the closest thing. So, as you started multiple companies and, you know, met more and more successful people, how did your views and mindset on money change? On money? Yes. Zero. My relationship with money has been the exact same my whole life, which is I'm aware of it. Um I understand what freedoms and leverage it creates, but I've I got really [ __ ] lucky, bro. Like genuinely lucky, both DNA-wise and circumstance and how it all played out. I've just had a very healthy relationship with it my whole life, which is I really don't think I definitely do not believe that my self-worth is wrapped up in how much of it I get. And so, thank you. — Thanks, Randy. See, us 50-year-olds know what the [ __ ] is going on. You know what I mean, bro? Like I have it hasn't really [ __ ] you know, I've gotten more uh strategic like I've learned along the way from like being a street kid with like, "Oh, like this is how you can raise my like I've learned things about it, but it you know, has always been the same thing, which is I've always lived within my means of it. Like how many people under the age of 28 in the room, raise your hands? You're going to like this one, youngsters. From 20 to 28, the most money I made in a year was $54,000. I just lived in a [ __ ] shitty apartment and didn't do [ __ ] So, and I was [ __ ] pumped. I was building a huge business for my father. He was [ __ ] me, but he's my dad. And so, I was fine with it. Plus we're immigrants, like he wasn't really [ __ ] me. Who here is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, raise your hands? You know what I'm about to say. My dad wasn't really meaning to [ __ ] me. For context, everyone, I started running my dad's business at 22. I was working in the liquor store since I was 14. It was doing 3 million a year. From '98 to 2005, I grew it from 3 to 65 million. And I didn't get paid [ __ ] — But my dad wasn't trying to [ __ ] me. He just thought I would inherit it cuz that's what immigrants do. He was like, "You'll get this when I die. " I was like, "Dad, you have remarkable genetics and I'm 20 years younger than you. I'm going to inherit this [ __ ] at 78 years old. " And that's why I left at 34 after I built it and kind of did my own thing, but you know, like so in my 20s when I think a lot of people are [ __ ] up with their money, it's just not and I know that you live in a world now where everyone's like flashing what they're flashing on social and all that, but like the outside world has never been a factor in how I've navigated my life. And um my relationship's been really healthy with it. I also am a psycho, bro. Do you know Rocky 5, the weird one where he goes back to Philly? Cuz he like lost all his [ __ ] That's my favorite Rocky. Like I This is real. This is not some therapy [ __ ] so just bear with me. I like secretly want to lose it all to just start all over and build it up again. So, I'm I've got some problems. — There's a little bit of that. So, I see you invested in the Pick a Ball team. You own the 5's. I'm big fan, Anna Leigh and the squad. Thank you. — Um question, how did you decide to get into pickleball? What got you to that? And if I wanted to invest in pickleball cuz I love playing it, um is it too late? And if not, like where would I start? I invested because I have a business partner in the VaynerX world. I bought his company, you could see in the purple screen called Pure Wow. His name is Ryan Harwood. He played number one singles tennis at Penn. He's like a tennis [ __ ] nerd. Like he's got real problems. I Like he named his son Roger. He loves Roger Federer and talks about him every day and claims that he did not name his son Roger because of Roger Federer. So, he was interested in pickleball. He kind of brought the opportunity to me. I did some homework on it. What caught Sorry, what caught my attention was how many views pickleball was getting on social organically when no one knew what the [ __ ] it was 7 years ago. So, I was like, "This is interesting. " I thought it could be a good TV sport. The team only cost me $500,000. Not only, it's a lot of money, but like to own a whole [ __ ] sports team in a league, teams are now selling for 16 to 20 million. So, I've done well on paper. It could all fold. Is it too late? Not if you think what we think, which is like it still has It's early.

### Segment 5 (20:00 - 25:00) [20:00]

But, sports is so high risk, high reward. You know, like to become a real league, but there's so many ways to invest in it. Do I think people are going to play it forever? Yes, I do. And so, you can invest in the gear companies, the racket companies. At the league level, you'll have to wait for the league to go public, or you'll have to have real paper to be able to get into the league. There'll probably be more leagues that pop up. There's Padel that's got a lot going on. So, there's individual units, like pickleball locations that you can invest in. I think the sport has real legs. Um mainly because like people watch it. Being a ticket broker, obviously, I think a very big important part of the business is sharing leads or sort of like collaborating with other brokers Okay. to find out how to expand your business. — Yep. I've personally been burnt in the past by um another broker by personally giving some deals over and not really receiving much. — Yep. Uh it's come to the point where I'm obviously successful, but I want to also expand my business. How many times has someone really [ __ ] you like that? — It happened once, and since then I — Yeah. That's [ __ ] unacceptable. Yeah, but it happens and it's going to happen keep on happening. — but like you're letting fear dictate your business. — Right. So, how do you not The question is you have to Not you have to, but you should collaborate with other brokers. So, the question is how do you do it the right way where By stopping a [ __ ] and try it again. So, again. Okay. So, what were What would be some tips that you can give me to stopping a [ __ ] and try again? By not being scared of getting [ __ ] again. But, also trying to rely a little bit more on reputation. There I'm I assume there are people in here who have a very good reputation in collabing. And so, doing a little more homework on reputation. Mhm. You know, but why I went there with you is cuz I'm just trying to help everyone. Like I just said it with my Rocky Balboa thing. Like I'm just never scared to get [ __ ] I need to put that into context. — I mean, I'm not scared either, so But, but you are. Right? And I want to help you because it's it is I I'm proud of you cuz you can feel that it's limiting you. You're taking one bad experience and deploying it. And to me, it's like if I was sitting out here and 13 people here [ __ ] me, I'd be like, "Who's number 14? " That's just where I'm at with double offense. — you. You know, and so I just um I just think You're good, brother. I hope this interaction gives you the ability to leap again because do not take one person. Bro, that had nothing to do with you. That had with to do with them being a piece of [ __ ] That should not stop you from growing. Right. Okay, thank you. You got it. With all the technology, AI, and everything in 2026, if you were to lose it all, um you know, what would you go into and start today? And second question, uh being in Vegas, uh I know you're a huge Jets fan. Lines at five and a half games this year. Are we going over or under? Uh We're — I think we might go under. We have a tough We have a tougher schedule this year a little bit. I still don't think we're rebuilding, but a nice little trade today that I thought was strategic. It's so funny you asked me that question. I've already referenced it once. No [ __ ] If I got wiped, I would literally do this. The first skill I have to go from zero to something is to buy something for less than I can sell it for. Like if I really went to zero, like let's just go to the full extreme and my face got ripped off while I went to zero, so I couldn't even leverage my personal brand. Remember that weird movie like Nicholas Cage and Travolta like with my face Yeah, Face/Off. Thank you. If my face got ripped off and nobody would believe that I'm Gary and I'm like dead zero, I'm literally going to [ __ ] flea markets and garage sales and the Goodwill and buying [ __ ] for [ __ ] two bucks and selling it on eBay for seven. Buying and selling, I think is one of the great gifts some of us are given. My admiration for all of you having that is very high. I am literally here because of that cuz I'm picking and choosing the places I want to speak to. I want to be in my Gush books. crew. That's what I feel towards all of you. And ironically, it is my safe haven. When all else goes to zero, I can buy and sell [ __ ] Awesome. Thank you. What are the most important qualities you look for in hiring people? You've obviously got a lot of people that you surround yourself with to help you be successful. Number one, I spent I did two hiring meetings today. Like literally the entire meeting is if you were insecure. This is literally me talking to the person on Zoom today. If you're insecure, you need to know that is the seed for you being political in our company, and you will be [ __ ] The number one thing I look for is people that are just naturally content or self-confident, not rearing

### Segment 6 (25:00 - 30:00) [25:00]

with insecurity. I don't care You know, you know You probably know this. A lot of people are very good at things because they're insecure, but it's short-term fuel and it runs out. And so, a lot of people get confused and hire people like that, or some of you are literally running on that fuel right now. You're making money because of your insecurity. But, bro, I don't feel You know this? All of this [ __ ] this whole world, it's all Star Wars. It's all Jedis versus the dark side. They're very close. But, I don't know if you know this, like Darth Vader loses. Emperor loses. Like you lose with that. So, I focus fully on self-esteem versus insecurity. And then I look for people that are capable of communicating and being communicated to. Because once you're in our family, I'm desperate to make you successful. I'll give it everything I've got. And we will give you kind candor. If we're like, "Hey, this, that. " And so, insecurity and confidence and then communication capabilities, everything else I can train. Two-part question. Number one, with all these entities and everything you have going on, how do you personally stay focused and do one thing at a time yourself? I don't time. Okay. And then the second part of it is how have you incorporated mental health awareness and stuff that's important you in that area to your all your companies? So, back to the question about money, I think a lot of mental health issues are around money, but I don't think it's not having it. I think it's not living within it. And so, detachment matters, too. Like I think it would surprise people in here how little I give a [ __ ] about my companies, my bank account, and my personal brand. So, it's very easy for me to prioritize my mental health and my family because it's what I prioritize. But, that doesn't mean like literally you saw my opening Do you know how [ __ ] pissed I am that I'm here? My son's team lost their first three [ __ ] games of the year. You think I thought they were going to rattle off 11 in a row and get to the championship? So, when I booked this, I thought I was safe, but I was [ __ ] And so, I'm dead in the green room right now. So, it's not like I choose family over Like I could have canceled this. I can't because the way I was raised is I couldn't make this commitment and not be here. But, it crushed me today cuz I missed a moment that I would remember for the rest of my life. But, then I'm okay with that because I don't think my son's going to [ __ ] hate me his whole life the way modern parents think they have to be at every [ __ ] thing. Right? So, you know, it's just having balance, you know? Having balance and trying to make the best decisions I can and being okay that I'm a Bro, you know how many things I [ __ ] up? Like I don't understand how everybody here doesn't understand that we're all humans. Real talk. Let's be a little vulnerable for a second. Just out of curiosity, who feels like they beat themselves up pretty good when they [ __ ] up? Raise your hands. Good, cuz I don't. So, this is I'm pumped right now. I need you to listen to me. One more time, every hand up. Friends, everybody else in this room [ __ ] sucks, too. I'm serious. I do not understand why we're putting other people on a pedestal. Everybody Back to sports, not every game, not every play, not every season is good. We need to be We need to have more self-love. So, you know, all of that's You know, back um wrap up your whole thing. And how I run these companies, I have three full-time assistants and two chiefs of staff. There are five human beings whose full-time job in life is to maximize every minute of mine. So, it's a lot of infrastructure. Two, I'm doing the thing I said earlier. I'm giving the love to the thing that has the most offense or the most defense needs. I never play in the middle. Make sense? So, I'm always looking at like Where's the biggest opportunity or biggest vulnerability? So, I'm playing there. And then mental health has always been super easy for me cuz I'm utterly detached. Even the joke that I'm making about, you know, being Rocky, it's cuz I'd be okay. And I would secretly You know why I'm This is like I You know who I would have been great as? Being a visiting athlete in a stadium booing the [ __ ] out of him. I would have loved being that [ __ ] person. There's something about that I love. And so, the reason I secretly want to lose everything is so all of you make blog posts and social media posts saying that I was never really that good and I was always full of [ __ ] Cuz I enjoy rebuilding up in the adversity. I love the [ __ ] dirt. Um and then, you know, from a human standpoint, I'm just trying the best I can. You know, when you know you're trying the best you can, if you can actually get there. Now, some of you may be beating yourself up because you know you're not. You know, you are being selfish. You know, like that's different. That you've got to work through. But, for me personally, I'm [ __ ] trying. So, you talked about being detached. I also know you talk a lot about empathy. And so, I'm curious how you're able to I'm detached from my selfishness. Mhm. You know what I need cuz I'm good and then empathy comes you know, empathy is a gift. You know, and there's a reason there's three different words, compassion, sympathy, and empathy.

### Segment 7 (30:00 - 35:00) [30:00]

They're different. Do you know why I'm a good salesman? Cuz I know what you're thinking and feeling. That's a [ __ ] gift and you can do a lot of damage with that gift or good. And I just had a world-class mother that made sure I went down the good path, but empathy comes natural to me. I always think about the other person, which is why back Chris why I was able to build that, right? Cuz I did care about Like I'm not saying it to be I don't even know if it's cool. I'm not saying it to be cool up here. I'm saying it cuz it's really what happened. So empathy just like, you know, I see it in my son. When he was four they're outside playing when another kid falls and cries, he stops and comes over and he's like sad. I'm like, [ __ ] that's that was me. I just feel it. And you Is that you? Yeah, so it's hard for me to stay detached. — Yeah, it's hard. You know, it's funny. I'm It's harder for me to be detached for you know, for other people than it is for my own success. It's hard for me, too. When you're overly empathetic, but honestly, I've learned how to the best of my ability. Because you have to protect boundaries. What's that? boundaries. Yeah, and you got to do things that are uncomfortable. Right? Like I used to struggle giving people feedback cuz I thought I would scare them and they thought they would get fired and I sucked at it, which created entitlement, which [ __ ] up everything. So like you live and learn. Thank you. In your career and building your empire, how did you make sure to stick to your own intuition and gut and not to make sure your judgment was clouded by anyone else? Came easy to me because I have a very big belief that I'm really happy you asked that question cuz I think you're going to help somebody in this room, especially the youngsters. I need you to hear this. It is so much more fun to die on your own sword than someone else's. — So I got lucky. I was a kid and my dad had this local business and at 14, I'm like stocking shelves and bagging ice for 10 hours a day and about 3 weeks in because I've been slinging baseball cards for 3 years I tell my mom one day in like sixth grade, I'm like, Mom, I think I'm a better businessman than Dad. Like just knew. Just [ __ ] knew that I was better. And what ended up happening was in my late teenage years when I was kind of running the business with my dad, many times cuz I was a kid I would have to kind of go with what my dad wanted to do versus me and it would always not work. And it [ __ ] sucked and I hated it. And so I just promised myself when I would get to a place that I would never do that again. And it's one of the reasons even with my brother in Vayner Sports right now, it's sometimes a struggle for me because I'll also never be that guy. My dad did that to me. He would come in even though I was working 15 hours a day, he'd come in and try to make a change and I was like, I'm in the trenches. My brother's in the trenches on Vayner Sports. And so I'm the one B. Now he I'm big bro and I'm me and all that, but there's many times where we do things that he wants to do and like it kills me and when it doesn't work, it triple kills me. How? Because of the way I grew up, it was always instilled in me that I'm dying on my [ __ ] sword and I promise you everyone it's way better. Now, if somebody around you is right three times in a row, that might just mean they're better than you. Like if somebody was right in around me four times in a row, I would start only listening to them. That just hasn't been the case. Not because I don't have good people around me or better people than me around me. It's just that I don't make decisions by guessing. And I'm in my [ __ ] I'm not some executive that's living some sort of bougie life [ __ ] playing golf and [ __ ] Like I work and I'm in my [ __ ] and I know my [ __ ] And so when you know your [ __ ] the [ __ ] would you listen to someone else for? Thank you so much. Where are NFTs, blockchain, crypto and especially in a world that's becoming more competitive with AI around actual physical energy infrastructure? Yeah. How do you think about that in the future? — The energy infrastructure is above my pay grade. I spend a ton of time like reading about like the big tech companies and all that stuff, but honestly like I got F's in science for a reason. So like I won't talk about that. I will talk about a couple things. One, everybody here is about to realize why the blockchain matters. The blockchain is a ledger of proof. Every video on the internet in 48 months is going to be fake. Everybody in this room, me included, will not believe a single video they see on the internet in 3 years. None. You will not believe it. So the blockchain's going to get important like minting the original like we're all going to know everyone's official public address. There's a little bit of tech there that I don't fully understand, but I believe the blockchain's going to really help us in AI. Comma I'm obsessed with digital collectibles. As I stand here today, I'm aware that 99% of the world thinks that NFTs are

### Segment 8 (35:00 - 38:00) [35:00]

scams. I'm also aware cuz I'm in it every day that $11 million worth of NFTs were bought by collectors last week. In a world where everybody believes it's a scam literally 99% to sell $11 million in a week is profound. Just like in the uh Randy [ __ ] left. Who's over 50 in the room? Raise your hands. Thank you, OGs. OGs, remember when the internet stocks in April 2000 all went from $150 to $3 and it all crashed and the all the articles in the Wall Street Journal was the web was a fad? For the kids in here, Jordan, you will not believe this [ __ ] — In April 2000 all the internet stocks were overvalued cuz Wall Street got greedy on this new profound technology and everyone got ahead of their skis. And literally pets. com was worth $4 billion and had $0 in sales and went from $130 a share to zero. Amazon, eBay, and PayPal were there and went from 200, 300 a share to three, four bucks. That's what happened in NFTs. And digital collectibles are going to be real forever. But 99. 9% of NFTs were always destined to be zero just like 99% of sneakers are not collectibles and 99% of watches comic books and trading cards are not. But I'm buying more NFT stuff now cuz it's a [ __ ] market waiting for the other side. — What's interesting to you in the NFTs that you're buying? The only one that I believe 100% is ironclad is CryptoPunks cuz it's got history on its side. The other ones are characters like me with VFriends. Who's the Vince McMahon and Dana White and Walt Disney and Jim Henson that over a 10 or 15-year period can get people to give a [ __ ] The you know, that's hard right now. I'm taking a bunch of different bets, but I know I'm going to do it. But the problem with me like the problem with someone here when people like Gary should I go crazy on VFriends? I'm like, maybe. Like I know I'll do it in the next 25 years and make it Spider-Man and Superman. I know it. But I can also die tonight. Especially in this [ __ ] up town. You know, and so anything you know, it's just like an artist, right? Like you're betting on the artist, operator, but there will be seven to 10 projects collectibles in NFT land right now that are three, four, seven, 800 dollars a piece right now that will be the Jackson Pollocks, will be the Andy Warhols, will be the Spider-Man first appearance in Amazing Stories, will be the Mickey Mantle rookie card and I know VFriends is going to be one of them if God gives me with enough health to let me get through it. Um and I think you would all know that, too, if you went to eBay right now and typed in VFriends and saw hundreds of trading cards and comic books sell every day. And the ultimate collectible in that world is the NFT. Everybody, thank you.