# #AskGaryVee 304 | Strauss Zelnick

## Метаданные

- **Канал:** Gary Vaynerchuk
- **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg
- **Дата:** 26.02.2019
- **Длительность:** 41:17
- **Просмотры:** 69,689

## Описание

On episode 304 of the #AskGaryVee Show, entrepreneur Strauss Zelnick stops by and we chat about:

(0:40 - 3:10): Did Strauss green light Ghoulies?
(3:11 - 11:28): Strauss’ career path
(11:29 - 14:59): Predicting the next ten years
(15:00 - 15:39): Thoughts on blockchain
(16:40 - 17:47): Sports betting
(17:48 - 23:13): The future of esports 
(23:14 - 25:15): What’s going to pop next in culture?
(25:16 - 29:59): How to run a price-based business today
(30:00 - 33:16): How to get users for your app
(33:17 - 38:49): The state of entrepreneurship today
(38:50 - 40:30): At the end of the day, what are we all doing here?

#Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
25:28 - How do I differentiate my business in a price-based market?
30:45 - How do I get people to start using my app?

Give Strauss a follow on these platforms:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strausszelnick 
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Gary Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a modern-day media and communications holding company and the active CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency servicing Fortune 100 clients across the company’s 4 locations. 

In addition to VaynerMedia, VaynerX also includes Gallery Media Group, which houses women’s lifestyle brand PureWow and men's lifestyle brand ONE37pm. In addition to running VaynerMedia, Gary also serves as a partner in the athlete representation agency VaynerSports, cannabis-focused branding and marketing agency Green Street and restaurant reservations app Resy.

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## Содержание

### [0:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=40s) 3:10): Did Strauss green light Ghoulies?

your show I'm like 100 percent being invited to a Strauss party maybe nine years ago and then in the tech kind of media scene was a super highlight for me and some of you who know me know that Ben lair is a very good friend of mine and earlier that like three months earlier than that party Ben and I suck you know how like guys or gals get into like a meme of like something that's funny to them somehow a movie called Ghoulies became this like really funny thing for you know that movie was it yeah I was a little bit of both here's the punchline somehow at Sundance this movie Ghoulies which I didn't know about but then like in this weekend it became the most important thing in my life so then a couple months later we go to Strauss's house for this event or what have you somehow we're not a lot of people are left and somehow me and Ben are just somehow it gets referenced Ghoulies like we say something it's like the inside joke it's the meme and Strauss goes I made that movie which to this day is a top like 10 stress and I have not spent a whole lot of time together we have a lot of mutual friends I have an enormous amount of admiration from him from afar we'll get I'm gonna let him paint a five minute context of his career and then we'll do some Q& A because I think he's gonna help a lot of entrepreneurs and then anything else stress on your mind I'd love to know you know anything that you want to talk about but the Ghoulies thing is a top-10 moment like from the heat I think everybody can associate with this your friends random [ __ ] becomes something you all talk about from this was like white-hot like I basically said the word Ghoulies eighty-seven thousand times over a one-week period and then one week later the man who [ __ ] greenlit the movie it was an amazing about it I don't know if you I do remember the story you know I am probably gonna like ruin the whole thing i made i'm not trimming easily I made Goonies or Ghoulies and I never went to look to see which one was ours after we had this no you would if you made Goonies you would definitely know it you know who zis is [ __ ] the greatest movie of all time maybe they're gone YZ or Ghoulies but anyhow we you know we made the worst very cool YZ which everybody is worse that's the one America yeah we are not talking about Goonies what I think is actually a top 10 movie now I would remember no we didn't make a Steven Spielberg you you made Ghoulies which is a movie that nobody under do Pete what's going on you got something yes yeah it's it was anyway nonetheless does look familiar

### [3:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=191s) 11:28): Strauss’ career path

that's what everybody's watching who's ton of entrepreneurs a lot of business people why don't you give everybody like a three-minute like kind of comic book episode one who you are your career a little bit about you so on the career side I always wanted to be in the entertainment business from growing up for no particular reason where's you grow I grew up in Boston and then New Jersey yeah and a part of their Z South Orange loved it very close to Wine Library my wine store was in Springfield Short Hills not very close right those guys and I went to Wesleyan undergrad I went right to grad school out of college because I didn't want to work and after a couple more years in school yep and I was trying to figure out how to get into entertainment and a friend of a friend helped me get my first job in entertainment which was a summer internship at Viacom and I worked there you know I had an amazing summer met some people that led to my first full-time job was which was at Columbia Pictures Television in sales which one really what I had in mind I wanted to run a movie studio but okay good place to start but flat out that young age you like that's what I mean I knew I wanted to run a movie studio when I was 5 years old and I really and I didn't how did you even know that exists how do I even I didn't watch like I wasn't allowed to go to the movies particularly of it was a comparin stalking about know is completely made up my dad was a lawyer so um no clue but I was committed to it so uh so it real quick just for one more time cuz I need to rewind that you're not sure cuz you're young how it got into your zeitgeist but you immediately became committed to it yeah I think I had some sense like that it was very glamorous yes and that you could be looking at five you cared about the girls already mmm I think it was more about the money aspect yeah I guessed wrong keep going yeah little did I know yes there better ways to make money um anyhow I got recruited from Columbia to go to what was then the largest home entertainment company a vest Ron it's the early days of home entertainment that's how long ago was and they were launching a motion picture initiative and I became the president of the company like nine months later so I how old were you that's 29 right basically three years out of school yep and I mean I didn't to say that I'd know anything is a gross understatement I used to say my friends are like this is a public company and it was the biggest independent and there the question was like why would you be president this company my answer was well definitely not competent for the job definitely glad they gave it to me so I did that and you know at this point you know a lot of people were listening like these days 29 having a big company or a big job not insane wasn't that either you know enter Tim no no they it's always been in business that gave young people opportunity know was definitely I mean you know is precocious but I'm first of all an old person talking about what it was like to be young and successful as pathetic so I'm not gonna talk too much about that but no yeah you know Barry Diller was in his early 30s when he was uh when he was chairman of Paramount so he's not at all unheard of understood for successful people I bet that went really well because the first picture I greenlit became the highest grossing independent film of all time which I do remember which was dirty dancing and then you know we and that's that we made a bunch of other movies there were some that did very nice I mean this is how the conversation went down with no no we made Ghoulies I'm I know you're committed to it but I think it's just I just don't want people like look at I know people are gonna be if it's not a vest Ron movie it's not a bestfriend movie like I completely made it up and now Gary's like it ruined the rest of his night so it either was or was not distributed by vest Ron and I'm gonna I just don't want to get the ugly email saying I made that movie how could you take credit for it so but was it distributed by vest Ron yeah you had a face or who's like where's catalog isn't in now and then I could tell you anyway moving on that went pretty well I was recruited from there to become president of 20th Century Fox good and I was president Fox I was a great run we had a whole bunch of hits so after being in the movie business for seven years I really sort of revised my goals having met yeah I thought was a very long-term goal pretty quickly and I decided to revise my goals say I really want to do something that's in entertainment but also highly entrepreneurial and I sort of surveyed the landscape and I said and this is 1993 I said you know I think video games are going to become a huge entertainment business and I went to a company called Crystal Dynamics which was a pre-revenue video game company is the first CEO built that company up and then after we sort of got it to critical mass I left to do a turnaround of a huge record company back in the days when that wasn't an oxymoron no it was called BMG yep and I went super well took it from last place to nearly first place and it would have been first place but one and two merged so we were second place but you know it was a great result we had a lot of great hits and turned around the Orsay label and other things and then I revised my goals once again and said okay my goal now is to run a diversified media company that's supercharged by digital technology and that was well you was that was a 1 and that was considered somewhat out there I mean people got the memo on digital technology but I was always seen as the new media person and I kind this was post April 2000 where things melted yes that's right and I and you saw that as the opportunity I saw it as an opportunity I mean most people thought it was a terrible time my view is there's never a good time you know there's no time when you're starting a business and you look around say wow this isn't awesome time it's always hard that's right but it was the time when I was ready and I I'd I was done working for other people and so we started what has become zmc we had just you know it's always fun to tell these stories so we had no offices no capital no people not really a business plan and I started the business with three hundred thousand dollars of my own money so for the last 18 years we've been building up that company and today we have assets in the many billions of dollars and very little debt great deal of cash and we own a number of leading companies and the media communications like and entertainment business well our biggest company is take two interactive which is a leading video game company the third largest with titles like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption and the a2k Borderlands BioShock civilization many others we own with partners nine story which is a leading Canadian based animation company great hits and great titles we have an investment in a company called dynasty sports we own IT renew which is a so-called itag company it's a pretty arcane part of the data center space we're big believers in the growth of data we own canelo which is a leading direct response television advertising company add thrive a digital advertising company and a number of other interests and what's happening with your day to day these days within that ecosystem my day to days I'm a partner DMC and I'm the chief executive of take 2 so but take 2 is a part of zmc so we have I have the luxury that I I'm able to both invest and operate in the media business and I am able to you know our entire thesis is around is based around the notion that technology will continue to transform and inform median entertainment and we only best behind the thesis and the reason that we've never suffered a loss and we've been able to grow a very significant business from nothing at least so far is because we don't look at you know what's happening tomorrow or next quarter or marathon year we look 5 10 15 20 years down the road and so far we haven't gotten it wrong so no one people in our business and we did have access to capital or we couldn't have bought these currencies people in our business were buying newspapers consumer magazines and that was sexy and appealing we didn't do those deals because we thought print was compromised [ __ ] were right we did however by an online market research company before that was sexy and obviously took over a video game company you know seven that was very nearly bankrupt and the perception was that company you know was wet no chance of making it that company's market cap today is about ten billion dollars a little bit more what's uh what's your

### [11:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=689s) 14:59): Predicting the next ten years

what's kind of most exciting you right now as you look out five ten fifteen years I think this is just the beginning so for a lot of people think that I just heard this at a got a conference you know we've kind of established what the Internet can do with digital technology can do it's all gonna settle down and now you know the move forward in digitally driven media will be evolutionary not revolutionary I completely disagree I think the next thirty or forty years will be the most exciting time that the media business Everett has ever seen and you will see it in every part whether it's b2b which were in or b2c pure entertainment which were in or infrastructure which were in and the reason I believe in that is several first well first is right because I think was obviously right yeah that's the answer yeah in the 1880s you know there's a head of the US Patent Office said I think pretty much everything has been invented so you know I yeah we just keep inventor either doesn't allow them to historically understand the context or they are financially invested in the outcome that comes out of their mouth and often not frankly emotionally invested a hundred and staying head of change it's more emotionally invested change scares I don't you appreciate this right like to me I'm of course financially invest in all the things I do however because I'm an entrepreneur I'm putting my money where my mouth is versus hoping that the exit that the thing maintains for the next twenty seven months because I need to sell my stock at twenty seven months and go do what I want to do personally after that yeah was horrible way to live by the way I whenever people give me a story like that I'm like see here's the problem with that plan you could walk outside and get hit by a truck tomorrow you had to be careful about delaying for that so anyway I think you know if you believe in Moore's law which I do you believe that whatever data consumption you want to project from five years from now aggregate data consumption you're wrong it will be more couldn't agree more you want to project what devices will look like so Nick's holding an iPhone I don't know which one looks like a nine mine its new or ten so that form factor in ten years we'll look back in that form factor and we will think it's really funny I'm looking at a couple cameras in here these form factors will look really funny in 10 years they just don't hurt some people don't it's history right so you know rad as [ __ ] the Walkman was I know you do yeah of course I think it was just like the plays you couldn't believe it the razor phone was the single most important status item Seth you're old enough I'm impressed like yeah people are unbelievably confused about how it actually works so what we do you know as we look at the world and we try to think about where that's going to be in five or ten years and then you know to the point about preservation versus you know innovation or disintermediation we are to be the ones to disintermediate ourselves and that's a very hard task but if you're worried about cannibalization in your core business you should be the one cannibalizing your core business or someone else will do it for you the something i said to a buddy a long time ago that i use a lot i'm just first time I said and I'll never forget I said look I'd rather put myself out of business and have somebody else do it for me exactly it's exactly right now and when we when I got to the record business in 94 the first thing we did was launch websites which was innovative right and start thinking about how we can do digital distribution by the way we didn't do such a great job but we were trying really hard we were surprised when the Napster's came along we were prepared for it and we were best positioned than any about blockchain look I

### [15:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=900s) 15:39): Thoughts on blockchain

think the notion of a widely distributed network you know for computing is fine the problem with the blockchain technology is so far anyway in for you to create the additional nodes you have to create an incentive for people to create the nodes right and so far the incentive has been currency that's right and so if you have something on one hand has no owner as highly distributed on the other hand has no built-in incentive a bit of a question the Internet built-in incentive which is I want to express myself yeah or I want to transact have you come see something it was human um but it's hard to know in the absence of currency how you're gonna make the blockchain work and then when companies talk about it I'm convinced you know when big big companies sir I mean people talk to us in the game space about all the time when apply blockchain technology the video game business I'm like please tell me how that works be and variant you just know that they're putting hyperbole around a statement and so right now like do I believe in cryptocurrency I don't I know they're plenty of people who do my attitude is um I believe in speculations they exist all the time of course but anytime a so-called currency goes from ten dollars to twenty thousand dollars to thirty six hundred dollars in the space of like my recent memory that's not a currency that's something else it's not a currency so and for people who transact outside the legitimate economy they don't really care because their margins are so huge that what they care about is private transactions but for the rest of us who have like I have a really high margin and most of my businesses but I don't have a sufficient margin to offset that kind of currency so I understand so I'm not a believer at all in cryptocurrency I think about sports betting I'm a huge

### [16:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1000s) 17:47): Sports betting

believer in sport well how do you I mean first of all it's a little late in the day since the US government already said we believe in it we're taking it from the governor or government saying it's okay yes to the state's regulating in a way that works be complicated and you've got a very powerful I grew up in the liquor business between cannabis and sports betting two things in the macro I deeply believe it right but micro is different and so you've got massive lobbies very powerful lobbies who proven by the way that they can effect a legislation of late who have not just of late right but in the casino business where so what do I believe that if you're already in the casino business in the US will you be able to engage in broadly distributed digitally driven sports betting yes do I believe that we as a non regulated non gaming company can take our sports titles and turn them into gaming opportunities it would be wonderful to believe that and I'd be you know if I were in the business of promoting our security publicly I would say yes I think the answer is the option they exist but there are a lot of regulatory hurdles yep there they're obviously far fewer over them internationally talk to me about I'm

### [17:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1068s) 23:13): The future of esports

gonna ask you a question that I'm curious about so I've been really enjoying similar to blockchain and cannabis and sports betting the notion of eSports teams watching a lot of people deploy the logic around something as you know this is where I get interested I think this is from afar and then you know it's very clear to me listening to you there's a lot of things that we cross over and agreeing on I'm fascinated by people's inability to synthesize things in lieu of what they hope or emotionally or financially want to happen watching people deploy eSports strategies in today's environments fascinating because much like what you did to whoever says to you we're gonna do this blockchain thing I always say the same thing I'm like please explain to me why you think League of Legends is like the major league baseball system right and when you get into even a basic first question and you want you watch people dance in front of you what you know now that I've got a better framework of how you process and it's probably why I like you know what's your take on the eSports ecosystem around the IP holders versus how the teams think they're gonna conglomerate's the pattern we're in the business right so we and we eat our own cooking yes but our view is that like major sports we believe in eSports er yes 150 million people who watch eSports there are a whole bunch of people you're preaching so for sure it's real it is however the League of Legends business and it's a billion-dollar business and in our world video game business alone never mind the media business never mind the sports business video game business 130 billion dollars a year currently he sports a billion dollars it's a teeny little business and the bulk of the market is League of Legends and I say that as someone who's a competitor we have the NBA 2k league yep so I think there'll be somewhere between three and seven powerful eSports that will develop in the same way that they're between three and seven professional sports leagues a truly matter you know you got football a baseball you got soccer especially some of these iPS will come out really lock in and absolutely will create will become and they'll become very valuable yeah and do you think teams will be able to sit on top I'll play in all of them so dividuals like I don't see a world and this is perhaps wrong yeah this speculative where you the good news is for all the things we've been right about we've been wrong many times right yep and what I say to people actually and ask my advice especially when the entrepreneurs isn't this is one person's advice but if you ask the great entrepreneurs if when they talk to people about their ideas people all said high five that's awesome that didn't happen so you shouldn't listen to my ideas if you truly believe you should go do it but in the case of eSports I have to eat my own cooking I'm betting on I'm paying for it yes so what we said is look people love playing NBA 2k it's the biggest sports title in the US has been for years people love competing an NBA 2k they're doing it anyhow so wouldn't it be sensible to have teams that compete at any NBA 2k and then a broadcast if you will learn twitch yep those games that seems stand to reason and so that's why we're going for it do I think those teams should be both NBA 2k and the other legends and an overwatch next there's no real analogy for that in professional sports I'm a little skeptical I think if you want to be the best NBA 2k player John Sanders might just pop out of the side here yeah you know it's possible and it's a different skill set no question I think if you want to be the best NBA 2k player you're probably not also going to be the best overwatch player do you what I think is most interesting about your saying to me is will they bake will three to seven titles bake or because of the notion of the framework different than creating a ball centric sport which is what we're coming from we're literally to me look ea just has you know has a hit and it's like will it be more like the movie and television business where in perpetuity there will be games that capture three four or five years or are you saying Marvel Star Wars you know there's I'm never saying that I know that's what is sport but Marvel and Star Wars there still will be a Forrest Gump right and so it's gonna be they'll be interesting is if I'm actually just literally as you're talking like ooh so maybe it bakes three to seven and or maybe baked six and you're always an environment where another four are always getting five-year runs and seven year runs versus the kind of five they get a forty year run I'm skeptical only because team play watching team play seems to cluster around these very ancient forms but you know what this could be an example where you know history just isn't a guide of the future because after all League of Legends does not look like hockey football baseball or you know soccer that's right so it remains to be seen I feel very obviously very good about our bat because I feeling down yeah you're right in the pocket but that's it it's really about once watching an Instagram Facebook put in your phone numbers Calvin's ready to call we have to give you an opportunity get some access to this wonderful thinking you ready for that one good yeah you can ask personal questions too not just business question I like business question do you is there anything you want to talk about that's person I know anything you bring up I you know I like I like trends I like macro thinking I love history you know I like the way you're kind of storytelling because it's contextual which is I bet on context in human behavior it's not super complicated and I'm patient we are unable to complete your soul at the time now you [ __ ] up probably I'm gonna go to next column well actually speaking of

### [23:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1394s) 25:15): What’s going to pop next in culture?

that and that's vegan Mel no not Mel and hold this for a second speaking of some of our similarities how much do you get excited about analyzing things that are popping in culture is that something you give a [ __ ] about things that are poppy yeah like cool so that makes sense to me based on how we're talking all the time give me something is there anything that's on your radar right now that you're like huh or hmm you know like or what's the last thing with nine year olds or kpop like what's in the hmm I would say hmm has been the most recent social media apps that kids are using tick tock yes that I had no I was not familiar with and you know that's musically reincarnation yes exactly so what I have a young guy yeah who every month comes in and shows me what's happening popular culture that I wouldn't run into smart I know this is actually something I think I knew her interns he's great on that note you've done it he had a delete any inappropriate stuff before he showed me respect he thinks you would give a [ __ ] how I long he's compared as always great exactly you do a good job of that right like are you have you know it's funny you just said I don't know what that triggered me but it seems like all of a sudden my brain just jiggered and I feel like I've come across over the last ten years three individuals that talk about spending time with you or having lunch with your breakfast with you you're doing that game huh I spend about 25 percent of my time coaching and mentoring people at all stages of their career all stages including people are older than I but it does ten skew younger and I didn't do it for any other reason except that you know I make light entertainment for a living and I really thought it was important to find some way to make a difference and it seemed that I could do that he came and I saw I had an open door and when you have an open door in a business it's hard to break into like entertainment you know what people come home and so anyone you were I did it oh you got to tell you I didn't do it for this reason but I've developed an extraordinary collection of friendships from doing it of course so it's actually been amazingly worthwhile and after all that's how you and I met Dan brought you to my house super set yeah who's this

### [25:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1516s) 29:59): How to run a price-based business today

so tic TOCs on your radar yeah yeah and something next month what's interesting about that in the macro is it's people using something to help them create hello I agree who's this Andrew yes you're Andrew right yes I'm Gary so else is here - hey Gary say hey thrice how you doing I'm good how are you good just about to take my daughter home but how to put my number up there how to tell you Gary you've been an inspiration to me thank you very much thank you brother really appreciate it is there anything we can answer anything on your mind for you so I just created it well let me start off been an entrepreneur almost so that was like nineteen okay I'm gonna say okay my father's been a hustler you know he sold pot he sold water filters everything he's always been telling me you know all we you know hustle hustle where'd you grow up so yeah that was whoa what a New York love it keep going new year so one day I sat down with my sister we actually opened up a liquor store yeah we got about that go ahead yeah so how's it going no III do it sweet thanks Emory you and your sister just sit down and the in the sofa in the living room like let's open a liquor store and boom you we've always kind of thought about it and actually a place I'll play opened up now when I business I just took it over no we just start from scratch we don't know a bit about I love it liquor stores so how's it going sorry um oh not so good why not so good what what's your hot take what's your early how long have you had it five years what are you what's your read so not your hot take you're like educated guess five years in what's the struggle in your opinion to beyond to just a lot of things just you know lots of customers just maybe include maybe does not bind enough liquor you know it's for cost and everything art is your yeah you know one of the tough things about the liquor business in the Northeast specifically in New York and New Jersey is it's much more of a price market than people realize it's hard to differentiate when people know what they want especially if you sell liquor and beer one of the reasons I took my dad's store from shoppers discount liquors to Wine Library was very quickly as a 15 year old I said oh [ __ ] I am not convincing this 80 year old woman that just walked in that's been drinking Johnnie Walker Black for 52 years to try some other Scotch that I could make more money on and the same thing became real for me of like truck driver Johnny he's [ __ ] drinking natty light like it's hard for me to move him on the wine side there was this exploratory kind of I don't know anything about line I drink Kendall Jackson and Santa Margarita and silver oak but I don't I'm berry insecure maybe you know something else what's this Wine Spectator and Robert Parker and I found my creative opportunity and then once I understood why acres mattered I started painting pictures and what picture getting allowed me to do was split up the business I sold everything everybody knew about at cost I literally sold Budweiser Shaffer you know doors white label scotch Santa Margherita everything that people drank that they knew that everybody knew every brand I sold a dead cost and I spent every single cent of my energy life that you would walk in because you knew we sold Budweiser at cost or more importantly specifically to wine you knew that we sold Kendall Jackson and Santa Margarita dead costs there were the two most important items and I would intercept you through my merchandising or actually being on the floor at first because we were small company and I would try to story tell to you why Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio at $12. 99 was overpriced which it was which having truth on your side was great and while you needed to try this 999 Pinot Grigio but oh by the way I was making $4 a bottle on that versus zero on the $12. 99 and then when you tasted it and you liked it better at least in the same ballpark I started building trust you're in a commodity business you have to create a differentiator yeah well instead of standing behind the register wing for people to buy [ __ ]

### [30:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1800s) 33:16): How to get users for your app

honestly yeah I'm not gonna sell it we're about to sell it actually okay I'm moving on to I'm not going to move on to nice projects you know I'm a local I you know do a little bit everything I sell jewelry I'm a DJ I'm a local DJ look span and I'm one but one of the reasons the liquor store might be [ __ ] failing is because you're doing 87 things which means you're doing no things yeah you gotta focus yeah it's basically your Allegro that's a good point like to me listen um um I love chaos I'm doing 800 things and you start doing it that's right and any time I know I'm about to do so I did vaynermedia head down for five years to build a foundation I don't we call people this we got a lot of lines of business now you had a bunch of companies want people calling brother good luck hit me on a deal hey can I stress go ahead can I mention there's one thing that uh I want to tell you I called about I just started this new application I'd I just made it up on the iOS store is for local DJ's and local photographers I feel like this is gonna be the greatest thing it's gonna build a two-way marketplace to help people be discovered right yeah the hardest business in the world that everybody wants to build that's why eBay and we were on trillion-dollar companies you know but go ahead yes my so my question was how do I gain the trust for my users to start signing up you mean the supply you know the actual DJ's the actual those people were the consumers to find yeah no just actual DJ's because it's when they start signing when it started my intuition on a limited context I have 6 minutes and 13 seconds into you I would go hand-to-hand combat localized DM meet people shake hands kiss babies get those first 50 to 70 people forget that uber was in San Francisco for well over a year almost two full years before they even came to New York right everybody wants to expand just win where do you live right now New York no good young win [ __ ] Yonkers one step at a time I'm already impressed that you got into the App Store a lot of people talk they dream I appreciate the execution not sure how you did it yeah there's an app win [ __ ] Yonkers win Westchester let's just start there and how do you do that okay [ __ ] go to Google and go to Instagram and use hashtags and find the 50 to 500 local players in your market and go buy them some french fries give them a free bottle of booze figure it the [ __ ] out handy I want to say the name come on good we'll give it to you and evently yes good name to me yes do you know why I love the hustle brother good luck I think especially was saying no I said a lot of entrepreneurs will come and say you know I want to have I don't want to just do this thing I would do this thing and then my that division I want that plan and don't they'll outline three or four goals at once and you know what I say is I've never seen an entrepreneur not once who started with more than one thing I've seen plenty who haven't started one thing and made it successful moved on so I would say you know as entrepreneurs go Bill Gates pretty good entrepreneur he started with desktop operating systems and they with that for a long time on time yeah actually this is a good segue

### [33:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1997s) 38:49): The state of entrepreneurship today

because this is something passion about it might be a good place to take kind of our back half of this meat of this interview entrepreneurship it's become a very different thing than what you and I knew it to be for a very long time right I was a bad student which was unusual for immigrants from the former Soviet Union all the kids you know I took a lot of ELLs along the way because I just couldn't be anything else I just didn't have it in me baseball cards or anything else then wine bubble uh you know I literally sat sophomore year in high school and would read The Wine Spectator cover to cover and that's why I got these in F's in science and so it was just it wasn't viable you know I was this poor student and I was doing all the I was making for $3,000 a week and selling baseball cards but every parent of my friends and every teacher told me I was gonna be a loser there wasn't even the framework in 1992 89 to see the world through an entrepreneurs eyes we are very much not there now that's right we are now in the other place where career students have decided they're gonna be the next Zuckerberg right what you know I'd love to get your perspective on the state of the union of entrepreneurship through your eyes based on the way I framed it up are you well I mean things happening it's easier to approach the world I mean we just talked to someone who owns a liquor store who just got an app in the App Store and you know as you point out maybe if he goes and hustles and promotes it could take off yeah pretty crowded place I was making I was just kind of having a little fun with you but trying to educate two-way marketplaces I mean that is 9,000 times a day am i DM and email I'm gonna because they what I like is people scratch their own itch they see the pain they just don't realize how difficult it is to build a monster that's base but nonetheless so I think you know it's always been hard to build a business that's highly successful it's still hard today I do think the world's a little more forgiving today of people who take non-traditional paths the cost of entry ah no it's just got a little more popular because you know really really smart people like Mark Zuckerberg don't complete college and going to be hugely successful but in fairness Bill Gates didn't finish Harvard there he's my age so I think the front cost to get in the game though have changed yeah the upfront cost is way lower scale the end code to get to the end consumer the opportunity for great success is still the same and what about Mike you know I apologize micro success something I'm getting outrageously passion about and really the book that put me on a map you know a lot of people like hustle and they take shots at me I'm like did you read it because really what I'm saying is my intuition is 2008 is the way the Internet's going specifically on social is there's a lot of people can make 69 thousand a year being thrilled being an expert in Smurfs or selling Jam who are making 80 this was my thesis you could make eighty eight thousand having a job you don't love or 120 or you can make seventy nine or maybe 140 being the foremost experts of Star Trek and that's what played out so that's for sure the case our company at thrive allows independent publishers to make a great living some of them actually are immensely successful sin has become huge for some people it's a difference between making twenty thousand dollars in their spare time and making a hundred thousand dollars a year which they can live on and live on nicely especially in stress this is something that has happiness has to be talked about I had lunch with an entrepreneur today and he's in the fitness space and he had walked away from a very big and successful career as an actor to be to go into the fitness space knowing full well he would likely almost likely person permanently make less money because it pleases him and it's what he loves to do and he's passionate about and therefore he's great at it and he it is his joy to spend his day in the gym improving people's lives and no he's not living horribly because he's so good at what he does you know my feeling is you're really good at what you do generally speaking you'll make a living the other thing is most people not everyone most people are not once they have food clothing shelter and the ability to raise and educate their kids most people don't care about incremental money in term in terms of what truly makes a difference in your happiness some people do know some people do I don't like people don't especially if they can get into a place where they can deal with outside judgment that's right and don't aren't so insecure that they need things to prove things to people actually they don't when they're self-motivated so one of the you know when I coach people the question I start with is what is it that you want that you truly want not that other people tell you not they now you're trying to prove to somebody exactly what is it you actually won and think about with that life look I asked you a question for me it's very clear I love the game of itself the process is so much more enjoyable than the trophy like do you feel like you're a process guy well I'm very much I'm an achievement guy I've decided I like doing hard things yeah and that's why if you look at what I do turn around say really hard things India sometimes I think like I'm intentionally the guy walking up the hill with a backpack full of rocks and if one happens to fall out I pick up another one if I run into you I grab your rocks too so I'm not sure it's always the healthiest got it but I like doing super hard things and then pointing not to others to myself that I was able to do that means a lot to me maybe too much to me though I care about the money that comes with it yeah I enjoy making money because it's fun to make money it's certainly nice not to have huge financial constraints and I don't want to minimize that but it doesn't does it motivate me day-to-day no achieving interesting and hard things motivates me and working in a field I love motivates me I love media and entertainment and I love working with creative people which is how I spent about half my day so in the last 10 minutes here that really matters to

### [0:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg) Intro

I love chaos I'm doing 800 things and start doing it that's right and any time I know I'm about to do so I did vaynermedia head down for five years to build a foundation I don't think all people this everybody that's gary vay-ner-chuk and this is episode 304 of the askgaryvee show and I'm really excited for this next guest and we're coming in super cold Nick do my team said hey I think Strauss should be on your show I'm like 100 percent being invited to a Strauss party maybe nine years ago and then in the tech kind of media scene was a super highlight for me and some of you who know me know that Ben lair is a very good friend of mine and earlier that like three months earlier than that party Ben and I suck you know how like guys or gals get into like a meme of like something that's funny to them somehow a movie called Ghoulies became this like really funny thing for you know that movie was it yeah I was a little bit of both here's the punchline somehow at Sundance this movie Ghoulies which I didn't know about but then like in this weekend it became the most important thing in my life so then a couple months later we go to Strauss's house for this event or what have you somehow we're not a lot of people are left and somehow me and Ben are just somehow it gets referenced Ghoulies like we say something it's like the inside joke it's the meme and Strauss goes I made that movie which to this day is a top like 10 stress and I have not spent a whole lot of time together we have a lot of mutual friends I have an enormous amount of admiration from him from afar we'll get I'm gonna let him paint a five minute context of his career and then we'll do some Q& A because I think he's gonna help a lot of entrepreneurs and then anything else stress on your mind I'd love to know you know anything that you want to talk about but the Ghoulies thing is a top-10 moment like from the heat I think everybody can associate with this your friends random [ __ ] becomes something you all talk about from this was like white-hot like I basically said the word Ghoulies eighty-seven thousand times over a one-week period and then one week later the man who [ __ ] greenlit the movie it was an amazing about it I don't know if you I do remember the story you know I am probably gonna like ruin the whole thing i made i'm not trimming easily I made Goonies or Ghoulies and I never went to look to see which one was ours after we had this no you would if you made Goonies you would definitely know it you know who zis is [ __ ] the greatest movie of all time maybe they're gone YZ or Ghoulies but anyhow we you know we made the worst very cool YZ which everybody is worse that's the one America yeah we are not talking about Goonies what I think is actually a top 10 movie now I would remember no we didn't make a Steven Spielberg you you made Ghoulies which is a movie that nobody under do Pete what's going on you got something yes yeah it's it was anyway nonetheless does look familiar that's what everybody's watching who's ton of entrepreneurs a lot of business people why don't you give everybody like a three-minute like kind of comic book episode one who you are your career a little bit about you so on the career side I always wanted to be in the entertainment business from growing up for no particular reason where's you grow I grew up in Boston and then New Jersey yeah and a part of their Z South Orange loved it very close to Wine Library my wine store was in Springfield Short Hills not very close right those guys and I went to Wesleyan undergrad I went right to grad school out of college because I didn't want to work and after a couple more years in school yep and I was trying to figure out how to get into entertainment and a friend of a friend helped me get my first job in entertainment which was a summer internship at Viacom and I worked there you know I had an amazing summer met some people that led to my first full-time job was which was at Columbia Pictures Television in sales which one really what I had in mind I wanted to run a movie studio but okay good place to start but flat out that young age you like that's what I mean I knew I wanted to run a movie studio when I was 5 years old and I really and I didn't how did you even know that exists how do I even I didn't watch like I wasn't allowed to go to the movies particularly of it was a comparin stalking about know is completely made up my dad was a lawyer so um no clue but I was committed to it so uh so it real quick just for one more time cuz I need to rewind that you're not sure cuz you're young how it got into your zeitgeist but you immediately became committed to it yeah I think I had some sense like that it was very glamorous yes and that you could be looking at five you cared about the girls already mmm I think it was more about the money aspect yeah I guessed wrong keep going yeah little did I know yes there better ways to make money um anyhow I got recruited from Columbia to go to what was then the largest home entertainment company a vest Ron it's the early days of home entertainment that's how long ago was and they were launching a motion picture initiative and I became the president of the company like nine months later so I how old were you that's 29 right basically three years out of school yep and I mean I didn't to say that I'd know anything is a gross understatement I used to say my friends are like this is a public company and it was the biggest independent and there the question was like why would you be president this company my answer was well definitely not competent for the job definitely glad they gave it to me so I did that and you know at this point you know a lot of people were listening like these days 29 having a big company or a big job not insane wasn't that either you know enter Tim no no they it's always been in business that gave young people opportunity know was definitely I mean you know is precocious but I'm first of all an old person talking about what it was like to be young and successful as pathetic so I'm not gonna talk too much about that but no yeah you know Barry Diller was in his early 30s when he was uh when he was chairman of Paramount so he's not at all unheard of understood for successful people I bet that went really well because the first picture I greenlit became the highest grossing independent film of all time which I do remember which was dirty dancing and then you know we and that's that we made a bunch of other movies there were some that did very nice I mean this is how the conversation went down with no no we made Ghoulies I'm I know you're committed to it but I think it's just I just don't want people like look at I know people are gonna be if it's not a vest Ron movie it's not a bestfriend movie like I completely made it up and now Gary's like it ruined the rest of his night so it either was or was not distributed by vest Ron and I'm gonna I just don't want to get the ugly email saying I made that movie how could you take credit for it so but was it distributed by vest Ron yeah you had a face or who's like where's catalog isn't in now and then I could tell you anyway moving on that went pretty well I was recruited from there to become president of 20th Century Fox good and I was president Fox I was a great run we had a whole bunch of hits so after being in the movie business for seven years I really sort of revised my goals having met yeah I thought was a very long-term goal pretty quickly and I decided to revise my goals say I really want to do something that's in entertainment but also highly entrepreneurial and I sort of surveyed the landscape and I said and this is 1993 I said you know I think video games are going to become a huge entertainment business and I went to a company called Crystal Dynamics which was a pre-revenue video game company is the first CEO built that company up and then after we sort of got it to critical mass I left to do a turnaround of a huge record company back in the days when that wasn't an oxymoron no it was called BMG yep and I went super well took it from last place to nearly first place and it would have been first place but one and two merged so we were second place but you know it was a great result we had a lot of great hits and turned around the Orsay label and other things and then I revised my goals once again and said okay my goal now is to run a diversified media company that's supercharged by digital technology and that was well you was that was a 1 and that was considered somewhat out there I mean people got the memo on digital technology but I was always seen as the new media person and I kind this was post April 2000 where things melted yes that's right and I and you saw that as the opportunity I saw it as an opportunity I mean most people thought it was a terrible time my view is there's never a good time you know there's no time when you're starting a business and you look around say wow this isn't awesome time it's always hard that's right but it was the time when I was ready and I I'd I was done working for other people and so we started what has become zmc we had just you know it's always fun to tell these stories so we had no offices no capital no people not really a business plan and I started the business with three hundred thousand dollars of my own money so for the last 18 years we've been building up that company and today we have assets in the many billions of dollars and very little debt great deal of cash and we own a number of leading companies and the media communications like and entertainment business well our biggest company is take two interactive which is a leading video game company the third largest with titles like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption and the a2k Borderlands BioShock civilization many others we own with partners nine story which is a leading Canadian based animation company great hits and great titles we have an investment in a company called dynasty sports we own IT renew which is a so-called itag company it's a pretty arcane part of the data center space we're big believers in the growth of data we own canelo which is a leading direct response television advertising company add thrive a digital advertising company and a number of other interests and what's happening with your day to day these days within that ecosystem my day to days I'm a partner DMC and I'm the chief executive of take 2 so but take 2 is a part of zmc so we have I have the luxury that I I'm able to both invest and operate in the media business and I am able to you know our entire thesis is around is based around the notion that technology will continue to transform and inform median entertainment and we only best behind the thesis and the reason that we've never suffered a loss and we've been able to grow a very significant business from nothing at least so far is because we don't look at you know what's happening tomorrow or next quarter or marathon year we look 5 10 15 20 years down the road and so far we haven't gotten it wrong so no one people in our business and we did have access to capital or we couldn't have bought these currencies people in our business were buying newspapers consumer magazines and that was sexy and appealing we didn't do those deals because we thought print was compromised [ __ ] were right we did however by an online market research company before that was sexy and obviously took over a video game company you know seven that was very nearly bankrupt and the perception was that company you know was wet no chance of making it that company's market cap today is about ten billion dollars a little bit more what's uh what's your what's kind of most exciting you right now as you look out five ten fifteen years I think this is just the beginning so for a lot of people think that I just heard this at a got a conference you know we've kind of established what the Internet can do with digital technology can do it's all gonna settle down and now you know the move forward in digitally driven media will be evolutionary not revolutionary I completely disagree I think the next thirty or forty years will be the most exciting time that the media business Everett has ever seen and you will see it in every part whether it's b2b which were in or b2c pure entertainment which were in or infrastructure which were in and the reason I believe in that is several first well first is right because I think was obviously right yeah that's the answer yeah in the 1880s you know there's a head of the US Patent Office said I think pretty much everything has been invented so you know I yeah we just keep inventor either doesn't allow them to historically understand the context or they are financially invested in the outcome that comes out of their mouth and often not frankly emotionally invested a hundred and staying head of change it's more emotionally invested change scares I don't you appreciate this right like to me I'm of course financially invest in all the things I do however because I'm an entrepreneur I'm putting my money where my mouth is versus hoping that the exit that the thing maintains for the next twenty seven months because I need to sell my stock at twenty seven months and go do what I want to do personally after that yeah was horrible way to live by the way I whenever people give me a story like that I'm like see here's the problem with that plan you could walk outside and get hit by a truck tomorrow you had to be careful about delaying for that so anyway I think you know if you believe in Moore's law which I do you believe that whatever data consumption you want to project from five years from now aggregate data consumption you're wrong it will be more couldn't agree more you want to project what devices will look like so Nick's holding an iPhone I don't know which one looks like a nine mine its new or ten so that form factor in ten years we'll look back in that form factor and we will think it's really funny I'm looking at a couple cameras in here these form factors will look really funny in 10 years they just don't hurt some people don't it's history right so you know rad as [ __ ] the Walkman was I know you do yeah of course I think it was just like the plays you couldn't believe it the razor phone was the single most important status item Seth you're old enough I'm impressed like yeah people are unbelievably confused about how it actually works so what we do you know as we look at the world and we try to think about where that's going to be in five or ten years and then you know to the point about preservation versus you know innovation or disintermediation we are to be the ones to disintermediate ourselves and that's a very hard task but if you're worried about cannibalization in your core business you should be the one cannibalizing your core business or someone else will do it for you the something i said to a buddy a long time ago that i use a lot i'm just first time I said and I'll never forget I said look I'd rather put myself out of business and have somebody else do it for me exactly it's exactly right now and when we when I got to the record business in 94 the first thing we did was launch websites which was innovative right and start thinking about how we can do digital distribution by the way we didn't do such a great job but we were trying really hard we were surprised when the Napster's came along we were prepared for it and we were best positioned than any about blockchain look I think the notion of a widely distributed network you know for computing is fine the problem with the blockchain technology is so far anyway in for you to create the additional nodes you have to create an incentive for people to create the nodes right and so far the incentive has been currency that's right and so if you have something on one hand has no owner as highly distributed on the other hand has no built-in incentive a bit of a question the Internet built-in incentive which is I want to express myself yeah or I want to transact have you come see something it was human um but it's hard to know in the absence of currency how you're gonna make the blockchain work and then when companies talk about it I'm convinced you know when big big companies sir I mean people talk to us in the game space about all the time when apply blockchain technology the video game business I'm like please tell me how that works be and variant you just know that they're putting hyperbole around a statement and so right now like do I believe in cryptocurrency I don't I know they're plenty of people who do my attitude is um I believe in speculations they exist all the time of course but anytime a so-called currency goes from ten dollars to twenty thousand dollars to thirty six hundred dollars in the space of like my recent memory that's not a currency that's something else it's not a currency so and for people who transact outside the legitimate economy they don't really care because their margins are so huge that what they care about is private transactions but for the rest of us who have like I have a really high margin and most of my businesses but I don't have a sufficient margin to offset that kind of currency so I understand so I'm not a believer at all in cryptocurrency I think about sports betting I'm a huge believer in sport well how do you I mean first of all it's a little late in the day since the US government already said we believe in it we're taking it from the governor or government saying it's okay yes to the state's regulating in a way that works be complicated and you've got a very powerful I grew up in the liquor business between cannabis and sports betting two things in the macro I deeply believe it right but micro is different and so you've got massive lobbies very powerful lobbies who proven by the way that they can effect a legislation of late who have not just of late right but in the casino business where so what do I believe that if you're already in the casino business in the US will you be able to engage in broadly distributed digitally driven sports betting yes do I believe that we as a non regulated non gaming company can take our sports titles and turn them into gaming opportunities it would be wonderful to believe that and I'd be you know if I were in the business of promoting our security publicly I would say yes I think the answer is the option they exist but there are a lot of regulatory hurdles yep there they're obviously far fewer over them internationally talk to me about I'm gonna ask you a question that I'm curious about so I've been really enjoying similar to blockchain and cannabis and sports betting the notion of eSports teams watching a lot of people deploy the logic around something as you know this is where I get interested I think this is from afar and then you know it's very clear to me listening to you there's a lot of things that we cross over and agreeing on I'm fascinated by people's inability to synthesize things in lieu of what they hope or emotionally or financially want to happen watching people deploy eSports strategies in today's environments fascinating because much like what you did to whoever says to you we're gonna do this blockchain thing I always say the same thing I'm like please explain to me why you think League of Legends is like the major league baseball system right and when you get into even a basic first question and you want you watch people dance in front of you what you know now that I've got a better framework of how you process and it's probably why I like you know what's your take on the eSports ecosystem around the IP holders versus how the teams think they're gonna conglomerate's the pattern we're in the business right so we and we eat our own cooking yes but our view is that like major sports we believe in eSports er yes 150 million people who watch eSports there are a whole bunch of people you're preaching so for sure it's real it is however the League of Legends business and it's a billion-dollar business and in our world video game business alone never mind the media business never mind the sports business video game business 130 billion dollars a year currently he sports a billion dollars it's a teeny little business and the bulk of the market is League of Legends and I say that as someone who's a competitor we have the NBA 2k league yep so I think there'll be somewhere between three and seven powerful eSports that will develop in the same way that they're between three and seven professional sports leagues a truly matter you know you got football a baseball you got soccer especially some of these iPS will come out really lock in and absolutely will create will become and they'll become very valuable yeah and do you think teams will be able to sit on top I'll play in all of them so dividuals like I don't see a world and this is perhaps wrong yeah this speculative where you the good news is for all the things we've been right about we've been wrong many times right yep and what I say to people actually and ask my advice especially when the entrepreneurs isn't this is one person's advice but if you ask the great entrepreneurs if when they talk to people about their ideas people all said high five that's awesome that didn't happen so you shouldn't listen to my ideas if you truly believe you should go do it but in the case of eSports I have to eat my own cooking I'm betting on I'm paying for it yes so what we said is look people love playing NBA 2k it's the biggest sports title in the US has been for years people love competing an NBA 2k they're doing it anyhow so wouldn't it be sensible to have teams that compete at any NBA 2k and then a broadcast if you will learn twitch yep those games that seems stand to reason and so that's why we're going for it do I think those teams should be both NBA 2k and the other legends and an overwatch next there's no real analogy for that in professional sports I'm a little skeptical I think if you want to be the best NBA 2k player John Sanders might just pop out of the side here yeah you know it's possible and it's a different skill set no question I think if you want to be the best NBA 2k player you're probably not also going to be the best overwatch player do you what I think is most interesting about your saying to me is will they bake will three to seven titles bake or because of the notion of the framework different than creating a ball centric sport which is what we're coming from we're literally to me look ea just has you know has a hit and it's like will it be more like the movie and television business where in perpetuity there will be games that capture three four or five years or are you saying Marvel Star Wars you know there's I'm never saying that I know that's what is sport but Marvel and Star Wars there still will be a Forrest Gump right and so it's gonna be they'll be interesting is if I'm actually just literally as you're talking like ooh so maybe it bakes three to seven and or maybe baked six and you're always an environment where another four are always getting five-year runs and seven year runs versus the kind of five they get a forty year run I'm skeptical only because team play watching team play seems to cluster around these very ancient forms but you know what this could be an example where you know history just isn't a guide of the future because after all League of Legends does not look like hockey football baseball or you know soccer that's right so it remains to be seen I feel very obviously very good about our bat because I feeling down yeah you're right in the pocket but that's it it's really about once watching an Instagram Facebook put in your phone numbers Calvin's ready to call we have to give you an opportunity get some access to this wonderful thinking you ready for that one good yeah you can ask personal questions too not just business question I like business question do you is there anything you want to talk about that's person I know anything you bring up I you know I like I like trends I like macro thinking I love history you know I like the way you're kind of storytelling because it's contextual which is I bet on context in human behavior it's not super complicated and I'm patient we are unable to complete your soul at the time now you [ __ ] up probably I'm gonna go to next column well actually speaking of that and that's vegan Mel no not Mel and hold this for a second speaking of some of our similarities how much do you get excited about analyzing things that are popping in culture is that something you give a [ __ ] about things that are poppy yeah like cool so that makes sense to me based on how we're talking all the time give me something is there anything that's on your radar right now that you're like huh or hmm you know like or what's the last thing with nine year olds or kpop like what's in the hmm I would say hmm has been the most recent social media apps that kids are using tick tock yes that I had no I was not familiar with and you know that's musically reincarnation yes exactly so what I have a young guy yeah who every month comes in and shows me what's happening popular culture that I wouldn't run into smart I know this is actually something I think I knew her interns he's great on that note you've done it he had a delete any inappropriate stuff before he showed me respect he thinks you would give a [ __ ] how I long he's compared as always great exactly you do a good job of that right like are you have you know it's funny you just said I don't know what that triggered me but it seems like all of a sudden my brain just jiggered and I feel like I've come across over the last ten years three individuals that talk about spending time with you or having lunch with your breakfast with you you're doing that game huh I spend about 25 percent of my time coaching and mentoring people at all stages of their career all stages including people are older than I but it does ten skew younger and I didn't do it for any other reason except that you know I make light entertainment for a living and I really thought it was important to find some way to make a difference and it seemed that I could do that he came and I saw I had an open door and when you have an open door in a business it's hard to break into like entertainment you know what people come home and so anyone you were I did it oh you got to tell you I didn't do it for this reason but I've developed an extraordinary collection of friendships from doing it of course so it's actually been amazingly worthwhile and after all that's how you and I met Dan brought you to my house super set yeah who's this so tic TOCs on your radar yeah yeah and something next month what's interesting about that in the macro is it's people using something to help them create hello I agree

### [25:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1528s) How do I differentiate my business in a price-based market?

who's this Andrew yes you're Andrew right yes I'm Gary so else is here - hey Gary say hey thrice how you doing I'm good how are you good just about to take my daughter home but how to put my number up there how to tell you Gary you've been an inspiration to me thank you very much thank you brother really appreciate it is there anything we can answer anything on your mind for you so I just created it well let me start off been an entrepreneur almost so that was like nineteen okay I'm gonna say okay my father's been a hustler you know he sold pot he sold water filters everything he's always been telling me you know all we you know hustle hustle where'd you grow up so yeah that was whoa what a New York love it keep going new year so one day I sat down with my sister we actually opened up a liquor store yeah we got about that go ahead yeah so how's it going no III do it sweet thanks Emory you and your sister just sit down and the in the sofa in the living room like let's open a liquor store and boom you we've always kind of thought about it and actually a place I'll play opened up now when I business I just took it over no we just start from scratch we don't know a bit about I love it liquor stores so how's it going sorry um oh not so good why not so good what what's your hot take what's your early how long have you had it five years what are you what's your read so not your hot take you're like educated guess five years in what's the struggle in your opinion to beyond to just a lot of things just you know lots of customers just maybe include maybe does not bind enough liquor you know it's for cost and everything art is your yeah you know one of the tough things about the liquor business in the Northeast specifically in New York and New Jersey is it's much more of a price market than people realize it's hard to differentiate when people know what they want especially if you sell liquor and beer one of the reasons I took my dad's store from shoppers discount liquors to Wine Library was very quickly as a 15 year old I said oh [ __ ] I am not convincing this 80 year old woman that just walked in that's been drinking Johnnie Walker Black for 52 years to try some other Scotch that I could make more money on and the same thing became real for me of like truck driver Johnny he's [ __ ] drinking natty light like it's hard for me to move him on the wine side there was this exploratory kind of I don't know anything about line I drink Kendall Jackson and Santa Margarita and silver oak but I don't I'm berry insecure maybe you know something else what's this Wine Spectator and Robert Parker and I found my creative opportunity and then once I understood why acres mattered I started painting pictures and what picture getting allowed me to do was split up the business I sold everything everybody knew about at cost I literally sold Budweiser Shaffer you know doors white label scotch Santa Margherita everything that people drank that they knew that everybody knew every brand I sold a dead cost and I spent every single cent of my energy life that you would walk in because you knew we sold Budweiser at cost or more importantly specifically to wine you knew that we sold Kendall Jackson and Santa Margarita dead costs there were the two most important items and I would intercept you through my merchandising or actually being on the floor at first because we were small company and I would try to story tell to you why Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio at $12. 99 was overpriced which it was which having truth on your side was great and while you needed to try this 999 Pinot Grigio but oh by the way I was making $4 a bottle on that versus zero on the $12. 99 and then when you tasted it and you liked it better at least in the same ballpark I started building trust you're in a commodity business you have to create a differentiator yeah well instead of standing behind the register wing for people to buy [ __ ] honestly yeah I'm not gonna sell it we're about to sell it actually okay I'm moving on to I'm not going to move on to nice projects you know I'm a local I you know do a little bit everything I sell jewelry I'm a DJ I'm a local DJ look span and I'm one but one of the reasons the liquor store might be [ __ ] failing is because you're doing 87 things which means you're doing no things yeah you gotta focus yeah it's basically your Allegro that's a good point like to me listen um um I love chaos I'm doing 800 things and you start doing it that's right and any time I know I'm about to do so I did vaynermedia head down for five years to build a foundation I don't we call people this we got a lot of lines of business now you had a bunch of companies want people calling brother good luck hit me on a deal hey can I stress go

### [30:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqEjME5RiNg&t=1845s) How do I get people to start using my app?

ahead can I mention there's one thing that uh I want to tell you I called about I just started this new application I'd I just made it up on the iOS store is for local DJ's and local photographers I feel like this is gonna be the greatest thing it's gonna build a two-way marketplace to help people be discovered right yeah the hardest business in the world that everybody wants to build that's why eBay and we were on trillion-dollar companies you know but go ahead yes my so my question was how do I gain the trust for my users to start signing up you mean the supply you know the actual DJ's the actual those people were the consumers to find yeah no just actual DJ's because it's when they start signing when it started my intuition on a limited context I have 6 minutes and 13 seconds into you I would go hand-to-hand combat localized DM meet people shake hands kiss babies get those first 50 to 70 people forget that uber was in San Francisco for well over a year almost two full years before they even came to New York right everybody wants to expand just win where do you live right now New York no good young win [ __ ] Yonkers one step at a time I'm already impressed that you got into the App Store a lot of people talk they dream I appreciate the execution not sure how you did it yeah there's an app win [ __ ] Yonkers win Westchester let's just start there and how do you do that okay [ __ ] go to Google and go to Instagram and use hashtags and find the 50 to 500 local players in your market and go buy them some french fries give them a free bottle of booze figure it the [ __ ] out handy I want to say the name come on good we'll give it to you and evently yes good name to me yes do you know why I love the hustle brother good luck I think especially was saying no I said a lot of entrepreneurs will come and say you know I want to have I don't want to just do this thing I would do this thing and then my that division I want that plan and don't they'll outline three or four goals at once and you know what I say is I've never seen an entrepreneur not once who started with more than one thing I've seen plenty who haven't started one thing and made it successful moved on so I would say you know as entrepreneurs go Bill Gates pretty good entrepreneur he started with desktop operating systems and they with that for a long time on time yeah actually this is a good segue because this is something passion about it might be a good place to take kind of our back half of this meat of this interview entrepreneurship it's become a very different thing than what you and I knew it to be for a very long time right I was a bad student which was unusual for immigrants from the former Soviet Union all the kids you know I took a lot of ELLs along the way because I just couldn't be anything else I just didn't have it in me baseball cards or anything else then wine bubble uh you know I literally sat sophomore year in high school and would read The Wine Spectator cover to cover and that's why I got these in F's in science and so it was just it wasn't viable you know I was this poor student and I was doing all the I was making for $3,000 a week and selling baseball cards but every parent of my friends and every teacher told me I was gonna be a loser there wasn't even the framework in 1992 89 to see the world through an entrepreneurs eyes we are very much not there now that's right we are now in the other place where career students have decided they're gonna be the next Zuckerberg right what you know I'd love to get your perspective on the state of the union of entrepreneurship through your eyes based on the way I framed it up are you well I mean things happening it's easier to approach the world I mean we just talked to someone who owns a liquor store who just got an app in the App Store and you know as you point out maybe if he goes and hustles and promotes it could take off yeah pretty crowded place I was making I was just kind of having a little fun with you but trying to educate two-way marketplaces I mean that is 9,000 times a day am i DM and email I'm gonna because they what I like is people scratch their own itch they see the pain they just don't realize how difficult it is to build a monster that's base but nonetheless so I think you know it's always been hard to build a business that's highly successful it's still hard today I do think the world's a little more forgiving today of people who take non-traditional paths the cost of entry ah no it's just got a little more popular because you know really really smart people like Mark Zuckerberg don't complete college and going to be hugely successful but in fairness Bill Gates didn't finish Harvard there he's my age so I think the front cost to get in the game though have changed yeah the upfront cost is way lower scale the end code to get to the end consumer the opportunity for great success is still the same and what about Mike you know I apologize micro success something I'm getting outrageously passion about and really the book that put me on a map you know a lot of people like hustle and they take shots at me I'm like did you read it because really what I'm saying is my intuition is 2008 is the way the Internet's going specifically on social is there's a lot of people can make 69 thousand a year being thrilled being an expert in Smurfs or selling Jam who are making 80 this was my thesis you could make eighty eight thousand having a job you don't love or 120 or you can make seventy nine or maybe 140 being the foremost experts of Star Trek and that's what played out so that's for sure the case our company at thrive allows independent publishers to make a great living some of them actually are immensely successful sin has become huge for some people it's a difference between making twenty thousand dollars in their spare time and making a hundred thousand dollars a year which they can live on and live on nicely especially in stress this is something that has happiness has to be talked about I had lunch with an entrepreneur today and he's in the fitness space and he had walked away from a very big and successful career as an actor to be to go into the fitness space knowing full well he would likely almost likely person permanently make less money because it pleases him and it's what he loves to do and he's passionate about and therefore he's great at it and he it is his joy to spend his day in the gym improving people's lives and no he's not living horribly because he's so good at what he does you know my feeling is you're really good at what you do generally speaking you'll make a living the other thing is most people not everyone most people are not once they have food clothing shelter and the ability to raise and educate their kids most people don't care about incremental money in term in terms of what truly makes a difference in your happiness some people do know some people do I don't like people don't especially if they can get into a place where they can deal with outside judgment that's right and don't aren't so insecure that they need things to prove things to people actually they don't when they're self-motivated so one of the you know when I coach people the question I start with is what is it that you want that you truly want not that other people tell you not they now you're trying to prove to somebody exactly what is it you actually won and think about with that life look I asked you a question for me it's very clear I love the game of itself the process is so much more enjoyable than the trophy like do you feel like you're a process guy well I'm very much I'm an achievement guy I've decided I like doing hard things yeah and that's why if you look at what I do turn around say really hard things India sometimes I think like I'm intentionally the guy walking up the hill with a backpack full of rocks and if one happens to fall out I pick up another one if I run into you I grab your rocks too so I'm not sure it's always the healthiest got it but I like doing super hard things and then pointing not to others to myself that I was able to do that means a lot to me maybe too much to me though I care about the money that comes with it yeah I enjoy making money because it's fun to make money it's certainly nice not to have huge financial constraints and I don't want to minimize that but it doesn't does it motivate me day-to-day no achieving interesting and hard things motivates me and working in a field I love motivates me I love media and entertainment and I love working with creative people which is how I spent about half my day so in the last 10 minutes here that really matters to me what did we not cover or what from your is there anything you'd like to talk about I think I covered a lot of it there are lots of things I like to talk about but I think you sort of covered it towards the end which is you know what are we all doing here and it's tempting to sort of focus on you know are you gonna be successful or can you make it or with a liquor-store be successful how do you have hand-to-hand combat to make your app successful you know I think the thing I like to talk about is stepping back from them which is why are you doing this and you know if the answer to the question is yes that worked out then what's the question yeah you know if I say to you can you can have it it's gonna work you know it'll be what you want how many people have actually thought about well what exactly is that I would say the one thing that I'm super proud of is it when I was really young I knew basically what I wanted my life to look like when I'm this age and while of course I couldn't have predicted it perfectly course it's pretty close it was and the other thing is it's not for everyone but it is for me and I think one of the reasons feel some satisfaction is not because I feel like I crushed it not like I feel like figured out and certainly not because I'm the most successful person on earth I don't feel any of those things but I set out to have a certain life that would work for me both professionally and personally and more or less that's what I got man I got to tell you if when I tell people after wishing people that I care about health boy is self-awareness the next thing that always populates because once you map that stuff can get real interesting yeah and and more peaceful 100% I appreciate being on the show thanks for having us see you guys you keep asking questions we'll keep answering them hey guys thank you so much for watching my video on YouTube I wanted to jump in here at the end because I'm working on a ridiculously important project for me and I have a funny feeling you can help if you drink wine at all or know anybody that drinks wine at all please go to empathy wines calm right now and sign up for a subscription whether it's a three pack whether it's a six pack or whether it's a whole case of each for the year if you drink thirty six bottles of wine a year or give away please sign up for club empathy this project means the world to me I could really use your support

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*Источник: https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/17972*