SXSW INTERVIEW WITH JA RULE, DJ ENVY AND GARY VAYNERCHUK | AUSTIN 2017

check check is the mic on can we make it louder a little bit or we're good okay yo check is yours on check I don't really need a mic I got like a built-in mic and [ __ ] no it's on Yo ah there we go [ __ ] y'all can turn me down a little bit so Gary V can you turn the mic on a little bit or do I have to do a job and just put the mic down check check check check check all right so Gary ve is here thanks Mom l a lot of inspiration out there about investing and and things of that nature so what should people be looking at right now as far as Investments and making some real money or what we should be should we be looking at well I think we need to actually and this is not going to be as hype and everybody's pumped with this answer but I'm pushing practicality you know we've got eight years of a good economy like this world of ours and this is am I mean if you're here you're ambitious you know what's going on in the new world you're hyped you've got a lot of energy entrepreneurial you're risk taker the problem is for when I look at this crowd there's so many young people who've never lived through the punch in the mouth yeah you know I've lived through the trust me so after eight you know after eight great years in our conomy I just I want people to pay attention to actually making money you know users and engagement and followers those are you know lifetime value CAC all this stuff that people talk about in the startup and world is all nice and dandy but if your business is not making money each month and it's losing money you're not going to be raising money when there's none out there and so I'm pushing practicality it's boring but it's tried and true now let me ask you J now J's a multi-million selling artist yeah you had your ups and downs you were locked up you went to jail um but you never lost a step you can you know you been grateful you know that you been great with your Investments you've been great we you know we never seen you lose a car we never seen any uh repos so explain to the people what you did to make sure that your fortune was still intact I mean you know first thing that happened to me that was a red flag that went off and and it probably was the best thing that happened to me was the beef because I realized that my livelihood was in a business that is subjective you guys don't have to like Jau you Drake Envy but Tech is different you know everybody uses Instagram everybody uses Snapchat everybody you know uses these things because they're a necessity so that was a blessing and disguise for me because I realized that I need to you know get something with a little bit more substance to carry me through my 40s and Beyond and so I started looking into getting into you know tech world and and invest in invested in different companies and I've so far I've invested in about four companies and got one just exited so we just got a nice uh that's always and and I founded another one which is uh fire which is doing really well with profit and now tell the people what fire is if they don't know fire is basically a booking app for all Talent so we basically cut out the middleman it's a [ __ ] show you know when you're trying to book Talent you know and and a lot of you guys out here you know that are young entrepreneurs you know with nice healthy bank accounts probably can afford some of the talent but don't know how to get to them and would love to have a J Rule or somebody at these type of events or at your corporate you know Christmas party or Bob Mi for you whatever so uh so me and my partner we created this platform for people such as yourselves the private sector and also you know uh professional buyers as well to really cut through all the red tape and get to the artist that they want to get to you know real seamless and transparent so with the app what makes the app so dope is let's say you want to book uh Gary ve good idea great idea so instead of uh going through a booking agent and going through management you put your offering and it goes directly to Gary V's app yeah Gary ve can decide if he wants to accept that or decline or say I need more money or less money or whatever it may be and it's direct you don't have to worry about the agents booking fees it's direct to the consumer which is dope which is really dope now Gary ve you get a lot of [ __ ] sometimes for telling people about themselves and telling people to get off

their ass all the time so tell people about why you are so hard on people about getting off their ass and really getting into investing and doing some of the things that you do truth is I'm only saying that to people that complain like the problem is most people are complaining right like my advice is very basic I just don't understand why you would complain versus doing something about it everybody's got something you know everybody's got some issue you know uh minorities the family you grew up with the neighborhood you came from uh got screwed by this person all the kids that were told to go to college in a mass a tremendous amount of debt to get a good job [ __ ] all of them like you know so I think that I think I for me there's a lot of people that have personal brands that put out content that are tricking people and they don't want them to succeed and they want to just get money for from them to make money themselves make a couple thousand bucks on their course I want the people that watch me to eventually never watch me again my big thesis is to have less followers not more because I want to give the tools and the blueprint for them to go do instead of reading another [ __ ] book or going to another [ __ ] conference like eventually all that [ __ ] is just disguised excuses cuz you don't want to put in the actual work that it takes to win right I AG true 100% you know one thing about Gary ve you know when I first met Gary ve I really wasn't fond of him I really didn't like him and I'm going tell you why because you hear this all the time you know from inspiration speakers or and they tell you what you should do and it seems like it's a ripoff you should be working harder you should be this and I tested Gary ve live on air and I said well since you know so much Mr the V he did tell the people who listen right now what they need to do and he broke it down what people can do to make money cuz that's a lot of people's thing they say well I have money but I don't know what to invest I don't know how to read the stock market I don't know what I can invest in that will make me money I don't want to lose my saving and you came up with some great ideas which made me love Gary like he really about helping people my big thing that I got lucky with is I know how to make money outside of sell like the money I've made in my life has been about building businesses I built a liquor store like I built an agency that goes after Fortune 50 companies I'm not trying to get their money like a lot of people that look that part so for me it's the other way I'm trying to disproportionately help because that's Legacy I'm going to get my currency elsewhere this is about Legacy this is about people emailing you and saying [ __ ] you helped my life that [ __ ] listen when I get an email from my team of like we want an RFP I don't give a [ __ ] you get an email from somebody who's like I was on welfare and now I'm not because I watched [ __ ] breakfast CL I'm like [ __ ] that's some crazy [ __ ] you know like that feels better I've always been able to make money that's my talent you can make you know art like people have skills I'm good at that this now with the communication paths we have that's why I love doing your show a lot of [ __ ] people listen to your show I can go on there and use that distribution to help somebody and then that builds Legacy that's how you build brand I'm in for Marathon money not Sprint money yeah there you go absolutely wealth now what about you as far as investing what do you look for in a company when you're looking to invest and put money towards something it depends you know I'm a passionate guy you know I go with things that I'm passionate about that you know I can actually go out there and promote with my heart if I can't do that then I'm not going to [ __ ] with it because it's not real to me you know so I look for things that I'm interested in that I think are great companies that have a future not just a quick you know exit strategy but actually some companies you know have a real plan of how they want to change the world and and move things forward and move our culture forward so I'm I love those type of companies now what about you Gary ve I mean other you know another reason I really didn't like you is because you're a Jets fan and I'm a Giants fan you know you you said one of your main goals is to actually buy the Jets that I don't know why you'd want to do that you know maybe the Giants Gary I want on that you got a I want to do it cuz we need a [ __ ] Super Bowl so now when you look into to acquiring invest what do you look at in this world in the South by world I look for the jockey over the horse so I'm looking at does she have the fire to change her business N9 months in when the market changed on her so in startup land it's hard like when you go like when you're building something from zero like in public like let me tell you guys how all to make money no joke if you're sitting on money every person here should invest in Facebook and then when the world melts in nine months and the Stock's in half and you hate me don't sell it just

hold on because I promise you in 9 years that investment is going to return you a fuckload of money so that's the slow double or triple your money bet but that's kind of better than the [ __ ] zero interest you get in the bank the way to make crazy money is to only bet on the jockey because they've got to Pivot they've got to adjust you know the operator the pilot she and he is the one that's going to dominate and win because the reality is these startups are so young and early like Facebook looks nothing like what Facebook looked like 9 years ago he made a bunch of adjustments like this [ __ ] changes and you've got to be used to that Spotify had to adjust Birchbox has to adjust like everybody's navigating and just raising capital or looking the part so I'm looking for somebody who can get punched in the mouth spit the blood out and move forward right said I'm right there got it I like that like I like is any anything else that you guys want to tell the people since we have them here sitting here listening CH no I I just want to you know get on that what you just said uh the adjust you know my company fire is we're 8 months in and we've probably adjusted twice you know to because when you start a company you realize you know these things sometimes have legs of their own and they they take on different turns that you didn't expect and and you got to kind of go in there and attack and Tackle those situation so I I'm 100% in agree with judment can we do maybe like two or three questions absolutely anybody got questions yeah go ahead you got to yell loud hi so what would be your advice for someone who's trying to scale their company I have an alcohol infused Cupcake Company in Las Vegas cool called I like that too go ahead year five year five and my goal I have a partner she and I met in the modeling industry like 10 years ago my goal is to build and sell and so we've had some players talk to us but we made a couple million everything's good but I want to take it to like 10 million okay we're based in Vegas which is a great place if you're coming to overspend overindulge buy new things you're not going to buy do at home right you will spend $52 for a dozen alcohol cupcakes yeah but to take that to a $10 million company I feel like if you go outside of Las Vegas and I don't know if we pigeon hold ourselves as C City companies so a brand can change all the time right like just cuz you're called Sin City doesn't mean it won't work somewhere else you just have to execute the bigger question is how does your model change when people are not buying $52 cupcakes because they're not drunk as [ __ ] and it's that one weekend they have to Escape right so when they're in Dallas now what I would do is I would level it up mentally into escapism what Vegas really is escapism it's a break from your reality so if you're going to go to New York or LA or Dallas or Miami there Pockets even though the whole city isn't that there's pockets of escapism and so you should reverse engineer the psychology of the people that actually buy your product and then level that up and that's how I would think about second and third locations what replicates the mentality of the decision maker in those places MH now one thing Gary ve told me on The Breakfast Club that stuck with me is of course we're in a breakfast club we have a lot of following on social media and we sell a lot of different things whether it's merchandise we own a juice bar Car Wash different things but he said you have to use your social media right and in the bio of my social media I was sending it to all different places but what he said on The Breakfast Club is in your bio when people click it make it to where they can go and purchase something not just randomly clicking to your podcast not randomly clicking and we've seen sales of the juice ball shoot up by just changing that little thing and I wanted to say thank you for that I think the one thing I can tell all of you and again looking at the demo you have to be the architect and the plumber right and the Mason and the garbage person like the thing that I have a lot of pride in is I can come on and talk all high level and then when somebody calls me to the mat like you did the reason I love you is I do a lot of [ __ ] and I just pontificate and nobody calls me to the mat we run out of time and I leave you called me to the mat I'm like okay and but what I'm excited about is that's my best moment because if you want to go into details I'll get so finite into that detail so to me the one thing I would pride myself in as you grow in your business if how many people here have a business that has more than five employees great 10 20 great so like as I look around this is great there's enough to talk about this as you grow the thing that I have the most pride in is Vayner media now has 800 employees not one of them that works for me does as me much actual social media as I do I'm still by far and that's what but probably the biggest reason my side hustle is Gary ve is

because it keeps me grounded in actually the doing of the [ __ ] that I'm doing and what happens to a lot of people as they grow they get away from the work and they become a manager and then they don't know what the [ __ ] they're talking about I'm terrible at social media so I but if that's but if that's not real quick J if that's not your actual business it's not my business then that's a different thing if that's part of your business but if it's your actual [ __ ] business the amount of people that roll up on me like Gary I got a social media agency this I asked them four social media tactical questions and they have no [ __ ] idea I'm like you ain't [ __ ] you're full of [ __ ] dick sorry I'm getting fired get fired up [ __ ] get fir up they go home and do great [ __ ] that's what I think any other questions for Gary VI J go ahead over here uh oh there you are so I know Ireland are here I know I love it we're only as strong as our team right and I really appreciate my interns so what can I do to create the most amazing internship experience so they optimize growing as a professional J your perspective on internship and man you know I would like see interns are easy to me because your interns should want to grow with the company and want to run through walls and do everything possible to help you win and to take their career to the next level so for me interns are easy it's more I I look at the employees at my workplace where I feel as though I take on a kind of a new way of of nurturing my employees you know kind of giving them that 5:00 break to go to [ __ ] yoga or whatever the [ __ ] they want to do the gym or whatever give them a longer lunch you know let them go out you a got to eat lunch in the office go have a good time with come on back because it keeps them focused it keeps them wanting to work for the company be great and I think that those things help you know nurture and grow your business I have a pretty similar answer with one little twist to me whether it's interns or employees you have to reverse engineer them one by one so John's talking about a lot of people who do want to take a break can't keep concentration and hustle for 14 hours a day meanwhile somebody else as an intern wants to work 19 hours a day every day cuz they want you to pay more money I'm pumped that I know that Ben Ruby who's sitting right there came to me you have to be open to him and making him feel safe that when he came into my office 6 months ago and said yo bro I don't want to be known just as a snapchat guy I'm like cool Ben I get that or Emily in the four different functions she's done at Vayner or Steph Bagley who worked at Vayner but I always knew had other Ambitions and I helped her get that next job right or Kim Garcia who's so [ __ ] ambitious and mon I'm always sweating when I have a meeting with her because I know I have to step up and give her more challenges and our last conversation was do I have something for you which I created or was this going to be the end of our thing those are four or five different people who have things and I'm trying to scale that with 800 people I want to know do you want to make I love when people are like Millennials like worth like balance and they're Millennials want [ __ ] cash too absolutely like and so if you're a millennial that wants cash then you got to like when people I love when people like Gary I want to be the CEO of this company when I meet with them I'm like mazeltov I'm like you need to work 20 hours a day every day for the next 13 years and then they're like all right let me think about that so I don't want to for an intern it's super simple you go right up to her and you say Katherine what the [ __ ] do you want out of this she may say I want a job here you'll tell her how to work on things she may say I know that you know Gary ve and I to work at Vayner media then you should email me you can't make the call for them you need to figure out what it is and then put them in that position to succeed one by one y all right absolutely any other questions go ahead um so you know as entrepreneurs um as we grow and everything I'm wondering Gary how do you stay in touch with your employees okay because everybody like us goes through highs goes through lows It's Never As Good As It Seems never as bad as seems how do you know authenticate to them the challenges they're going through and you know have that communication as I don't I do not have any interest in my employees worrying about my headaches I'm the CEO that's right I mean that I don't need I don't need their headaches are what I just told you which is my door is open most of them don't take me up on it so then I watch them and I listen I've got a 100 people internally that give me Optics to the other 700 I

follow all 800 of them on social and try to pay attention I created an HR division that is much more in the offense and not about the paperwork hiring and firing and I just try the best I can I mean you just do the best you can it's no different than parenting running a business putting out you just do like everybody's beating themselves up if you just do the best you can that's it's the intent my man the intent is what matters for the most part eventually they know that's actually what I give a [ __ ] about and then that's what wins it over it's not the tactics it's the religion for me I want to answer that too because I have a different thing going on because I'm you know J Ru so but it's real but no but I say that toz say a lot of my employees were kids that listened and grew up to my music yeah and so they're somewhat fans so I'm not always in the office you know because I travel and I got to move around still but I make it my business to go into their office and see what they're doing say hi because I know at some point they probably think I don't give a [ __ ] you know what I'm saying they're like J's busy and J's doing J but I make it my business to come in there and let them know I'm interested in what you're doing I got my eye on what you're doing and I want to be a part of you know what you guys are doing every day all day so if you have same thing if you have any questions come in my office my door is open and I'll come and stop down in their stations to just to check on and make them feel wanted and part of the company the other do you have a company yep and how many employees do you have about 40 great the biggest key this is subtle you can't let your five to six more senior people think they have any more Equity with you than your bottom five or six true it's such a big one of the best things going for vayer most people don't know it a good amount do and the ones that do love it I won't take an svp's word over a community manager it's just two human beings and a lot of times the truth is the bigger you get the more politics you play to keep the people underneath you cuz you're just trying to hold on to your $200,000 job so the biggest thing that I would tell you Au 40 is make sure those five are on even playing field with the bottom five and everybody [ __ ] knows itow any other questions Puerto Rico the next silicon valy tax exemption Puerto Rico because of the tax exemption yeah ta you think it's going to be the next Silicon Valley there's a lot ofies Ming I'm aware you think it's going to be the next Silicon Valley a lot of companies that's not what I asked you think 4% tax is going to bring all the best tech talent in the world to Puerto Rico um not only that but that's what makes Silicon Valley silicon Valley's Advantage is that when you graduate whether you're in Boston or Puerto Rico or Sweden you want to move to Silicon Valley that's the advant they have the brand game one and they have the engineers and the tech Talent there's a lot of business Talent here as I look around not a lot of Hardcore backend developers chilling with us tonight right that to build the biggest companies respect my man raise your hand again give it up for that man let's go baby yeah so the thing my man that a lot of people misunderstand is the engineering talent to build the biggest companies in the world that's where they all go and until that changes that's the hard thing for New York or LA or other places to crack the biggest thing Puerto Rico needs is what's happening in La when you start creating Millionaires and billionaires off a big exit like Snapchat and then that creates the whole ecosystem that Puerto Rico much like Boston New York Austin needs that monstrous 10 20 40 80 billion doll exit and it then spits out all those billionaires that stay in Puerto Rico and build up the ecosystem that's the key to unlock the next silicon ble all right another question right here Gary I over the years intered you five or six times for different things yes you've obviously now started looking at strategic ways to develop not just an agency but a sports division different companies when you look at the VC world right the VC world do you see a mass consolidation happening of that industry as people see your model of which is not necessarily investment by dollars per se but investment by services where is the relevancy of VC's long term I think VC is going to go through a really difficult time soon I really do it's a bubble and a half overvaluations so VC is going to do what it's always done in three or four Cycles you know VC as you know and we have been jamming for a long time 20056 this whole new Web 2. 0 thing comes and then everybody's a VC right everybody's an investor and an angel investor and everybody's got to start up the second we have a macroeconomic Slowdown which we will we I haven't had one since 2008 I think BC is going to

consolidate dramatically LPS are going to pour less money in and we'll have a complete reset all the B and C and D players in here will get exposed and go work at [ __ ] TD Bank and and then the real entrepreneurs will take more like the amount of wealth creation exactly that I'm going to have in the next chapter is going to be extraordinary because I'm going to buy up a lot of people's in this room's businesses for a penny on the dollar so my question then is do you think more companies are going to start seeing that and being more like what you're doing through your Viner ENT what you're saying is very smart my friend yes I think smart money will always win if you take my million dollar check you have a marketing machine behind you have me and the reason we're going to sports agency world is Rock nation's great but L but you know Jay-Z's busy right like he's not helping you he's leveraging his name and I'm nowhere close to that but I will use my assets the guys I have are about to make so much more money off the field than the people that get drafted three rounds ahead of them I have a funny feeling that's going to work in my favor in the next draft class you want to be choose me you're chosen done I got you I'm in bet all the way done all right let's do last question anybody see I got one goad now here right here all right so um Gary and J I want both your perspective on this you said a lot of about um betting on the jockey not on the horse yeah so what happens when the jockeys are really good sales people but they haven't figured out how to scale the business yet do you still bet on them or do you want them to figure out both before they get to you jum as a VC um Angel invest you know somebody who's going to help monetarily as well as other resour you know it's so much due diligence that goes into that type of stuff you know I don't like to invest in something that I don't think is a home run or I don't think they have their [ __ ] all the way together you know and I won't do it just because it's a passion thing for me I got to believe in it I got to want to carry this thing on my back too so certain situations like that I may slide away from the way I think I heard you asked the question is you feel like you're really great or your team are really great salespeople but you haven't had the ability before to scale a business so you don't know how to do that yet not yet so I'm going to say something that I think you'll like which is great I'm a big fan on betting on sales people sales DNA is a very good idea making money has a funny way of fixing a lot of problems so if you ask me I love sales dripping cosos but I have to see what your business is about right if you're a great salesperson but your product is Jack [ __ ] like it's not going to matter so you've got there's a lot of factors that go in into it but if I had my way the person is the slight thing that I would bet on but I have to believe in their thesis if you're like Hey we're selling this detox [ __ ] mushroom soup I'm like [ __ ] that exactly yeah exactly it cool appreciate it thank you guys now closing you closing it's 2017 let's go out and get some [ __ ] money Gary V [ __ ] that was perfect I you know I would say let's go make some actual money because shit's about to hit the fan and have making money is a very good strategy absolutely all right it's a funny thing to say but this like southp is loaded with people that are building apps and building thesises but don't know how to make money give it up for Gary v j n