#AskGaryVee Episode 96: You're Out of Business

” I have an app idea,
with my target market “willing to test it. “But I need to create an app
and I’m not a programmer. “Any advice?” – Jared, this question pisses me off because I’m asked this all the time. I probably get about 30,
40 of these emails a week. I’m not sure if you’re
trying to get on the show, or if you really mean it. This seems like the simplest
thing to do in the world. I mean, Meetup.com has 800
different developer meet ups. And if you want it bad enough,
you go to the closest one, even if it’s 75 miles away. There’s just 8,000 communities
of developers out there. Literally, when I get an
email from somebody saying, “Hey, Gary, I’ve got the next big idea, but I need a developer,” literally, immediately I go like this. I read it. I’m checking my…let’s reenact it. Oh, let me just catch up on my, DRock I’ll do that later, let me just read. Oh, let me check some emails. Hey Gary, love the show, you’re the best person I’ve ever met. Oh, by the way, I’ve got a big time idea except I need a developer. Out of (bleep) business. If you are not capable, if you’re not capable of finding your business partner developer, then how in the world are
you going to win in business? Ideas are shit, execution’s
the game, let’s move on. – [India] From Shady Giorgio.

“What are bad habits you had and overcame, “and how did overcoming
them aid your growth “as an entrepreneur?” – Shady, good question. Not like the last one. I think the things I
overcame were big eyes. Which was, hey I’m gonna
do a lot of things at once. Actually, I don’t know
if I’ve overcome it. I’ve gotten a little bit better. Definitely in this chapter
of building VaynerMedia I’ve overcome that issue, I’ve been really focused
as CEO of VaynerMedia, and general partner of Vayner/RSE. So, I’ve been really focused. And so, big eyes. Just trying to do too many things at once. And what that’s allowed
me to do is be successful and build another big business instead of half-pregnant across the board. I think the other thing that I’ve overcome is I’ve started, and I’m still not great at this either, these are always works in progress when it’s not the thing that
comes most natural to you, but I think what I’ve
been doing well lately is I’ve been giving more honest, critical, direct to people’s face feedback. You know, I tend to be a little bit soft, I’m much more of a honey over vinegar guy. Between our former manager
and director Kelly and AJ, very straight-shooter operators, they’ve moved me along. I’ve definitely evolved in that category. I’m definitely better at it. I still want to deal with a ton of empathy and heart and soul, but shooting it straight is
bringing more value to me and it’s just speeding up
the process of victory. You can’t have a CEO,
I wouldn’t say I’m not, I’m very decisive, but boy, delivering bad news
does not come natural to me and I don’t love it. Building infrastructure around me and then doing it myself
has been an important evolution that I’ve done
much better at VaynerMedia than I’ve done at Wine Library, and what that’s given me is a thing that a lot of you know that I value which is speed.

“Gary, how can I prevent angel investors “interested in investing in my enterprise “from potentially stealing our IP?” – Christopher, this is
a really interesting Monday morning show. Christopher, this is also a shit question. Ideas are shit, execution’s the game. People walk around going, “Gary, please sign this NDA
before I pitch you my idea as an angel investor.” Let me reenact it. India, I’ll get to that later, let me just catch up on my email. “Hey, Gary, I’m a really big fan and you’re the best guy I’ve ever met. Anyway, listen I’ve
got this big time idea. But before I pitch it to you, please see the following attachment and sign the NDA because I
just can’t let you see it. I don’t want it stolen.” Great, delete. Out of (bleep) business. If you literally think
in 2015 that your idea is so profound that
nobody’s ever thought of it, that when I sit with you and I pitch I go, you’re a dope, but
I’m gonna take this idea and give it to somebody else, you are lost in the
reality of the marketplace. Again, if that is where
your mindset is at, I just don’t see that as a winning mindset for 2015 and beyond. The days of patent or idea IP, every idea has been thought about. There is nobody who has come
up with a big time idea. I’m telling you, every idea
has been thought about. All of them, every one of them. People executing, or having the pieces in
place to be able to execute, or the right time in their career, the right resources financially, energy, skills, opportunities, those are the variables. Not the ideas.

“Which marketing vehicles are working best “to grow the businesses of the startups “you’ve invested in?” – Steve, a hardcore VaynerMedia employee
working on data and insights. I wonder if this is a
hedged question or not. But, Steve, the answer to
this question is clearly Facebook dark posts. I’ve pounded this over and over. It’s funny, the VaynerMedia clients don’t
recognize what’s going on. All my investment companies
are only playing in this space. You know, I’m going to look
it up right now in real time. I’m gonna predict, right here on the spot, that Wish, the app Wish, the shopping app, is probably in the top
150 in the app store. This is a company, met the
founder at Cannes last year, the big advertising festival. Just go through this Facebook. Facebook, by the way,
Dub Mash I missed it. I skyped with the founder
of Dub Mash from Berlin like seven weeks ago, so on it. 10, 15 weeks ago I screwed it up. Snapchat, okay. This is what I do all the time by the way, DRock you can focus here. Every so often, actually I didn’t do it this morning, it’s just fun to do it, I’m just always looking
at the top 100 apps to basically get a feel. Usually where I’m most excited
about is down here, right? Because the top is pretty consistent. But has anything popped up here, like Wallapop, like those kind of things, I’m always trying to see. Let me just see if Wish is here, It’s somewhere, here it is, 112. Zoom in, baby. – [DRock] Yep. – 112. All Facebook dark posts. And I mean all Facebook dark posts. If people understood what
was going on arbitrage-wise on Facebook dark posts right now, which is a slang term. Facebook advertising
platform where you can reach anybody that you want. If people understood that, they would win every single time. Just like Google ad
words in the early 2000s that Amazon and Ebay used
to build their businesses. Still can’t believe
people don’t understand this is what happened. Facebook is absolutely the place that you can’t milk enough
of that cow right now. And again, over the next 24 to 48 months it will disappear, and it will more or less level out and become appropriate. Right now it’s underpriced. In four years, I’ll still love it, intuitively I believe, but it’s gonna be appropriate. I’ll be like, this is worth it. Just exactly worth it, not this is worth eight bucks and I’m paying a dollar for it. So, Facebook dark posts. If my startups could
spend every penny they had they would on that place. Pinterest starting to
emerge a little bit as well. – [India] Do you want this one

“Hey Gary! “What would you prioritize
as a one person business?” – [India] Yeah, that’s how I do it. – Amber. That’s how you roll? Ladies. That was an L, I don’t know. You can see, that’s
what got me the ladies. (laughter) Amber? Amber, this is a great question, and a very simple one
to be honest with you. And I see, India just informed me about the artistic side of
what you’re pumping out. And so this will be kind of
interesting of an answer, but it’s the truth. If there is one thing I would focus on as a solo-preneur, it is sales. Money is oxygen. And so, you know, you
could do anything you want. You could produce the greatest art, the greatest sneakers, the greatest cup of coffee, if you don’t know how to sell it, you are out of business. Which tends to be the
theme of this episode. So, I would highly recommend
you focus on sales. You have to figure out
can you sell your thing. Whatever that is, it’s a service, sell out the show, your thing that you actually sell. If you’re not capable of
selling as a solo-preneur, there’s really nothing else that matters, because money intake
is the way you continue to the next move, right? It’s like up, up, down, down,
left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A, select, start
powers up your lives in Contra, you need lives. And cash is that Nintendo
cheat sheet hack. And so, that’s what it is, cash is oxygen. Cash, say it with me VaynerNation, cash is oxygen, cash is oxygen. Cash is oxygen, India, come on. Cash, come on India, do it with me. Cash, come on, India. Cash is oxygen
– Cash is oxygen. – Yes! Yes! This is a very special episode. Very special 96th episode
of the #AskGaryVee Show. VaynerNation, question of the day, cash is fill in the blank.