– Gary, my name is Zac. I’m the CEO and lead designer here at Power Labs, which
is a website design company, and my question for you today is: when you’re faced with two
equally qualified candidates, how do you choose which one to hire, assuming you only need
to hire one employee? I’m asking because I
recently needed to hire on a lot of new employees for 2015, and I appreciate your answer. Thanks, man. – Zac, so many things are
running through my head, all of them are gonna razz
you, which pisses me off, because I really appreciate
you watching the show, and you seem like an awesome dude. A couple things. No such thing as ‘equally qualified’, make a goddamn call, right, just make one. Number two, it seems like
you’re growing pretty well. There’s a weird part of me that’s trying to tell you to hire both of them. The only rationale is
that you can’t justify in any shape or form
within the first six months of 2015, you needing, there’s both so narrow,
back to the last question, great way that worked out, that you could never see you using them, because if you both, if you
love both of them so much, that you should absolutely hire them both. I’m a big fan of hiring
ahead of my growth. A lot of people are always like, how did you grow this so quickly? It’s because I am on the offense and I’m hiring ahead of my growth because I’m not worried about my margin. I’m not hiring enough that
I couldn’t make payroll if something weird happened, you know, and in a week I couldn’t make payroll, I’m leaving a cushion for practicality because I’m an immigrant
and I care about people and I wouldn’t want to have layoffs, but I’m always on the offense. So, the two big things
that pop off for me are, one, you know, are you indecisive or was it, like, the best thing to figure
out how to ask a question for the show, or if you really mean it, as a CEO, and, you know, and this is where, if you’re
CEO and lead designer, you need to put your CEO hat on and make a decision, and then, number two, as a CEO, you’re hiring a lot of people, there’s something weird,
I can’t tell you why, but there’s something weird that tells me you should hire both. – [Voiceover] Courtney asks,

– [Voiceover] Andrew asks, “On
your team, is it better to have employees who’re
specialized in one thing, or people who can wear many hats?” – Andrew, I think the answer is both work. I think you need both in an organization of size, but I, you know, in a world of not trying
to be politically correct on this show, and, like, trying to draw some
real lines in the sand, I’m a huge fan of jack of all trades. Tons of people will tell you
that means you’re not good at any of them. I don’t agree. I think I’m really (beep)
awesome at 19 different things, and I’m watching even
the people in this room and this room get better
at different things. I hate when people use the excuse of I’m great at this,
and I go deep in this to not try to get better at other things. So, to make a 51-49 call,
which is what this is, which is, like, both matter,
both really do matter. DRock’s not good at basketball, but he doesn’t have to do
that for what he’s doing here. This one has a shot at being a meme. Makes Staphon so happy. But I won’t do the DRock, I’m gonna find something on somebody else. I’m gonna go with having multiple skills. I think it speaks to agility, and I love that. – [Voiceover] Anthony asks, “If
given an opportunity to swap

“If you don’t care about the competition, “what do you say when a client asks you “about a competitor, “and why you’re better?” – Mike, this is a tremendous question. I’ve dealt with this in
the past on VaynerMedia’s road to success, and I still do all the time. People bring up competitors and I answer in a very condescending way towards them. I dislike my competitors
in the context of the game. Some of them are friends
outside of the game and I can share a beer, I can separate it. I can share a beer at a game or be cordial in public, but deep down, I’m not
a fan of my competitors. I dislike them. And when people bring them up, I tend to tear them down
as quickly as possible or remind them why I’m better and come up with historical things like, you know, in the agency world for example, I say, Oh you mean those people
that try to win awards in a world where I grew
up trying to sell stuff? Anything that I think will make that person realize that it is a worthwhile
venture to go with us and why it’s a wasteful conversation to
care about somebody else. That is something I will do. Now look, I’m a good salesman, a good talker, I’ve got great tact, I have enormous empathy and great feel. I can read the room. So I know where to navigate in real time, which is why I sell and win so often. You may not have that skill set and you may come across as you know, inappropriate, awkward, you know, inappropriate. And so, you know, for all of you on this side over here who can read the room, can move quickly on your feet, can rock and roll that way, just punch your competitor in the face. Over here, not as smooth, you’re not quite as sure, you don’t understand
where they want to go, you’ve got to go with a different route. I don’t know what that route is, but it’s (bleep). – [Voiceover] Dan asks,

– Gary, is the high-end wine
business just a complete hoax? (laughter) Does anyone actually ever taste the oak? What does oak taste like? – That’s a great question, Steph. Is it a hoax? It’s as much of a hoax
as the art world is, it’s as much of a hoax
as a high-end restaurant that charges, you know, $10,000 a head for a once-in-a-lifetime meal. It is the classic example of
supply and demand, my dear. And coming from a, you know,
business-oriented TV show and living in the world that you’re in, is a stock price a hoax? The answer is, yes and no. To me, it’s not a hoax, because
I live a very basic life of supply and demand. I think when I get paid to
speak onstage is a hoax, and I did for awhile until I
realized, well, not really, because I’m compensated for
what I do for that event. And so, you know, does an actor who gets
paid $8 million for a movie but never gets brought
up, like an athlete, for being overpaid, is that a hoax? Yes and no. When you start understanding that actor brings people into the theater, or makes people watch, and then they sell advertising against it. It’s all an arbitrage. And so the wine world,
back to the basic question, can you taste differences in wine? Absolutely. I live it. I mean, I can taste the difference between an $80 wine and a
$10 wine pretty consistently. Can I taste the difference
between the $1000 wine and a $500 wine, or a $1000 wine and a $100 wine? A lot of times, no. The beauty of wine is,
everybody’s got their own palette, back to art or music, right? Is it a hoax that an EDM DJ gets a ton of people
into a place in Sweden? For me, well, actually,
I’ve gotten more into EDM, but, like, theoretically it is. But, you know, and that’s it. It’s brand, it’s supply and demand, it’s how the game works, and so the answer is, I
don’t think it’s a hoax, but if you’re watching this show right now and you don’t appreciate the game, so here’s a good piece of advice, let’s get into real good advice. Don’t drink good wine. Let me say that one more time. Don’t put yourself in a position to understand why it’s not a hoax. Don’t sit first class, because then you realize it’s not a hoax, because you like it better
than the middle seat in coach. Don’t get front-row seats to a ballgame, then you understand that it’s not a hoax compared to sitting in the upper deck. It’s context, baby. And so the bottom line
– that made me happy. (laughter) The bottom line is, it’s all perspective, it’s all supply and demand, but that’s what it comes down to, you start understanding why these things fetch the
dollar amounts they fetch when you actually taste it, versus you theoretically
complain about it. – [Voiceover] Cédric asks, “How do you not procrastinate that well?”

– [Voiceover] Jelle asks, “what
came first at VaynerMedia: clients or employees? And did you ever do
stuff without employees?” – So let’s get into this question. First, I actually don’t
know how to pronounce this, so let’s go to India, who I
thought helped us with that, DRock, how – ? – I don’t – “yell”? “Yelle”? I don’t know. – [Gary] Got it, alright. Steve? What’s your shot here? – “Yella?” I don’t know. – You know.
– [India] It’s very pretty. – It’s gorgeous. Yeah, don’t worry, you’re not hurting feelings anyway. India’s going to be very
sensitive on this show. (laughter)
Alright, you know, we started Vaynermedia, two
things happened in parallel. We got out, I got ahead of
it, AJ was graduating college and we were gonna start a company in May. In March or April I got ahead of it and got us a big project
with a big client. So I guess customer came first. I kinda used, I did something clever. I made that person pay the
entire project up front and then used those dollars
to pay the first 3-4 employees who were all of AJ’s homies, who are all still here,
hence the foundation. So I guess client, right? I got an upfront campaign
that I used those dollars, and then the official first day we had those five or six employees, so but we never did anything without them, though actually me and AJ
did some of the early stuff for that project by ourselves, so that’s the answer. I don’t know how you wanna look at it. I will say this: any time you can sell
ahead of your expenses, you do it. One of the biggest reasons so many people go out of business, and many of you who watch this
show will go out of business, is you do not know how
to manage cash flow. You think in terms of, you know, accrual versus cash basis,
if we wanna go hardcore, you know, CPA-style here, oh, we’re gonna make 80k so
I can have 70k in expenses, but if you don’t get paid
properly or if there’s a hiccup, or, you know, no buffers, no practical knowledge
of that vulnerability, and then a bunch of you
who are tech-driven, you raise too much money, you
don’t keep your burn in check, you assume you’re gonna raise more money, it doesn’t go as easy
or as well as you think, because once you actually become a company people are looking at what you’re doing versus what you promise you’re gonna do, and those are the vulnerabilities of how you go out of business. – [Voiceover] Gabii asks, “Do
you have any bucket list items

“when all of the 420
wonderful, amazing people “quit VaynerMedia?” – Ruke, that’s good work. I like this question a lot. As a matter of fact, if
we can figure it out, let’s clip right now to the
moment where I kind of ranted. I know DRock, four hours editing. I wonder, the right word in that question is “ordinary person,” right? Was that an ordinary person? Yeah.
(clicking pen) And I think that’s the
interesting part of your question, which is this whole
notion that pisses me off that I don’t believe that the far majority of people right now who claim that they are
entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. You know, I don’t get to claim
that I’m an NFL quarterback and then I just am one. And that’s what’s happening, right? A lot of people that
don’t have the skills, you put that word “ordinary”
in for a very specific reason, and it’s the reason I
want to rant on this, which is the ordinary person, aka, the person that’s not
meant to run a business, can probably only handle one punch, right? I mean, that’s just what it comes down to. You know what my answer is? Unlimited. You can punch me in the face 8,000 times. I’m here to get punched, right? I really do think of it
like a UFC or a boxer. Have you ever watched
a UFC or boxing match, and literally watched
and thought to yourself, “Holy crap. If I took one of those punches “I’d be in a coma for
the rest of my life?” They’re meant to be in the octagon. I am not. (laughs) On the flip side, you show me a world where all 420 of these wonderful, amazing people quit VaynerMedia, and I know exactly what
to do the next day. That’s how I roll. Those are
the punches I can handle. Top 10 clients quit? Cool. Can’t ship to a state at
Wine Library anymore? Cool. I can handle unlimited punches because I’m purebred 100% entrepreneur. And so from me to the person
that is a wannabe-preneur, who, first punch in is like,
“Uh, I’m gonna go get a job,” from there, everybody fits
somewhere in between that, and that’s your answer. (quick swishing by) Alright, so obviously
I put myself out there and I said that I was going
to be able to handle it, no problem. Punch me. I can handle it. First thing I would do is
take a step back and wonder, “What the hell just happened?
(laughter) “Why did that happen?” But, theoretically, if it
was in a positive standpoint, what I would do is I would take advantage of everything I’ve learned
for the last five years, and I would decide, “Do I want
to build back up VaynerMedia, “or do I want to do something else?” And what I mean by that, and this is why this is gonna go a little
bit deeper philosophically, I would not make an emotional decision. If it happened in a way
that hurt my feelings, I wouldn’t go the route
of, “I’ll show them,” even thought that’s what I
referred to in the last episode, and then go out and
rebuild it and start over. I may want to do that, to stick it back and
show that I could do it, but one of the things I
take enormous pride in is that I am capable of taking a step back and not making the emotional decision. This is the real answer, Ruke: What I would do is I would say, “Okay, what do I wanna do now? “Do I wanna go and rebuild VaynerMedia? “Do I …” I’d probably call it
“Chuk Media,” C-H-U-K, just to get the heebie-jeebies
out of the 420 leavings. “Or is there something else on my plate “that I’ve learned from now?” I would just be reacting to the
best opportunity for my time getting close to 40, wanna buy the Jets. “What’s the best use of my time?” If I was to rebuild all over again I feel very confident that I could do it. That’s just how I feel. (strong, beating music)

“Who would you recommend
pitching an app idea to? “What steps would you recommend?” – Jamie, this is an awkward question. Let’s get an awkward alert here. (bell sound) I don’t know what you’re
gonna come up with, guys, (laughter) but I’m excited to see it. On my awkward alert, I don’t
even know what this means. I mean, this is such a basic question. I don’t know why Steve loves this. He was like, “I love this question.” I don’t love this question,
meaning, I don’t know? Who do you recommend pitching an app to? Well, first, if you need money, you pitch it to money
people: angel investors, VCs. If you need press to get
awareness because now you’re out, you pitch it to the media and press opportunities, influencers. (laughs) Listen, we know how much I love
the reverse engineer thing. Actually, I want to make
this crazy link up episode. Link, don’t we have like four? This is gonna take you a
while to get up, DRock. The Cyber Monday wine is
gonna be completely sold out by the time this episode gets up. (laughs) Let’s put up the reverse
engineer hoodie specifically, because that’s the one
I rock, to the page. Who do you pitch it to? Whoever you need at that moment. Everything you do in business life needs to be really strategic, meaning it’s gotta make sense. Who do you pitch an app to? You have an idea but you can’t code or
create an app for crap, so you need to pitch a
co-founder or a dev shop that you don’t want to
charge you a lot of money to actually build it. Then you need money. I
already answered that. Then you need to get it out
there. I already answered that. Then you need to sell it, so then you pitch your
app to a strategic buyer. This is a very, very, and I don’t wanna pick on you. This is more … Show Steve. This is more on, more on– – Can I defend myself?
– [Gary] Yes. – Okay, you were just on Seth Meyers because you invested in Delectable. So, if somebody thinks, “Well, gee, have a really cool app idea. “Gary invested in apps.” I think that would be why
they would ask the question. Right? How did Delectable
come to your attention? – A VC pitched Phil, who vets my deals. It’s obviously in the wine
space, so it came with context. Steve is saving himself
and it’s pissing me off, (someone laughs) so I’ll answer this. It’s very strategic to
understand ones history to predict their future. Obviously coming from the wine world made me more susceptible to
be interested in Delectable. That’s the real answer. (exhales loudly)

– [Voiceover] Blue Stripe Creative asked, “How much, if any, time should
be spent on your competition? “Or should you just be focused
on making your own path?” – Blue Stripe, I’m super
pumped you asked this question because I was talking
with my dad all weekend about Wine Library and with that bug, and I reminded him, and AJ
was there to kind of talk about what I’ve done with Vayner
over the last three months, I literally spend (clicking
sound made with mouth) Robert Parish, double
zero on my competition. I could care less. I spend all of my time on people, my team, where we’re going. Do I know what the competition is doing? At some level, a little bit, contextually, but I never go deep. It’s all headline reading. I know who’s making some
buzz and some noise. But I gotta tell you, I truly believe that the biggest mistake so many companies and entrepreneurs make is looking around them. We’ve talked about looking
back, seeing who’s behind you. I just don’t do those things. It’s full steam ahead. I feel like if I take
care of my domain, I win. As a matter of fact, I also do it as a little
razz, as a little sizzler. Like, people are pissed. My competitor are mad. When they meet me in social
settings, and I’m very cordial, I’m a good guy, even though
I wanna slice their neck, you know, in a business
sense, not real life, they actually, if they speak
to me for five or 10 minutes, somewhere in that 10 minutes realize I don’t know what they’re up
to, and it kind of hurts them. I find it to be a competitive advantage. I really find not paying
attention to your competitor as a competitive advantage in a world where many of you
who are watching this right now and think it’s a weakness
to not know what’s going on, I’mma flip. I’mma flip, my friends. I’mma flip. – [Voiceover] Jamie asked, “Who would you recommend
pitching an app idea to?

– [Voiceover] Elliott asks,
” How would you recommend “looking for a co-founder?” – Elliott, I think the best
way to look to a co-founder, look for a co-founder, excuse me, is to first understand
how honest and self-aware are you with yourself. The number one thing that you
want to find in a co-founder, in my opinion, is somebody
who checks the boxes and has strengths in a
space where you don’t. Does she provide the black
and white to your gray? Does he provide the magic to your very kind of straightforward? Is he the salesman? Does she love HR where you don’t want to deal with any of the people? You need to yin and yang. I think it’s very important. I’m a big believer in
doubling down on strengths, but I do think from a
co-founder standpoint you want to get the check
boxes of the core things that drive a business and so I think you’re looking for that counterpart. The biggest reason so many of you are going to struggle with this is you’re not willing to
be honest with yourself. You think you have magic
and you’re a good salesman. Yeah, you think you can get by
with your accounting skills. You think because it
hurts your feelings to not bet on your weaknesses. I’m a big believer in my weaknesses. I would actually say, I
don’t think I’ve said this very publicly, I’ve alluded to it. I say that I suck crap at 99% of things. I would actually, this is a new thought maybe because India is here
looking for more content. Show India, I think she deserves it. – Hello. – You know, I think that my weaknesses are as big, if not a bigger
factor in my success. It’s my willingness to
accept my weaknesses. It’s my proudness of my weaknesses that has allowed me to win. Are you willing to go there? Way too many of you don’t want to accept your weak points, you’re
struggling with it. As a matter of fact, I’m going right into the Question of the Day. I want you to list on Thanksgiving the weaknesses you have
that you’re thankful for. That’s how important this is. Let’s move on. – Dear Gary, My name’s Tim

– [Voiceover] Iwona asks,
“How many punches in the face and failures can an ordinary person handle before achieving success?” – Iwona, the right word in that
question is ordinary person. What was it, an ordinary person? Yeah, and I think that’s the interesting part of your question. Which is this whole
notion that pisses me off that I don’t believe that the far majority of people right now who claim that they’re entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. You know, I don’t get to claim that I’m an NFL quarterback,
and then I just am one, and that’s what’s happening, right? A lot of people that
don’t have the skills, you put that word ordinary
in for a very specific reason and it’s the reason I want to rant on this which is the ordinary person a.k.a. the person that’s not
meant to run a business can probably only handle one punch, right? I mean like, that’s just
what it comes down to. You know what my answer is, unlimited. You could punch me in the face 8000 times. I’m here to get punched, right? Like, you know I really do think of it like a UFC or a boxer. Have you ever watched
a UFC or boxing match, and literally watched
and thought to yourself holy crap, if I took one of those punches I’d be in a coma for the rest of my life. They’re meant to be in the octagon, I am not. On the flip side, you show me a world where all 420 of these wonderful and amazing people quit VaynerMedia, and I know exactly what
to do the next day. That’s how I roll. Those are the punches I can handle. Top 10 clients quit, cool. Can’t ship to a state at
Wine Library anymore, cool. I can handle unlimited punches because I’m pure-bred 100% entrepreneur. And so for me, to a person
that is a wannabe-preneur, who first punch in’s like eh,
I’m going to go get a job. From there, everybody fits
somewhere in between that. And that’s your answer. – [Voiceover] N asks, “Any
tips on how to get a mentor?”