– [Voiceover] Dr. Julie
asks, “As VaynerMedia “continues to grow, what is the one thing “the company has done to
keep the culture hungry?” – Doc, everything stems from the top. My hunger level is so
intense it’s crippling, and so, because of that, the
culture continues to be hungry because I will suffocate the culture to allow nothing else to creep in. No complacency, no
celebrating the victories allows you to stay really damn hungry. We’ve haven’t accomplished shit yet, and so, yeah, we’re the fastest growing social digital agency ever, and yeah, we’re unstoppable, and
we’re great and all this, but we haven’t done anything that I’d like to accomplish yet, which is, I don’t know, to
win the whole goddamn game. To make every single client,
every single employee, every single agency in the game recognize we are the best
and it’s disrespectful to even allow yourself to think
that you can compete with us and so you should really
focus on being number two. Does that answer your question?

– Dmitry, I took this question
for a very specific reason, because this is absolutely, no question, one of the flaws of my being. I am terrible at celebrating victories. It is actually quite sad in some ways if you decide to look at it that way, or a very strong winner’s mentatlity which is how I like to look at it, but the truth is I stink at it. As a matter of fact,
one of the bigger flaws that I think I’m creating
at VaynerMedia as a culture is that we don’t celebrate our wins. We land big new accounts. We grow like crazy. We win awards. Hush, hush. Nothing. No chest pounding, and I
think it’s interesting, because when you look at me as a character and you look how I roll,
for all the humble bragging and the outright bragging, and the ego and the confidence that I spew out there, it’s funny. It’s always in hindsight,
and it’s in showmanship, it’s not in reality, meaning,
I celebrate victories poorly. For example, the New York
Rangers and the New York Yankees have both won championships for me. They won their championship. I was very happy for
about a couple of hours. No parades, no next day taking
off and like soaking it in. I won, and I moved on,
and I stopped caring. I’m gonna say it here first. I’ve really never said this
out loud outside of my family. I am completely convinced
that if the New York Jets win a Super Bowl before I buy them, that I will no longer
like the Jets that much and all my energy will
then be transplanted 100,000% into the
New York Knicks. I firmly believe that. I just completely believe that. I love the climb. I celebrate victories in a very soft, non appropriate way. I’m really dissapointed in the way that I celebrate victories. It’s something that I want to work on because smelling the
roses is an important part of growing and living, and it’s just not something I’m good at. – [Voiceover] Corey asks, “What should I get my
mom for Mother’s Day?”

“you wanted to sell your services “to the big Fortune 500 companies “versus consumers first, and
then come up with VaynerMedia? “In other words, did you
choose who you wanted “to sell to first to
maximize your profits, “and then come up with
the business model?” – Sally, this is an interesting question. I’m a very big fan of counter-punching; and a lot of people don’t do that. A lot of people lay out business-plans, they know what they wanna
do, they go and do it. And they go raise money,
or they go and execute it; and that’s how they roll. In lieu of the tremendous
fight this weekend, which it was boring to the masses; but it was a tremendous fight for me. Because 13 seconds in, I looked at AJ and said, “This fight’s over.”
’cause I couldn’t believe how much faster Floyd was than Pacquiao. Watching them separately,
I thought it’d be closer. I knew a second that he
was that much faster, that the fight was over because I know what kind of defensive fighter Floyd is. And I’m sure everybody
gets bored and falls asleep rounds seven through 12, but I’m just completely,
like, infatuated with boxing. And understood the chess-moves
that he was playing out in the ring, and enjoyed that. Even though I know it’s not commercially raw-raw, high-energy. I view myself very
similar as a businessman. I react, it’s funny I feel
like I’m on full-offense. I feel like I’m 48-and-oh
because I play great defense based on reacting. I can react to the market and adjust. The market started coming to me because I was writing Crush It!, putting out videos around business, and amassing a large
social media following. And big-brands reached out to me and said, “Hey, you’ve got all these people.” You know, “Hey, we’re
a Fortune 500 company. “We have 50 followers on Twitter. “You have 400,000 followers! “We’ve never heard of you. “Come and teach us, come explain.” Plus, moments in time. AJ was graduating from BU. It was time to do a business together. We were thinkin’ about fantasy sports, we were thinkin’ about other things. And, so, between timing
and being reactionary to the demand cycle,
like, we’re responding to the demand that was in place. I was already playing in the space. It wasn’t like I just made something up, or there was demand for
me out of left-field that made no sense. My actions were setting
up my counter-punch. My actions were setting
up my counter-punch. I think it’s a very
strong model for business.

“What’s the biggest way, right now, “you are hypocritical of
your won advice?” – (sighs) Edward, this
is a really, really, really, good question. Edward, this may be my favorite question. You know what, Edward, you’ve also solved something else for me, that is tremendous. Which is people always ask
me, you know this Steve. “What’s the one question
nobody ever asks you, that should ask you?”
(laughs) I think this is really it. Edward, it’s a moving target. Right now, luckily, ’cause
I’ve built out infrastructure a lot less, right, I’m
putting out content. I’m doing a consistent show. Andy K. doing a ton of
Facebook dark posts. We’re doing a ton of
influencer stuff on Instagram. I would say maybe a little bit, we need a little bit
more umph on Pinterest but even that we’re doing, huh. I would say this, in the historical track
of me giving advice since 2009 in business, this is easily the least hypocritical, least not following my advice that I’ve ever been in because I finally hit
scale where I can afford this incredibly good-looking team. Show Steve for the good-looking stuff. – Hello there. – And so (laughs). And so… What do you guys think, actually? This could be a lot of fun. I’m trying to think of like
what we’re not crushing on that we believe in so much. We’re really doing well right now. – I think, I don’t know. – [Gary] Go ahead, it’s okay
you won’t hurt my feelings. – Okay, I think that we could probably be jabbing on Wine Library better. I think that a lot of– – No, I don’t well, by the way, come back to me. Wine Library is like out of the, I think for sure. Wine Library’s got Instagram
that it could be doing better. Pinterest. Wine Library’s got its
own spiel of re-orging in a way that I think can do better work. Wine Library for sure. I’m talking about our world where I have a little bit more control because I’m day-to-day Wine Library. What do you think is the, India? Anything? – [Voiceover] Hmm. – I think SlideShare. – [Voiceover] Yeah. – I’m a big, right, SlideShare. I think we’ve really, that’s me and you. – [India] Yeah. – And maybe I could be
giving a little bit more time and access to India and Steve
for the follow up content. I’m just like grinding so hard. I mean like… There’s just like not a minute in the day. I’m mean like, we’re literally
like talking on Sunday nights – [India] Yeah. – It’s pretty intense. 6pm this last Sunday. So, I don’t know. I don’t know, I’m feeling
really great right now about it. As good as I’ve ever felt. Wine Library as a whole
could be doing better. Definitely on Instagram. There’s so much upside
for wine businesses there. I could be giving a little bit more access to following up on content. I don’t know. – [Steve] Could be making more episodes of
The #AskGaryVee Show. – More episodes. We’re grinding pretty good right now. But I want that question
asked once a quarter

“reach your b2c audience. “Wine and books for example. “But how does it impact b2b?” – Jane, my right hooks
are not made for b2b, so you’ll never see me Tweet, “Hey, if you have a business, “I want your business at VaynerMedia.” It’s just not feasible for me, but my jabs do. My content, where I talk
about my thought leadership or my ambition to be a thought leader, or my hope that I’m a thought leader. You know, the more I say
things that are right. You know, somebody watching
or listening right now, #AskGaryVee episode 88, I say something about smart
technology that makes them say, yeah, they need that for their business. Hey Gary clearly seems to
be paying attention to this maybe I should talk to Vayner about doing some activations around it. We have clearly benefited as an agency from my outward content as a gateway drug to RFPs or out and out
handed the business. So VaynerMedia has clearly
benefited from all of this and you know, this is something
I’m very passionate about for all of you that are
watching and listening. It’s super important to
me for you to realize that you’re always one
great piece of content away from having your life change. Let’s just understand what I mean by this. It’s no different than
being an artist with a song. Everybody you know started
off not being known and then had a song
that changed their life. Every investor you’ve
heard of that has done well and made lots of money had an investment, Twitter, that changed their lives. Content, though not to the
level of Madonna or Chris Sacca, right? Content has the potential
to change your life. So if you love something, music, photography, running
culture, diet culture, museum culture, like whatever you love, you have to understand,
by talking to the world. Even if one person’s listening, all you need is that person to share it, the pipes of social
network get into motion, this is why I love Medium, Medium will hand pick
content from nobody’s, not big followers, just
a good piece of content and that becomes your
one piece of content away from what you want to happen happening. Now here’s the problem, most of you are not good enough to make that content, and I get it, that was rough, and I’m like, and I apologize, but talent matters, right? Like baseball players that
get discovered in Japan that come over to the US
and make lots of money. They had to be good
enough to be discovered. You know, the quality of the content you put out matters. Like you can’t just be
like, museums are nice. That’s not going to lead to
you being the CEO of a museum. Do you understand? You got to be right. When I got out and put out content that says Instagram’s going
to get bought by Facebook and then everybody says I’m an idiot and then it happens, I’m not an idiot. Get it? So, you know, the things, the
pressure I put upon myself to answer these five questions on every episode is these are historic. We’re going to look back at that and if I’m like, wearable
technologies have no chance it’s a fad and then it happens, idiot. That wasn’t my piece
of content that took me to the next level. It was a piece of content
that took me a step back. So recognize that we have the opportunity to win this game. Recognize the quality of what we say, what we produce how we put it out there is the variable to that outside. – [Voiceover] John asks,
“Which industries do you think

“people to make the same decision I made “by leaving a very secure
job to pursue their dream. “My question is, will my
employee retention rate drop? “Since you started building
up your personal brand, “has your employee
retention rate dropped?” – Benjamin, the thing you
need to understand is that intent trumps everything. And so I think one amazing
thing in this company that I’m extremely proud
of is I truly believe that these people that
work at VaynerMedia really recognize that I want to win but not at their expense. I want to buy the Jets, not at
the expense of my employees, with my employees and I equally
want what’s best for them. Of course, you know,
looking at these three, and things are running through my mind and, obviously, I know them
all at different levels, but you know, there’s
narratives in my mind that I can play out right
now that leads to a world of them not being here. And that makes me sad and I really don’t want that. And from an ego standpoint,
I truly believe that I can bring them so much
value over the long haul that makes it interesting
for them to stay. But I think it’s massively
important that they always, deep down, feel as though I want them to have what they want, even though, optically,
it doesn’t benefit me. And I would say 40% of
VaynerMedia believes that. And that may surprise you as a low number, but I hope you understand
the level of cynicism that is instilled in us as human beings to not believe everything I just said. And so I’m massively proud of the 40% and I’m really pumped
that I think that 40% was actually 12% only 12 to 18 months ago and so I’m building momentum, right? Look, I think if you’re
scared to lose somebody who believes in their heart that they have the skill set to go and do it, you’re making a huge
mistake and I actually think you build retention by
showing them the reverse. It’s a reverse psychology
game that is not a tactic because if you don’t actually believe it, that reverse psychology
will come across as bullshit and you’ll lose it. I don’t do it because I want
to reverse psychology India, I do it because I believe it. And then they have to believe
and evolve in their place. You know, I believe that
the evolution of people not being here is gonna
have a lot more to do with things in life, they
fall in love and get married, and have to move ’cause
their spouse really needs to do this and they have
the empathy and being the bigger man or woman
in the relationship to go let their spouse do that, unfortunately, maybe something tragic. I actually think that when you’re pure, when you want to win but
you want to win with, not, you know, on the
back of, people start sticking around because the truth is, if somebody works at a
job, in a lot of ways, they weren’t thinking
purely, I’m gonna put this on my back to begin with, right? And you, and I don’t know your age, is there a picture, or
is this a written word? – [India] Oh, this is written. – You know, I don’t know
your age, but again, if you’re over 30, you were
sold on a world where it wasn’t, I’m gonna go do my own thing, right? So now that we live in
that world, I actually feel that the kids that are going
to work for companies now in lieu of entrepreneurship
are truly not entrepreneurs. Back into that big argument of
entrepreneur-like tendencies and entrepreneurship,
I’ll tell you right now, show me a 23-year-old
that wants to work here and I’ll show you somebody
who is, got entrepreneurial tendencies but isn’t pure entrepreneur. So I just think doing
the right thing is always the right thing and I think
empowering your people to follow their dreams if
they have one, if they think they’re good enough, if
they are willing to deal with the stress and all the
dog shit that comes along with having all the
pressure on your shoulder, then, you know, you empower
them and root for them and try to be part of that narrative. But if they have tendencies, what you’re doing is
actually building a deeper relationship with that person, and actually, my belief
is that percentage, you’re creating longer term. I mean, the stickiness of this company is pretty intense,
given the agency world’s a tough place for stickiness
and so I’m very proud of that and you know what I spew. Great last question. Question of the day,

just want to say thank you
because your book, Crush It!, allowed me to go out full time on my own. My question is why did you
start a service business, your agency, instead of
starting a media company, which you seem really good at? – Ryan, great question. I mean this is… Can we get like a, Can you make some sort an all time great episode alert thing here? Put it in my hand. (majestic music) This is a great question and it’s a very specific, detailed answer for a couple reasons. One, I’m not sure that I
was aware of how good I was at it five years ago. Two, I had an inkling when
we started VaynerMedia. The first project we worked
on was something called Daily1to10.com and we were doing Facebook
fan pages driving to a Tumblr. So, I was on that kick from the get, but three, the most practical thing was, I knew that speed mattered
and that money mattered, and that scale mattered
and the agency-client service business was very obvious to me as the quickest path to scale and money. Because now we have Vayner Publishing and we’re building out lostlettermen.com, you can check it out, we just bought it, wait for the redesign, but
we’re now staring to get into the media business and we
have the infrastructure and the scale and the skill set. And I have 500 people that
I’ve been able to effect with my thinking. They’ve got to counter that
with their own thinking, but clearly, as a CEO and a
thought leader in a space, I’m sure I’m evolving their
thinking towards a direction that picks up speed. Because the more I agree with them, and they agree with me, the quicker we can be
at what we need to do. So, really, the answer
to your question is, because I’m patient. I thought the right
strategy was to build out an infrastructure that
allowed me to get to it later. Plus, not to mention, media’s evolved enormously
in those five years. And if you look at media
and the upside of media, and the media sites of today, five years ago they were very
predicated on SEO and SEM, something that I never really loved. Now, we’re predicated more on
social sharing and content, something I love more. So, I think that, my intuition, and I’d like to think rightfully so, at the time was, I was not the
perfect player for that time. But my intuition was, there’s
a chance that the market may move into that, if I’m in a certain place
in five years to capture the market’s evolution on
the media side perfectly, then I can win triple. And I think I’m starting to maybe play out and benefit on that bet. So, I was just strategic about it. “What usually prompts you
to walk away or turn down

today, how well would
VaynerMedia do in the long term without it’s CEO? Have you been satisfied
with Wine Library’s performance since leaving
to focus on VaynerMedia?” – Andrew, this is a great question. I mean, I always say
everything stems from the top, and so I’m trying to
think about how I wanna answer this question,
meaning A.J. is ridiculously capable. I don’t think the
company would do as well, mainly because he just had his big brother and mentor die, and so even though he’s capable I would assume that he would be pretty torn up. He better be. I think that he would struggle with that, and I don’t think he loves
client services enough to persevere, and he’d be like,
what is it all worth anyway? Who cares? On the flip side, there’s
an interesting thing. Believe it or not, this is a weird thing. Though A.J. is hands down the most capable person to be the CEO of VaynerMedia, I could almost see him
not wanting to do it, and I could almost see so many people here internally saying, no we have to continue the hustle and so, it’d be interesting. I think we built a very
interesting culture here. Similarly, Brandon runs
Wine Library with my dad, and Bobby and Justin, it’s all family. My best friend, my brother
in law, my cousin, my dad. My ego made me think that
Wine Library would hurt more than it did without me there. To answer your question, I am
happy with how Wine Library has performed with me not there. That being said, do I think it
could be way way, way better? Of course, I mean I think I’m great. Do I think the businesses
are better off without me than with me?
Absolutely not. Are they in places where they
won’t go out of business? Absolutely. Are they in places where they have no prayer of the hyper growth that I create when I’m the operator? That’s for damn sure. The biggest thing that
I create is the ability to grow big businesses fast as shit. That’s gonna end up being my
legacy if I do it one more time and I’m not on business number two that I’ve taken in a 36 month
period with no cash infusion to very big heights. That is a very difficult
task in a cash flow basis. The companies that grow big on funding, that make sense. The Ubers, and that
company is way better than what I’ve executed, but still when you have hundreds of millions
of dollars of funding, the speed is what I’m talking about. Forget about the business. Well in a non-funded business, to be able to build that speed,
that takes an incredible game of chicken, because
you’re playing cash flow versus growth. Being able to afford. You know how proud I am that we’ve never had lay offs
because we lost a client? That is unheard of in agency world, and it’s triple unheard of for the fastest growing agency of all time in people. I’m proud. That is what I’m uniquely great at. They won’t grow as fast, but there’s enormous talent around me that is able to do their thing. That being said, I’m so much, not only the executional leader
of my friends and families and business, I think
I’m the emotional leader with a lot of them too. I would think that they
would really struggle with my absence, and would
crumble into a little hole. I’m just kidding. I think they would struggle with that.

That’s a good question, thanks Meerkat. – [DRock] Who was it? – He doesn’t know. That’s why he said
somebody, or you got it? It scrolls. – [Staphon] Yeah, at, Jesus Christ, now everybody’s asking. – Yeah, it’s over, sorry
if you asked this question. No IP love. You know, I think it takes
a million different things depending on what the job is. It’s about the right job
for the right person. So, the answer is, anybody
probably could work at Vayner at some level, they just have to have self awareness if
they are a project manager, or a creative director,
account sup., a CM, but it definitely takes, I think the more interesting question is: What does it take to win at VaynerMedia? Right, so like getting
in, like we’ve had plenty of winners and losers get in. How to win here I think is a fine balance of one, having empathy and self awareness, and respecting the others around you. Having patience, I think a lot of people lose within the first six,
12, 18 months at Vayner because they’re just not
playing the long game, and they either want a
raise, or a promotion, or have the audacity of
like thinking they’re better than they are, but while equally, this is back to pulling
in both directions, I want that bravado and confidence, and all those things. So, I think it’s about making networks, having relationships,
having self awareness, having patience, over communication. You know, like what if this
machine is doing bad by you, I respect that. We’re not perfect. I want to be there for
you, so are you speaking to Minnie in HR, or me,
or AJ, or your leaders within your organization, or
at least 30 to 50 people here that have been here for
a year to three years that are really the foundation
of the ethos of the company. So you know, I think there’s
a lot of different things that it takes, but it
definitely takes hard work, it definitely takes smarts, but what trumps status, it takes heart. – [India] I found who asked the question.