AJ Vaynerchuk

Co-founder: @VaynerSports, @VaynerMedia - Investor: @Uber, @venmo - Expert on @intro

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@416ash 😂

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

Curious - anyone in my world got experience buying/selling/operating car washes???

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@jmorin35 @garyvee we've talked about stuff like this many a times. But this Knicks final run, depending on the outcome, could be a good time for it - good call!

[Eddie Koai @EddieKoai]

Couldn’t ask for a better partner for District than @garyvee and excited to have him in our corner as we build for the next generation of commerce and live shopping!

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@andy8052 🤝

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

Distance?

[NUCLR GOLF @NUCLRGOLF]

Which would you choosing? 🤔

🏌️3 attempts at hitting this green for $5M

OR

💰 $500K guaranteed

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@andy8052 In that case I’m rolling the dice and trying for the 5m 😂

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@drzhang What a Throw back

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

My true entrepreneur origin story right here 👇

[Sonith @_sonith]

AJ on his formative years learning to sell:

“I learned so much about the foundations of entrepreneurship and business through EBay”

“I was like a 13 year old kid walking around with 47 packages”

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@TheSzef Incredible milestone ‼️

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@NotZainAgain 🙏 glad it’s working well for you brother. It’s a journey !

[Sonith @_sonith]

Here’s my conversation with @ajv

AJ co-founded @VaynerMedia & @vaynersports with his brother, @garyvee. They’ve also invested early in Uber, Venmo, and many others.

We discuss:

- the Vaynerchuk backstory and his formative years
- profitably scaling to multiple 9 figures in revenue
- how Crohn’s disease gave him perspective
- AI + the defensibility of live sports

And much more. AJ’s incredibly AI-forward, full of energy & competition, and simultaneously a great family man. Hope you get a glimpse into what makes him so special. Enjoy!

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro
06:03 Earning $30,000 at 13 selling Bobbleheads
07:46 Making $2,000 at a Garage Sale
12:24 How Crohn's Disease Changed His Career
16:26 Scaling VaynerMedia from 12 to 400 Employees
18:38 The Contrast Between Gary and AJ's Partnership
23:49 Travis Kalanick's Call to Test the First NYC Uber
27:30 The Origins of VaynerSports: Acquiring an Agency
29:15 How to Think About Starting a New Business
31:18 How College Kids Can Get Hired in the AI Age
34:31 Why Live Sports is the Most Defensible Business
39:21 The Vaynerchuk Genetics of Extreme Competitiveness
41:57 Vayner HQ and the Future of NFTs
43:53 Why I Started a Podcast

[Drew Fallon @drewfallon12]

YELLOW WOOD BACKED DR. SCHOLL'S ACQUIRES VKTRY

Yellow Wood Partners backed insole maker Dr. Scholl's has acquired VKTRY Gear, a performance insole disruptor popular among athletes.

VKTRY was founded in 2015 by Matt Arciuolo, a pedorthist who developed the carbon fiber insole for the U.S. Olympic athletes. VKTRY has raised at least $6.5M and was working towards a $2M series A in 2023.

Yellow Wood bought Dr. Scholl's Americas from Bayer for $585M in 2019. Investing in KVTRY brings a DTC playbook and a younger demographic that the legacy Dr. Scholl’s brand does not reach organically.

Other deals in the category includes Coats Group’s acquisition of OrthoLite for $770M at 2.9x sales and 10x ev/ebitda.

Yellow Wood is a consumer PE fund and recently sold BYOMA to Bansk Group and merging Suave Brands Company and Elida Beauty under Evermark.

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

Incredible journey this team went on over the years! Congratulations to a great team of people 🙏

[Drew Arciuolo @DrewArciuolo]

After a lot of hard work

VKTRY has been acquired by Dr. Scholl’s

🥳

https://t.co/42zOZw5D5W

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

@_sonith Enjoyed it too brother, appreciate you! Was a great convo you guided!

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

Random recco: keyboard shortcuts
@@ = my email address
~~ = my home address
Z$ = my personal zoom link
LP$ = my license plate #

Etc etc

[Intro @intro]

Hiring isn’t one playbook. It’s stage-specific.

@ajv breaks down how the “right” hire changes as you go from scrappy to scaling, and why protecting the culture early is a competitive advantage (not just a nice-to-have).

Send this someone who’s about to make their next critical hire.

[AJ Vaynerchuk @ajv]

Can't believe there isn't a stunned sun Erupt smh. I mean it's one of the few things in the set that can actually erupt 🤔🌞 @VeeFriendsCards

[iJayRob @iJayRob]

THERE IS A FEARLESS FAIRY ERUPT
I'm dead @garyvee

[Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee]

Thank you … #5yearsofVF

[Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee]

1st LOOK AT 2026 Chrome .. what stands out ???