@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!
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 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”
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
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.
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.