What Do You Want to be Remembered For?

In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I dive deep into the launch of VeeFriends Topps Chrome and what it takes to build a massive intellectual property universe from scratch. I share the story of starting VaynerMedia in a borrowed conference room at 34 and why starting from zero is actually your biggest advantage. I also discuss the future of live shopping on platforms like TikTok and Whatnot, and why I’m betting the next 50 years of my life on characters like Patient Panda and Empathy Elephant. Today VeeFriends Topps Chrome 2026 is released at topps.com - go there to start collecting VeeFriends today!

• 0:00Speaker 00

  But I truly had nothing at 34, truly, actually. Like, when I started VaynerMedia, my biggest company, we started it in a conference room the size of this podcast studio in another company's conference room because I couldn't pay rent.

• 0:15Speaker 01

  How big is it now?

• 0:16Speaker 00

  Now it's 2,000-plus people, 350 million a year revenue, not valuation.

• 0:23Speaker 01

  Oh, you run a profitable business that actually makes money? Shocking.

• 0:26Speaker 00

  So, you know, it's a big business and I'm proud.

• 0:31Speaker 01

  That's only one of yours. Like, how many? I was looking it up today. It's like Vayner3, VaynerSports, VaynerRSC, VFriends, which I think is a different entity. How many, like, Vayners you got?

• 0:41Speaker 00

  There's VaynerX, the holding company that holds like, that holds like seven or eight of the, that's the marketing agency holding company. Outside of it is VaynerSports because that's a separate business. That's me and my brother. My brother runs that with Greg Gensky. VFriends is the other biggest business I run. That's my Marvel Pokémon. It's an intellectual property. That's, I do actually believe in my 80s, that's what I will be known for more than anything else I've done. This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  I am looking at the VFriends collaboration with TOPS, like TOPS that we grew up collecting. Can you please tell us all about this?

• 1:17Speaker 00

  Look, I'm trying to build the next Pokémon, the next Marvel, the next Disney. IP is one of the things that is going to be the big winner. So for the last 40 years I've been building this, this is a huge moment for us with VFriends. Today's the day TOPS Chrome comes out. There's cartoons on YouTube Kids made by the people that made Cocoon Melon. There's digital collectibles and NFTs. There's a kids' book that is crushing. But this is a signature moment because today, in a thousand GameStops around the country, people will walk in and see VFriends cards. In every, in hundreds and hundreds of local card shops, they will see VFriends. On this new live shopping, the QVCification of social media is here. So whatnot TikTok shop, there will be hundreds of people opening up packs of VFriends cards.

• 2:02Speaker 00

  VFriends is a universe of 250 characters that are obsessed with practical positivity, with optimism, but accountability. And, you know, it's very inspired by Marvel and DC and Disney and, you know, Hanna-Barbera and, you know, DreamWorks and...

• 2:26Speaker 00

  All the great IP storytelling things, going back hundreds of years to astrology and Zeus and Romeo and Juliet and all the great stories of all time. I'm gonna give it a real run here for the next half-century and try to have the world fall in love with patient panda and with rare robot and vibing vampire and motivated monster. And obviously, this is a big moment. It's almost impossible to articulate what I'm feeling. You know, cards are the foundation of my entrepreneurial journey. They represented a time when I was getting Americanized as an immigrant that was born

• 3:10Speaker 00

  in the Soviet Union. At an age where I was really getting into my... When I was 12, 13, 14, 15, that was the early seeds of who I am today. I was starting to get strong emotionally and knew that bad grades in school weren't gonna define who I was and that I was a businessman. The word entrepreneur wasn't out there yet. If you told 15-year-old me that I would have my own Topps trading card, I'd be like, "What happened? How did I get good at sports?" And then if you told me, "No, no, no, you invented a Disney, like Transformers, G.I. Joe," this is at the time, Pokemon hadn't happened yet, you know, universe, Hanna-Barbera,

• 3:52Speaker 00

  Scooby-Doo, universe, Sesame Street universe, and those were the cards? I'd be like, "You mean like garbage mail kids?" And you'd be like, "Yeah." I'd be like, "Get the fuck out of here." That's what would've happened in 86.

• 4:04Speaker 03

  That's so cool. How did you even come up with the idea of V-France?

• 4:09Speaker 00

  I'm an 80s baby. Like, the 80s was crazy for intellectual property. If you go from 1975 to 1985, here are the things that were invented out of thin fucking air. Star Wars, E.T., Donkey Kong, Atari, Pac-Man, Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, hair bears. I can go on and on and on, and I was affected by that. I thought that was cool, but I was also super into sports. That's why I was into cards. And then later, I got into comic books and a little bit more of like, collectible toys. So I was very blended in the Comic-Con and the national stuff. I mean, I am a public figure known for being a successful entrepreneur,

• 4:50Speaker 00

  and there is no question that what I learned at baseball card stores in the malls, and the firehouses, and the Elk stations of New Jersey in the 80s is the foundation of who I am today. You know, and so, yeah, it's like, it's my true first love, you know, in a lot of ways. Somebody just said, "Why are you showing us Pokemon?" That was the highlight of my day. These are V Friends cards, which I'm hoping to build into the next Pokemon, so thank you for that comment. Why? Because I'm the creator and the builder of this IP. I always talk to all of you about going for it, going for big dreams. This is my big dream, like, I want to be Walt Disney, I want to be Jim Henson,

• 5:34Speaker 00

  I want to be Stanley, and I'm building a universe.

• 5:37Speaker 04

  What would you say if someone was starting from zero, how to apply patience to their life?

• 5:42Speaker 00

  Well, there's many things when you're starting at zero that you need to understand. My favorite thing about starting at zero is you have no fucking choice. Like, good news, when you're starting at zero, you have no choice. Like, what, are you gonna cry on the couch and be like, "I'm starting it"? Like, what's great about zero, and the dirt, and the start, is you have no choice but to be patient. Meaning, you can go the get-rich-quick scheme route, and a lot of people do, Dirac. They're always chasing the next trend, and this and that, and, um...

• 6:16Speaker 00

  I feel like, you know, I'm a, I'm a big fan of, you know, people understanding that to build something meaningful, it takes real work, it takes real time. And, you know, patience has been a huge partner in my success. I wish on you guys, besides health, for you and your family, the biggest thing I wish for you is to dream big as fuck, and then watch it unfold. Because you actually worked for it, not because you hit the lottery. So how does it feel? Fucking insanity. What are you talk- like, like, I can't, I'm like, I'm like... There are Topps Chrome products that is a good product of a world I fully invented in my own head,

• 7:00Speaker 00

  in hundreds of the best card shows, shops in the world right now, and 1,000 GameStops are about to open across the country, and have blasters.

• 7:13Speaker 00

  What? Here's what's going on for everyone that's brand new. VFriends is a universe that I created five years ago. It is a world of 270 or so characters. Empathy Elephant, Entrepreneur Elf, Resilient Red Devil, Ambitious Angel, you know, Charming Cheetah, Reliable Rat, Notorious Ninja, and our Pikachu, Mickey Mouse, the very, very, very, very lucky Black Cat. It's a universe we've created, and it's a collectible universe with incredible characters. We're developing all the characters through comic books, so you can learn about these VFriends if you go to vfriends.com/comics. You could literally go read a bunch of those comics for free.

• 7:57Speaker 00

  But we're massive in trading cards, as you could see we were just showing. We're exploding in comics right now. The holy grail of our world is the NFTs. And we have apparel, we have cartoons on YouTube Kids, if you go to vfriends.com/cartoons. And most of all, we have an incredible community of collectors. The coolest part about our world is, we have a saying here. Strangers become acquaintances, acquaintances become friends, friends become family. And it really is that way. And so if you're going to Fanatics Fest, if you're going to the Sports Card National in Chicago, or if you're going to Comic Con at the Javits Center in the fall, please stop by the VFriends activation, which I'm really excited about.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  Last year was the first year of this. But here you can see sold items. These are prices that are also... This is all sold yesterday on eBay. This was all sold yesterday. So as you can see, there's a huge amount of demand for VFriends physical collectibles.

• 8:56Speaker 05

  It's amazing.

• 8:57Speaker 00

  I think this will blow people away.

• 8:59Speaker 05

  Again, this is 2025.

• 9:00Speaker 00

  Right, and 26 comes out on June 10th.

• 9:03Speaker 05

  So excited, so excited.

• 9:09Speaker 06

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