You know how little baby has one of those apes on his neck. Yes. If if you want me to be like that for v. Friends.

And to just have puffin on my face or something like this little puffin. I got some real estate right here. I can see that being like a cool look that would be a tremendous priority of mine. I'll talk to your whole team about it yeah so for the record when they said you're gonna have some time to talk to garyvee.

I'm like all right i gotta dig in try to figure out as much stuff as possible that i can give him about i wanted to hate on you for the nft thing especially just given where the market is at right. Now by the time. I got done watching a couple of podcasts with you i was like all right. If there is an nft that i'm gonna with aside from the crypto punk.

Which i already own i was very impressed by the v. Friends thing because i see that you actually have a road map like a real game plan for how you're gonna continue to build the value of these in the long term which i don't have that assurance about almost any of the other nfts. I've seen well i'm sure if you did your homework you start to your point. You probably walked into some buzz saws.

Which is in every interview. I gave for the entire last 15 months. I'm like 99 of this is going to zero 99 of this is going to zero on the flip side to your point. I'm also looking for people that look like me i'm a 25 years in a row gangster operating entrepreneur.

This is what i do i build actual businesses period. It is what it is you like it you don't like it it's the truth. I know how to operate. Which is why you felt that and actually knowing you and knowing how you operate it does kind of weird me out when i watch certain youtube videos.

Where they're talking about you like you're i'm not gonna say any names maybe these are some people that you know or have done business with. But there's some very very scammy personalities that it's a whole identity. These days to basically just be a huckster and just be selling some all the time. I don't feel like a lot of people on youtube that i've seen give you a hard time really understand the depth of how much real business.

You've done and i'm empathetic to that to your point like if you're out. There you have this i have this people have this if you're out there especially in today's society. You're gonna have you know shots fired at you i'm empathetic when people decide to make and try to go at me. That they haven't spent 50 hours like who the am i to have somebody spend 50 hours to cross every t.

And i to realize wait a minute even though. I have a lot of high energy. And i might look the part to them that under the hood there's some real ass. They weren't in a room.

Where you and i were in four years ago where we spent two hours really talking about your operations. They don't know that part of me. And honestly i'm not like my feelings don't get hurt like like the truth is always gonna win out it's gonna be what it's gonna be everybody who's on dwayne. The rock johnson that he couldn't go to hollywood and make it has to eat crow everybody who on marky mark when he tried to be mark wahlberg had to eat it did you buy in early on the rock.

What did you buy him at what were shares going for at that time. I wasn't paying attention when he made that transition. But he's when i think about the rock kevin hart and ryan reynolds. They all sit in the same shelf in my head.

Which is they're famous as but they work like such dogs and they're you know like you know what i mean like those guys are like actual entrepreneurs comma they have talents and other fame right hundred percent um okay. But so the the big thing like especially these other way to get some flowers while i'm sitting with you what you're like well i'll give it to you because for you early on when we when we chopped up years ago. And i was doing my homework. I'm like man this guy's this guy works.

It's a very big part of my first pass through whip test is somebody actually working or are they trying to make something happen quick just the amount of content interviews the way you interviewed like the operations of the store. I'm like oh this guy works i hate to let you down. Though like i felt like this is the year where i finally realized like okay you've been doing this for a long ass time you've made a lot of money you can afford to take a week off here a week. There go on you know just in terms by the way that's not disappointing that makes me proud but spending time with the kid makes you have to consider that you know of course.

A lot of things dude family. A life event you could lose an uncle and be like you looked up to and be like i don't want to end up like that things happen by the way. I take plenty of personal time. I go hard when i'm in it when i'm on the field.

I go hard. But you know that's not what i meant by work i didn't mean and i didn't know and i don't even know right now that you were going 19 hours every day. It wasn't that it was the amount of output. You were putting out and the interviews.

I watched they were thoughtful you weren't even what you just said right now. Even if you want to make it as a razz you're like let me go do a little work you put in work. A lot of people don't put in work adam. They don't or they put in a lot of work for a little while and that's fine.

Everybody's got different ambitions. Everybody can have their thing. But you put it you put in work i respect that that is what it takes for sure okay. But so how do you separate yourself in a world.

Where i think we both agree that 99 of nfts have basically turned out to be scams. You're almost not even seeing new ones at the same rate that you used to how do you solve the ultimate question in this day and age. Which is like i'm in the nfc business. But i'm not a scammer and i believe that this has long term value.

What are the most important things to communicate to the audience. I think this is really interesting. I think most people try to convince and i believe in just having conviction meaning in 1998. When this had the reason.

I knew it was going to happen is because i saw it when i was a kid with internet stocks everybody was so hyped about the internet that every internet company was worth a grillion and they sucked and that's what happened here the nft thing is gonna happen. But in the gold rush of the first. Year there's a lot of that greed and right what happened in. 9899.

2000. Was paypal. Amazon and ebay. They just worked.

They just made real companies. They just waited they ate their they were sad they were patient that you know i'm sure they got called i'm sure jeff bezos to his face was said your scam and a fad because all these internet stocks just crashed. He and his mind said. I don't think so let me go to work.

I'll see you in 2010. For the one to two percent out there right now that really believe they're building something meaningful and they're getting caught up in the mockery. They got to shut their mouth put their helmet on go to work and pop up in 2037 and say. I told you you do not know how to build a business around the intellectual property.

You have no shot and and and a lot of that has to do with real life access has to do with events has to do with virtual access to your point. I'm going more of a pokemon transformers gi joe my little pony route yeah um. But there's a lot of ways to use the blockchain. Most people don't even understand the blockchain yet they don't really understand what's actually happening.

And you know i think. This is a great conversation. I'll be honest with you i'm relieved that we're finally in this chapter. The last the last 15 months have been anxious to me because i knew that this was going to happen.

And as much as the content as i put out to your point. It's people didn't hear that part so is this almost a relief. Seeing the market sort of cleanse itself of all this you always want the market to be healthy and the market is never healthy when it's over evaluated or grossly underevaluated and overvalued. It's even more scary because people that buy lottery tickets are the same people that look into these projects.

There's a desperation there's a i like a quick buck. There's a it's too good to be true. And when you when you're that person you're lacking patience you have you have insecurity you're looking for something to fill a void. And you're you're you're grasping at straws and you get caught and that sucks if disney drops nfts for you know mickey mouse and donald duck and all this and the star wars characters and like that if you see disney and nintendo.

And all these big companies who own all this amazing ip. If they drop all of their characters. As nfts is that a good thing or a bad thing for the friends. It's not an if it's a win uh.

It's a it's a non event for be friends meaning to your point. I already know it's it when i don't need i don't need disney or nintendo or pokemon's validation. They've already been flirting with digital goods. A lot to begin with and most of all the world's abundant so even if they come in they rightfully deservingly for what they've done for the last 50 years will be monster market share.

They should be like donald duck. Should be um and pikachu should be uh zelda. Should be and that would be great. But that's not gonna you know it's kind of the way.

I think about the world. The reason. I cheer for everyone is because nobody's winning is coming out of my winnings. This is not how the world works.

But doesn't it make the v. Friends seem a little less special like 10 years from now do you think the most interesting thing about the v. Friends is going to be that they were initially funded by nft drop. I think it will be yes.

I think i think similar but check this out yes and no for example. I don't know if everybody here thinks the most interesting thing about transformers and he man is is that they started as cartoons after school. I think it's interesting because i'm a business nerd. I realized in the 80s after school television created a bunch of big ips you know for me.

It will be to you know to to rescind my answer probably not if for business people that are being thoughtful. It will be but you know for me again if i do what i need to do it's going to be relevant of anything else. That's happening. Because people are going to give a about empathy elephant or patient panda because i made them not because of the timing or it was nfts and i plan on doing that if in 20 years.

The garyvee factor seems like it's not that big a deal that's a great thing for the vip right by the way that's my preference. I i say a lot that i want to convert from being mickey mouse and hulk hogan to being vince mcmahon and walt disney. I you know there's a lot of that i have that i want to say to the world. But i recognize that garyvee me.

I'm limited there's a lot of people that with me. There's a lot of people that will never with me. Because i'm a single human being with a certain communication style and i am who i am my 275 characters. I can push account i'll give an example.

I think most of the people's anxiety in this room and the world is because people don't want to be accountable. And when you're not accountable you blame everybody else so for me. I can say that a hundred thousand times. But the fact that i can make a countable ant into an extremely popular children's book series and now seven year olds are like accountability's cool like i can do what the i want adam and that's i think about it that way definitely 100 uh.

What would you say to people who have taken a real ass beating over the last week or so in the crypto market. What's your advice like you know should they still keep chasing these dreams. Or for a lot of people obviously they've been irresponsible you only lose when you sell sometimes you lose. When you don't sell too right all those luna holders.

Ksi and his three million dollars with a luna. He seems like he lost he didn't sell to your point. You know if you look at the entire marketplace. Luna ha.

And i'm undereducated on cryptocurrencies. I actually own only bitcoin in currencies and then i really understand nfts because of the collectible so i don't with currencies. But my understanding from my currency. Friends is luna had a value proposition that they promised that became exposed to not be true.

And so 100 of the confidence went away a lot of coins are out there that have declined. They didn't have the extremity of what happened with luna again. I don't like to talk about i don't know so that's my very far away headline reading hypothesis. I heard from some friends.

But for the rest of the crew that are getting smashed on their solana. They bought for 200 now it's 50 or ethereum you paid 4 000. And now it's 1900 or bitcoin. You paid 60 and now it's 30 in that world if you bought it because you believed in it well.

Why would you sell it when others don't and that to me is the punchline of this whole thing you only lose on your convictions. When you sell if you didn't actually have conviction and you were just following for the moment. Where you were looking to make a quick dollar right and so i would tell them to be patient. If you believed in the hold on do you think i should sell my crypto punk.

I don't you know to me. I believe nfts are here forever nfts like the internet in 98. I've thought that 98 back to what you saw. I was right on that i think crypto punk's out of everything including the friends and i believe in myself the most has a very different sitting in the whole game.

It is the project that created this game in 50 years when this is a thing. The historians are gonna go back and they're gonna be like that one ford ape has to be kith supreme vape for 20 years to justify their value be friends. I have to go out and actually build pokemon to justify the value world of women has to do that cool cats doodles moon birds with kevin rose. They have to go out and execute for a decade.

Properly just to be valued about what they are now right punks doesn't have to do nothing history that's what really sold me on in the beginning. And i didn't really understand that when you look at the friends or the or the apes that working to build the ip would be the other thing that could set an nft apart correct. The crypto punks are automatically scarce because they have this legacy of being so history yeah. It's history.

It's set up the whole game the one of the rarest things in crypto punks is an eight like that sport like like it is the game. The reason people collect aliens and zombies and apes in like every collection that happened in 2021 is because of punk's providence. Which was a word thrown around a lot in the beginning of nft 2020. 2021 that's disappeared in this gold rush greed phase will come back people will start looking at the history of the game.

And i think things in 20 on ethereum 2017. 1819 projects will have a different floss than the ship like v. Friends and others that popped off in the next chapter those projects. Me included have a lot of work to do when you look at the apes.

Though are you are you kind of in awe of how massively executed their marketing has been so cheer for them heavy pumped for them you know they're when i look at that one. I'm like you know with me. I'm like oh. I'm lucky i get to run a marathon to build a pokemon in disney.

They're so built on cool and you know this because you with culture street culture pop culture hip hop culture brand culture staying on top as a fashion brand is hard like who's rocking supremes here. Today well. I did see one of our filmers has it on his beanie. But that's just one you know what i mean six years ago.

Right you know like palace kip that's a hard ass game and so. But but it happens look at this nike's done it like he's done it for 40 years. So for me. I'm cheering for apes to do it for 40 years.

But they've got a lot of work to do like all of us in different ways. But yeah. I'm very impressed i love it guy oh siri somebody i've known in business for a long time. He's heavily involved with them.

So i i i've met one or two of the founders in the early days of of this whole world who chopped it up in those early days. I have seven board eights that might you know so i'm i'm cheering for them heavy. So you know how little baby has one of those apes on his neck. Yes.

If you want me to be like that for v. Friends. And to just have a puffin on my face or something like this little puffin. I could i got some real estate right here.

I could see that being like a cool look that would be a tremendous priority of mine. I'll talk to your whole team about it yeah. What about like when you see them just i don't know what the back end deal is with it or anything. But when they're like oh man look at eminem has this board ape now do you look at that and you're like that's a brilliant marketing idea.

But do you feel like that's not on brand for the v. Friends or how do you think about that kind of celebrity endorsement. I'm concerned i was concerned about this first 15 months. So i took it slow and steady in this first chapter.

Because i knew that it could be great for the short term. But it created potential vulnerability for the long term. I knew that i could have went out and biz dev with a lot of people i know but i would but i want people to buy a v. Friend because they actually want to hold it forever not because it's of the moment or they bought it to flip.

I have no sense of what any a list celebrity has done or why they went in or why they bought or why they changed their profile picture. You know how things happen something becomes a movement and just happens. Some of them just did it because other celebrities did it some did it because they believe it's a great investment. Some people did it because they got a short term marketing deal everyone does it for different reasons.

I didn't want to do too much in the first chapter which we're getting out of right now because i knew there would be too much emotion and too much mockery and so i'm just focused on you know vcon coming up this weekend in minnesota seven eight thousand people huge event really excited about it uh focused on making that epic. I was focused on series two because i had to really get the characters from my doodles into the creation form of how i was going to build the ip listen you know this about me adam. I'm a businessman that happens to live on social and do so i've been in businessman mode. The first year and a half.

I'll i'll i'll do the tortoise game like i'm going to win this race in the end. I know it i know who i am. And i really don't even look at it as a race against other projects. I just know what it takes to build something meaningful and i'm willing to do it slower and meaningfully not that i'd be i.

Mean listen. I want every a b c. D. List celebrity and human being on earth.

To buy a beef and put in their account. It's just not the thing that i'm. Most focused on in chapter. Um.

Another question. Let me pull it on you yeah flip it on me. What has been your journey in these four. In these 12 to 14 months on nft like this looks crazy.

Oh. My god. This is legit. Wait is this a scam like how is give me your roller coaster so initially.

I was trying to be open minded about it learning as much as i possibly could i listened to a podcast with a poker player named doug polk. That basically convinced me that the crypto punks were going to be a very good long term investment. I got my girl to go in half with me on one we went to buy it at 80k by the time. We had figured out how to transfer the money and everything it was 160k at one point.

I think it was 450k for the floor. Which ours is approximately at the floor. I believe i'm not sure what it would be uh right now 120. Okay yeah.

I i had a moment where i was really thinking long and hard about doing a no jumper like series of nfts. Where there would be a limited number created for each interview that i did i ended up running into the problem of like i don't own any of these people's likenesses and it would be like unspeakably difficult to get permission to use especially for interviews that i've done five six years ago. You know am i gonna get permission to use little peeps face for five nfts. It just didn't really make sense to me looking at it now.

I am also concerned like wow. That would be tough to uh convince the world that i was uh on the up and up in that regard. But you know i'm not closing the door on it by any means. I still think that there's definitely technology that's important there i'm just extremely skeptical of like most of what people are putting out there it makes sense right like if you look at influencers.

If you look at social media. Accounts. Youtube channels. Internet.

Stocks like most things aren't good. That's how the world actually works yeah right. But when there's a brand new technology everyone always gets cr this is just textbook happening happen in social networks do you know that there was social network bibo do you know that bibo sold for 850 million dollars to aol. Yeah.

I remember that like like there was a hundred myspaces. There was 200 myspaces back in the day early on is muckery that's why this worked out. And this one had a lot of money being thrown around because of the crypto craze. So i think we're in a better spot now.

I'm excited about that uh. I think it's going to be a lot a lot healthier this next year. People can be more thoughtful. They're going to want to know who the running.

The project are they capable everyone's like what's the road map people would say we're gonna do this this and this i was like do you think they can do that that's like pitch decks for startups. I met thousands of people in the last decade who are like here's what my company's gonna do and i had to say i don't think you can do that i'm not gonna write you a check. But isn't that a terrible part of being an entrepreneur or being especially like somebody like you who people want you to invest in their projects. That at a certain part your job kind of becomes.

Just saying no to people over and over and over more so than you're saying yes. Because there's a lot more bad ideas than there are good ideas it sucks. But you actually start to realize you're doing people a service. When i say no i'm not like a dick.

I'm not like yo your sucks get the out of my office. I'm like hey. I'm concerned about this your customer acquisition plan's wrong facebook ads have changed you're gonna get caught there have you thought about this do you know that this guy's doing that over like i try to give constructive thought processes to my why. And i've had a lot of entrepreneurs over the decade reach out to me and be like yo your meeting.

Where you broke my down. I went back home and re fucking did it and it you helped me so i'm proud i prefer to say yes. I don't like negativity. So like i prefer to but you're scared to lose your own money you're not just real life and number two along the way.

I realized me giving people rationale to why no was actually incredibly valuable sometimes more valuable than when i used to write checks and kind of on sit on my right and then they actually haven't been like why didn't i you know you you mature along the way on how to give candace kind feedback to your no right is there anything in this space. That we're talking about that you that uh nfts and all that that you've missed out on that you look back on you're like geez. I wish. I was a little bit more open minded on that one no because i i'm very heavy in early stages into yes and willing to lose for the education.

Because i always play with time and money that i'm willing to lose most people play a lot of people in gold rushes play with money they can't afford to lose because they're convinced they're going to 10x 100x 50x and so and so i'm incredibly thoughtful about the money. I'm going to play with and then other people like they like hold up their time as valuable when their time's not valuable like i'm willing to spend the time to work. I'm going to spend the money to learn and i'm willing to deal with everything going to zero. If it doesn't pop off.

So. The answer is no i don't have that regret because anything i've been even somewhat curious about i bought i like it that's why i think i'm gonna get i'm gonna become a befriends guy regardless of the face tattoo idea. But what about the face tattoo. I get the face tattoo idea is still on the table for sure yeah.

And i don't charge a lot dude. I'm a cheap is it low. It's low for the low low let me ask you this yes we just seen a big big indictment come down young thug gunning et. Cetera all getting locked up we're seeing a situation in which you know people who probably came up in the street to whatever extent end up making millions of dollars and end up in a situation.

Where from my perspective. It looks like this was a kind of exceedingly easy case for the government to make against them at some point now at with you i know you've probably seen quite a few people over the years that start building an impressive business. But then they're still maybe a little too tapped in with the streets or doing some illegal on the side. What would be your advice to anybody who immediately just starts bringing in this huge amount of money as an entertainer or whatever and needs to really separate themselves from stuff that could get them thrown in prison.

It's a real and you know this if it was a black and white answer it'd be so easy. There's not a human on earth. That doesn't understand that on paper you want to get away from anything that creates a vulnerability here's the problem and and this is when i tell you i have zero knowledge of anything with the ricoh stuff. Especially.

I mean it talked about a crusher for me like my my deep love for gunna is off the charts. And i'm a huge fan of thug. I don't know him. But you know the reality is is that for a lot of people and i see it with immigrant life your friends your family.

They're still living life you might have popped off. But you've got a humongous community that you came up with until like everyone who doesn't know anything about how people that come up from little to make a lot. It's very easy for them to pontificate in their chair at home be like why don't they separate them right. These are your cousins.

Your aunts your best friend somebody that helped you out a tough situation. It's incredibly challenging and a complex situation. I'm dead when i say i'm desperate. I'm desperately hoping that they're not in a bad spot.

I'm really hope i'm really like it's been a really tough week for that whole like scene between that and he and it's just been like it's like i feel incredibly emotional for people that are in the inner circles with that crew because this must be one of the toughest weeks of their life. That's a fact yeah. The key thing coming on the heels of the indictment is crazy um. I guess last question we are at a weed convention.

How many businesses in the cannabis space are you involved with and where do you think that the real opportunities and growth are in this space. Uh. So i'm i'm a large investor in a company called green street that is run by rama that's why i'm here. That's what this is all about underneath that rama's got a ton of stuff.

We've got a brand called asterick with juicy j. Which is a lot of fun to be to be transparent. I'm a non operating partner in green street. So i'm not even sure how many things rama has going on i'm more of the money and i'm there for the bat phone any time the space overall super interesting i grew up in the liquor business.

Which is regulated state by state. So when cannabis started getting legalized and when i could see the country was finally ready to to get over to hoop on it i was like okay uh. This is something i want to learn so i'm still in the learning phase. You know i'm uh.

I'm on the board of a company called rib capital out of out of canada um. So i'm really in collecting information mode. Because this is inevitable like for the rest of our lives. Like there will only be more acceptance.

We will see this space take shape in front of our eyes. Yeah and for me. It's always about brands right liquid death was started by a former creative lead at vaynermedia. I did michael is a good good dude.

So nike private like all this we've been talking about so. I think my destiny. Long term is to be involved on the brand side. We'll see um.

But uh. But it's a very interesting space and obviously. It's it's i think people forget how long the world's been around weed has only been a problem for less than 100 years or about 100 years. So not been that like out of the history of time.

We're just coming off the back end where we demonized it. But i think it's going to help a lot of people with emotional physical issues. I'm excited to see fungus and cannabis find their appropriate place in society and bring a lot of the benefits. I mean i hate when people like i literally have meetings with some people old heads who try to on it while they're drinking a cocktail and i'm like you do understand in 19 20.

And 30 people said the same thing about alcohol. Everything's up when it's off balance. But in balance everything can be appropriate and so i think i think i'm excited that the stigma is going away. And i think we can have far healthier conversations around it in the next decade.

Gary vee. Appreciate you we're about to go on stage you.