Do you wake up on Monday morning and are you in a this is awesome? Like this is good, not like it's okay or like I can deal with it? change. A lot of times people think you have to hit rock bottom. People will change when they hit quote-unquote Rock Bottom? Yeah I mean I think you have to change if you're not happy and that comes fancy amazing situations like you running a team trying to win an NBA championship. But it also means something for Carl who's driving to work right now listening to this podcast and just hates his job and it's kind of like you know you hate your job so why not make a change and try something out.

If that second thing is worse, then do it again. Vayner Nation What is good? Another live podcast Not clips from a talk or a video, but an actual podcast that I know you love those so much and I think you're gonna really love this one. Uh, my guest today is someone I adore someone who's accomplished professionally. The things that I'm up to uh and hopefully would like to achieve uh Ryan Smith is a tremendous entrepreneur who built a very large business and then Uh created an opportunity for himself to now be the owner of the Utah Jazz I'm especially really excited to have them on because we're recording this just a mere 10 or so days before.

All-Star Weekend in Utah We'll try to get this out right away. I'm actually putting out a blog post that I'll be there uh and actually doing a public event a little bit of instead of a kissing booth a Q A booth at the Fan Experience We'll talk about that but um there's a lot we can touch on. but uh Ryan I think to me represents a new breed of ownership across the leagues where you know youthful energy grew up in in the internet age. um and and just I had a great trip out to Utah a couple months ago.

Just incredible what's going on in Salt Lake We can talk about that but I'll open it up for him to say hello and and set the tone a little bit to all of you of what he wants to say. Ryan Thanks for being on the show! Gee what's up? Hey anytime man! I'm excited for for everything that's coming. Uh if you are anywhere near or want to be around Salt Lake Um we've got some big stuff planned. um for jam session and everything uh Gary and I are doing event we've got q A We've got 60 000 people 60 000 tickets for for what I grew up going to for.

All-Star I mean 30 years ago we had All-Star in Utah and I obviously I didn't have enough money to go to games or wasn't part of that. but they had this jam session what was basically like a basketball convention. Yep, and it was. It was super cool and like I remember as a kid going through there and like when when the league said they were coming back and we had to just take it over.

Um one of the things that was a must was we've got to bring back this jam session and um it's cool. you're a part of it man. I Love it. Tell everybody what GM session is Yeah it's basically we take we take.

we've got the convention center which is adjacent from the arena and there's you know and I've been to a lot of games a lot of All-Star games and one of one of the challenges I have is like I go to I go to games I go to the all-star game I want a hoop? I like want to pick up a ball? You get the vibe, it's everything basketball and um that's always been hard to do and so we brought in I think 14 full court basketball courts with Legends and um games. Then on top of that there's all sorts of carnival games. It's basically a basketball convention and Utah's a basketball state. It really is a question.

this is what we do. um and so we want to have like the basketball convention. um in about 175 000 square feet of of convention space where people can activate Brands um you know, um individuals like yourself, uh who can come in there and and kind of bring the culture of basketball hoops of the NBA all together with a young fan base. Um, one of the unique things about the Jazz is we have 60 000 kids that participate in our youth leagues called Junior Jazz 60 000 kids that are part of this junior Jazz program that every Saturday they they all hoop with the people around them and um, you know I played that as a kid.

Uh, my kids play that now and so this is a chance for all of them to come as well. Um, and it's really a community event which I think adds a whole new component to All Star I Understand why people don't do it every time? there's an All-Star because it takes a lot of work to curate, but um, it's gonna be. It's gonna be a really cool event and that's only one of the things we're doing. Uh, we just.

we just did. Um, we took, we took the west side of the arena and we did a partnership with Cactus Jack where Travis is going to come in and do a Rail Jam which is a massive snowboard event. They're going to produce concerts every night and then pop-up shops all the way around with Cactus Jack Um, you know, collabs or whatever they're doing. Uh, and so we're really activating the entire the entire city and hopefully it'll it'll go as we've got.

we got planned. What? You know? A lot of people are probably curious about this question. What was the most surprising thing for you in reality of owning a sports team versus the ideology or thinking you had coming into it? Yeah, that's a good where would you use I ology because I think it's like just like yourself like your dreams the Jets the Jets the Jets like you think you know what that's going to be like um in a similar way like I grew up playing Junior Jazz and I remember talking with Adam Um, you know I was looking at another team because that's what's available. You don't you just like the NFL Like, even if you want to own a team or you're in a position, fortunately that you might be able to play in that space, Timing is very, very hard.

Like the Utah Jazz have been in one family, the Millers who had been done an incredible job for 35 years pretty much moved the team here or part of that they were playing half the games in Vegas just to make money and um, you know it was never going to leave the family and so when we got a chance to do this I think there's two things Adam said hey Ryan if you're lucky to be a part of the NBA like that's great if you're if you win the lottery, it's almost like you can be the governor. He's like but no one gets their team I Think about that all the time brother. I'm always like petrified that I'm gonna have to buy like the Saints like you know, like like I think about like you know like am I gonna pan like for me it's kind of like Jets or bust like I'm not I think a lot of my contemporaries friends you Matt who just picked up the sons other people I'm talking to I feel like there's a macro like this would be cool I love the sport I love the business I'm gonna be able to achieve this goal for me I always genuinely speak to myself about like I wonder at 80 am I gonna hit the panic button and just buy like the Washington Nationals and baseball like like I don't know like what's gonna happen to your point the concept of having that dream but then ending up getting your team that's like needle and a haystack because to your point timing. if the Johnsons decide to sell the Jets next year, it's going to be too early for me.

like I could do a lot of things I'll do what I can but like boy oh boy it would be much better if that happened in 16 years. So so I've had to kind of look at it and say hey look I I mean in and I was down the road with another team and thank goodness my wife's like Ryan remember you're a jazz fan right? Like the dream, the dream can't be bigger than like the Mission and and like and this is after the Jazz It basically said no, like timing's not right for us, we're not doing it and and so I had to burn the bridge on the other opportunity even though I thought it might be one of the only ones there. and then six months later I get a call going. Hey, you still interested, right? and it's like is this real now? Now back to your question of like stepping into the opportunity.

First of all, I care about it deeply I care about the community in a way that, um, there's probably days where it would be nice not having all that institutional knowledge in the 30 years of growing up because there's things there's things that I wouldn't see that that require a lot more work. Um, and maybe I'm overcompensating for given the history. um I see some other individuals where whether it's a private Equity or group or not, they're not as emotional about it. I'm emotional like I want to win I want I I know it's like to be a fan I see you on Twitter like you get you get like it's my biggest.

it's my biggest laugh I have with myself when Jet fans are going to yell at me and I'm gonna be like shut your mouth I'm a bigger fan than you I'm gonna bring up like weird like I'm gonna bring up weird six round picks from small schools that were punters and be like I feel like my fights with fans are gonna be like hey, who was number 69 from Cincinnati offensive lineman from you know in the 90s yo? you don't know Jason Fabini then shut the up Yeah Adrian Dantley Was here the other night and I was like dude I had a post I was like geeking out I had a poster review on my wall as a kid the palace Guard from the saw Palace and everyone's like what Brian why are you and I was like whoa, this is incredible right? So I think I think I understand that um, but also like we want to win and that makes winning that much sweeter man. And so I think I think there's something special I think the growth of Utah I think coming in from that angle like with our Tech movement that we've created Tech in a lot of States has been theoretical. Um, we've experienced uh, a Silicon Valley Tech boom here in Utah which is fundamentally changed our stuff and a lot of people don't know it. You know when I analyze it from afar the mountains? A lot of people don't know it because Salt Lake or Utah has done incredibly well in the B2B space on Tech And so I think it's a hair under the radar for the masses listening right now because it's not consumer as much.

Of course, there's been some great consumer. but to your point, I'll let you rattle it off like you and many of your contemporaries that you grew up with in the last 20 years, 25 years you established this incredible execution. A lot of it happened in B2B which is a why it's a hair under the radar. You agree with that.

Yeah yeah, I mean we have. We have a lot of consumer companies but look look in in actually very few places outside of Silicon Valley have mastered major B to C you know you look at Facebook you look at Google I mean Amazon's a little different. Um, but you know we're not watching Nashville or Austin really pop out and create B2c requires um, a lot of funding. a lot of um, creativity, um and timing.

Um, you know when success breeds success. So entrepreneurs grow up watching what they see around them and we've We've put on a clinic when it comes to B2B software, enterprise software and in Infrastructure software. and uh, if if I look around um, that being said, I mean Ancestry.com's two doors down from me, you know Vivint where it was Smart home and all of that I mean we had three billion dollar companies within a thousand yards in. Provo Utah where Qualtrics started which is which is insane I mean that was that was a big a big moment.

But if you look at what's happened because of the tech growth and you know Adobe buying omniture and Adobe moving here, um we've we're we're We're number one for the the least unemployment, right? Uh, upward Mobility is number one. Um, fastest growing States You know seven out of the the last 10 years and you look at compounding growth and what that does. it means that we're the youngest state right now, right? which you love like you love youth I was a kid that had way too much responsibility at such a young age. in In was was able to kind of grow into that and I think that's what makes Utah special.

Especially right now is um, we've got a lot of Youth doing big things and they have permission. Take me behind the curtain. You've been putting a ton of energy for this. All-Star Weekend You've owned the Jazz for how long? Ray Uh, two years in Sportsland When the All-Star game comes to your town, That's a big deal, right? It's a showcase.

You get to host the other owners. There's a lot going on there, right? Uh, you know, back to Youth and innovating. And back to the way I started this. How big are the stakes In your mind that this is a home run right? Because I've seen you really like put a lot of energy to this Is this back to you.

Loved the All-Star Game and you taught 30 years ago and it was this fun thing and jam set and and you just are doing it because you're that kind of human and it's just kind of fun. Or back for the all the entrepreneurs here who by the way maybe hosting a conference at their or might be even hosting a big meeting at their office in a 40 office infrastructure. Like what's hosting the party like what does it mean? Is this kind of like you know, just behind the curtain? like why is this important? Like what are you thinking about? why are you going so gun hoe? So it is a showcase. You get to do it once every 30 years right? and so I think you give you back up to that premise.

It's like we get one chance at this. um, coming out of the pandemic. this is probably the full first full sin to All-Star game that both the League's going behind and everything else and that's been very apparent with what's going on. It's really this is the League's event.

It is the league show. Yeah, Salt Lake is bigger than just what the league is doing and so that's what we're trying to do. and I'm going to get a little crazy here. but just to show you, because you talk about events, that's what we've done at Qualtrics for 20 years.

I mean we hold we host our big X4 Summit You've got your G your your G friends like you're doing all that like or g-con like you're doing all of that like you know what? Like no worries, but but you know what? You actually just gave me a good idea I might Rebrand V friends at the G friends I'm gonna give that some thought but keep going but it hey it works man. but but like if you look at my wall right here like we've got like shower boards I love it. we went and bought it Like Home Depot because this is what we did at Qualtrics. Yeah and then if you look at it I'll just show you I love it but you've got like Wednesday Friday and we've got every hour of everything's going on and then Saturday and then Sunday and we're saying all right, if you're coming through and we look at the entire experience okay why what do we have right here going on what other parties are going on right? We want people to look at their their basically their dance card that night and say hey, like like we're activating things and so then how does that manifest well in talking to Trav in the what what he's doing and we're like hey, let's bring Cactus Jack in and we we need you to do something here here or here He's like can we do this and that and or when we're sitting together we're saying hey let's let's let's do a Q A or let's do a talk at this time and then we're just feeling that out to say hey The overall experiences is is completely curated and then we're asking ourselves what could go wrong just like you would there like what could go wrong well there's not enough Ubers well there's not enough Ubers for event like this in any city right? So we're working with our mayor and our our governor and taking our natural Transportation that's always going and augmenting it with you know 18 buses that are now doing uh every 15 minute Loop in the five hotels in the arena and so this is all just part of asking this and we're never going to get it all right and everything's great till you put the people until you put the people in it uh is is snow is is snow in play could we get like a could we get like 23 inches because mother nature mother Nate you know there's a great Russian saying which is man makes plan and God laughs Mother Nature has plans sometimes it it is very very real and we've been getting dumped on here.

In in nothing is more enjoyable than watching Sundance Film Festival come into town and then it just dumps and and like no one's prep for that. everyone's all dressed up nice, they got all their outfits on and the next thing you know it's just pounding like two feet. Um that's all in the cards but like can I I want to ask you something before I Want to get ask you something before we get out of here. Talk to me about being a fan of players of your favorite team.

Then you're the owner and you've got to make Personnel decisions. So not only were you a fan, but I know you well enough to know that you walked in there day one and you're looking to build relationships. you know Quail tricks was So based on experience we just got to see operational experience literally in real time here and yet I Also think you're one of your greatest skills is Human Experience I Think you give a about that. it matters, you understand that is the macro that to me is the ultimate experience and so here you are.

You walk in a year a year earlier you're going to these games and you're a super fan of the guys and team. Now you're the owner now. you become friends with them in the first month or two. I Can't imagine like you were kidding me.

Candy Store you're dapping, You're doing dinners, this is like you're pinching yourself and then it gets even crazier because you bring in one of the best Executives in sports history. and Danny Ainge who happens to also be a Utah Legend I Can't imagine what's going through your mind on that. And then you guys are sitting down and actually having conversations about people like Rudy and Donovan and like making big boy decisions. How tough was that to translate from fan to friend to now you have to detach from both feelings.

Be in a conference room and and like, make decisions that are in the best interest of the franchise. It's Brutal Man like. I Think that uh, like I mean tomorrow's the trade deadline and here we are like it's it's super. It's super difficult.

Uh, because you care deeply about people I'm a people person, life's about people and um I I think you've got to take a step back and say hey, like we're all in the NBA And the good news is, there's a lot of people who want to be in Utah and they want to stay in Utah and um. and and that being said, like you, you've also were trying to build a championship and and you you're gonna have to make tough decisions. but I Also think that that's business like you have to be able to manage polar opposite emotions. like you've got to be able to grow and also make money and be profitable.

You've got to be able to, um, care so deeply about people and in Tech and then have them walk out the door for their next gig. We talk about that all the time. Gary Like like you're you're You're training so many of these CMOS that are now going to go out and lead the world And then you finally get someone that you're jiving with and it's like hey, someone calls up and says here's the top position that is managing emotions and so I think this goes very similarly and I think your Effectiveness as a leader or an entrepreneur a business person is a spouse. A relationship is how you can manage these polar opposite things.

and and Danny Danny is incredible. He's one of one. And what I love about Danny is he basically does not lie. It's huge.

It's so it's so funny. You said that you were I apologize for interrupting. yeah, it's so weird. You said that literally as you were talking.

I've been going through a pretty solid transformation of being more candorous. you know I'd like to think because I'm a human I'm protecting my own feelings that it wasn't about lying, it was about skirting. At worst, it was about passive aggressiveness. But like I hated conflict and I literally it was funny as you were talking.

I can't believe you just said that about Danny because that's what. That's the only thing that will work in player relationships. I was literally dreaming of me having a quarterback, me deciding you know, talking to him and being like you're my guy we're gonna go down burning together and then like nine months later. it's just clear to me as the owner of like this kid is not that guy and then like trading him on the day before draft day for a third round pick and that kid being like you Gary Right versus me saying look I just need to be upfront with you.

you're my guy for life. but if the data on the field shows something that makes my intuition change on it or what your activities are off the field I'll I'll tell you that things are changing, that's a very different framework and so to your point, Danny's ability to not lie is like respected by other GMS respected by agents but most of all respected by players and I think it really matters. Yeah, he told me he's told me that from the beginning. Right when he came in he said I've been in the league 46 years I've been a GM I've been a president and now I'm the CEO I've never asked for a job once it's all been handed to me I know how I wanted to be treated as a player Red Arbuck sat me down and said hey, I've got to trade you where do you want to go and I appreciated that I got traded three times.

he's like I had five kids like it was hard but like it's part of the game at the end of the day I get paid millions of dollars to play in the NBA and that's like such a bad thing and that's and that's hard for right? That's hard for dynamic people loving people like you and me. I know you well enough now knowing to walk into that like it's just like you know when I when I walked into your office the other day similar to what happens here just like it's fam you're like that kid was a freshman at BYU when he like it was an intern like I get it? it's like exactly how I say it and honestly it is a vulnerability. you know I mean like my it's my Natural Instincts if I buy the Jazz when you did to tell Rudy and Donovan like you're gonna be here forever I'm gonna retire your number. We're gonna win two times.

like it's just it's the hype, it's the excitement and you mean it at the time. During my first week because it was a shortened coveted season I I hadn't even closed on the team but we had signed the deal and the Millers said hey basically like okay your first two assignments there you go you got to go re-sign Don and Rudy like right off like I mean I was like one day into it and those like I was like okay here we go and then like there's an organization and everything and those were not I mean and then looking back if I would have been like hey two years later this is where we would be I would have said you're crazy but um like it's it's just part of the journey and it's part of leadership and you want to be around people that are going to push you the easy thing to do was was was probably just to let things go the same way and hope for a different outcome but for whatever reason we had to look ahead and say hey this probably isn't in the cards and like I'll give you a great example like you know I think there was a lot of narrative out there that hey we weren't going to make any moves till after all star because we had two All-Stars that would be in Utah and we make a big move this summer. even with the fact that it was like not in the cards that we'd have in All-Star we get Lowry marketing and he unanimously becomes an All-Star and it's just a great story of like how like change sometimes um can can be scary and get in the way especially in a public environment but at the same time like you need to band together with the team you've got for that moment. and and these are all chapters and you need to look at every chapter and say hey that was one hell of a chapter and you know that's my pitch for everyone in Utah like this should be the happiest time that that you've had in the NBA and I think that you know if I look at our players right now um I think if you went one by one with who's here they're gonna say hey I've never been this happy you know to that point to make this relevant for every individual person.

Change is scary but often can be good. My big thing to most people I talk to all the DMs I get from the kids and the parents and just the way I Live my life is if you are struggling right now if it doesn't feel good and when I say struggling I mean inconvenience sometimes even right. Like you know. I Think people think that you have to be like burning to the ground right? and they're like they don't even realize they're just genuinely unhappy day to day.

I mean do you wake up on Monday morning and are you in a this is awesome, Like this is good, like solid, not like it's okay or like I can deal with it or I have to like whether it's a relationship or a professional thing or like living by what your parents want or what Society wants. you know I think it was really powerful what you just said change. A lot of times people think you have to hit rock bottom. That always happens.

People will change when they hit quote unquote Rock Bottom I Think people have to change when it's kind of not good or consistently not good or like below decent or like a pain in the ass. And my point to them always is, well you know it's not working right now. so this kind like this concept of deciding well it could be worse. You know is a little bit tricky when you're already not in a great spot if you're and back.

so like you were talking in sports terms of like do we feel like we have the makeup to win an NBA championship which is the goal of the thing that we do here. For me that translates, it's a good way to sum this all up for Value to every person regardless of their interest in sports or the All-Star Game in Utah by the way, one more time while I'm on this rant I'm coming to Utah if you're in the general area I'm about to put out a lot of content a blog post with the details of my thing Ryan and the NBA have been so gracious and even gave a discount code to the jam thing that I'm gonna put in my podcast so please come see me in Utah I'm going to be around quite a bit and I have a couple official things. one my one-on-one chat with Ryan we're gonna be talking q A in business and then my own little Q a booth and then I'll just be out and about on. Town What I love about the downtown is it's you know you can find me at some level um but yeah I mean I think you have to change if you're not happy and that comes in fancy amazing situations like you running a team trying to win an NBA championship.

But it also means something for Carl who's driving to work right now listening to this podcast and just hates his job. and it's kind of like you know you hate your job. so why not make a change and try something else? If that second thing is worse, then do it again and just get out of that. Rhythm To your point, Yeah there's ruts that you fall in and anything and they're just they're just ruts.

Um, it in. Tech I Think is public companies. Everyone's watching. A lot of activists come in and activists will come into the company and everyone's afraid because they're going to make the changes and and it's almost like we all need to be the activists of our own lives right? Like what would an activist do in your life? Someone came in like what would they change? Okay, now you go do that.

I always hear this story once. that and I don't know how true it is, but it was that you know. Coca-Cola Got into a meeting, had all the executives put their phone in a basket and said hey, we're about ready to lose the McDonald's contract and it's going to Pepsi and we have to pitch in 12 hours what are we going to do and everyone in the room came up with all these things that they were going to do to change the relationship and better of it. and then the executive said actually we're not going to lose it but go do all that stuff anyways I Love that.

All right what would an active is or what would you do if you were to do this we would all get up and actually we're in a comfortably resilient. we just showed it through covet how resilient we are 100 brother I Love you can't wait to see you everybody get your ass to Utah Thanks Ryan All right we'll see you bro.