
Gary Vaynerchuk Bet Right On Facebook, Wrong on BlackJet - jkuria
https://www.wsj.com/articles/entrepreneur-gary-vaynerchuk-bet-right-on-facebook-wrong-on-blackjet-1523239560
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throwaway84742
I keep hearing the name but as far as I can tell his only claim to fame is
that he’s an “internet personality”. What did he build, and why should anyone
care about what he has to say?

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patio11
Since I would have sympathized with this viewpoint earlier in life, I’ll give
you the just-the-facts version:

He took an offline business in a regulated industry (wine) which he inherited
and ~20Xed it online, got Internet famous, built one of those social media
marketing companies which has fairly little lasting impact but (like Madison
Avenue) has a metric truckload of money run through it, got deal flow,
invested, etc.

At least one thing he's done is worth watching for many HNers: someone said
"It's easy to make money when you have connections but I don't have
connections so boo hoo" and he said "Watch me. Suppose for the sake of
argument that I own a beer blog, instead of the blog I actually own. My new
name is Steve. I Google beer accessories and see this company is advertising
on AdWords, so I know they have an advertising budget. I will now cold call
them live, as Steve who runs a blog no one has heard of which doesn't exist,
and sell them ads on my beer blog."

He then does.

Edit: Found the video. In the intervening years I had misremembered some of
the details. Very little of what I watched in 2008 I still quote in 2018; I
think I will probably be able to quote this video with that level of detail in
20X8, too.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG7WFxT1ySY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG7WFxT1ySY)

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cko
Just a nitpick about the wine business - he claimed to have taken over the
operations for some time and then stepped away (not inherited.)

He does give some practical advice for young people, like be willing to
sacrifice your 20s. Besides that I’m not sure how helpful the rest of his
stuff is. He believes FB and IG ads are currently underpriced. I think he
makes predictions based on observing what people are putting their moment to
moment attentions on, calling it “day-trading” attention.

Honestly I’m wary of charismatic / hype / inspirational speakers / performance
coaches as much of HN likely is. But I think he’s not bad for the younger
generation, and at least he has some entrepreneurial experience, if that means
anything.

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deyan
I’ve always thought highly of Gary because he seems like a smart hustler. Then
I read this:

 _”Anytime a company goes out of business, it’s because the founder and CEO
was not good enough,” Mr. Vaynerchuk says._

Which is so obviously wrong it makes me rethink my opinion.

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tomhoward
Gary V unashamedly uses hyperbole to deliver his message with simplicity and
impact.

I'm sure, in his inner thoughts, he would have a more nuanced position. Is
every business failure, 100% always 100% because the founder/CEO isn't good
enough? I'm sure he would agree that it isn't.

But it's true enough, often enough, that it's a solid rule of thumb to use for
investment decision-making.

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tomhoward
[http://archive.is/MME6l](http://archive.is/MME6l)

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deepakkarki
Use freewsj.com/<resource> instead of wsj.com/<resource>

For those wanting to bypass the paywall.

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Hydraulix989
Didn't seem to work here.

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developuh
Paywall :(

Any way to read this without having to subscribe or register ?

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AJRF
Put outline.com in front of the URL to bypass the paywall.

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AJRF
Why was this downvoted? It works!

