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Gary Vee: The AI Opportunity Is Real — You're Just Looking at It Wrong

📌 Build your own AI agent team and automate your daily ops with Accio Work — use my exclusive invite code SILVLG to skip the waitlist and get FREE access: https://www.accio.com/work?src=p_ytkol_SVG @Accio_official I spent 8 years waiting to have this conversation. Gary Vaynerchuk on whether this is actually our last chance to build wealth with AI, what he'd do if he woke up broke tomorrow, why the middle of the market is the most dangerous place to be right now, and the mindset that separates people who thrive from people who freeze. One of the most honest takes on AI, ambition, and identity I've heard. *Timestamps:* 00:00 Last chance to build wealth with AI? 01:25 Gary predicts what the next 5 years will look like 04:32 The middle class will be in trouble 05:53 Lost everything — his exact plan for what to do next 06:26 The brands still beating AI 08:12 Will platforms replace creators with AI clones? 11:34 Gary's social media strategy right now 13:03 Why every entrepreneur needs to understand pop culture 16:59 Is Gary cutting people at VaynerMedia? (YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS) 19:51 What actually impressed Gary about AI 22:19 Do we need to move faster right now? 23:40 Gary says hustle isn't for everyone — here's the logic 25:22 Why tying your worth to results is dangerous 27:02 What Gary tells kids growing up in the AI era 29:23 AI will split people into two types — which one are you? 33:55 Starting from zero today 37:36 The biggest opportunity most people are ignoring 40:26 Gary's top 3 AI tools and his favorite prompt 41:26 50% of people don't need a college degree in 2026 42:07 The industry you should not start a business in right now 42:42 The most misunderstood thing about AI *Links:* 📩 Follow my Newsletter: https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_content=gary-vee-interview 🔗 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ 📌 My Companies & Products: https://Marinamogilko.co 📹 Video brainstorming, research, and project planning - all in one place - https://partner.spotterstudio.com/ideas-with-marina 💻 Resources that helps my team and me grow the business: - Email & SMS Marketing Automation - https://your.omnisend.com/marina - AI app to work with docs and PDFs - https://www.chatpdf.com/?via=marina 📱Develop your YouTube with AI apps: - AI tool to edit videos in a minutes https://get.descript.com/fa2pjk0ylj0d - Boost your view and subscribers on YouTube - https://vidiq.com/marina - #1 AI video clipping tool - https://www.opus.pro/?via=7925d2 💰 Investment Apps: - Top credit cards for free flights, hotels, and cash-back - https://www.cardonomics.com/i/marina - Intuitive platform for stocks, options, and ETFs - https://a.webull.com/Tfjov8wp37ijU849f8 ⭐ Download my English language workbook - https://bit.ly/3hH7xFm I use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using my affiliate links, I will get a bonus). #Accio #AccioAgent #MyAccioWorks #AgenticBusiness #siliconvalleygirlpodcast

Gary VaynerchukguestMarina Mogilkohost
Mar 27, 202644mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 1:25

    Last chance to build wealth with AI?

    1. GV

      I need everybody to hear this. The middle class will be in trouble.

    2. MM

      Do you think it's our last chance to build wealth?

    3. GV

      It has the chance to create hyper micro-wealth, but I think a lot of people are gonna check out of this era.

    4. MM

      This is Gary Vaynerchuk, serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, and early investor in Facebook, Twitter, and Uber. He predicted TikTok, talking to computers, and the creator economy before anyone saw it coming. And in our lifetime most unpredictable moment, I went straight to him for answers. What would you do if you have a laptop and AI?

    5. GV

      I would build an app that's 5 to $50 a month, make unlimited organic content, and try to [beep] .

    6. MM

      For me, as a person in Silicon Valley, I can totally see how Anthropic releases new lines of codes tomorrow and this business is done. Why would I start if it's already being automated?

    7. GV

      Because everything you learn along the way will set up your next thing. What are you gonna do, lay down and cry? I'm asking you.

    8. MM

      [laughs]

    9. GV

      [laughs]

    10. MM

      [laughs]

    11. GV

      Yes. Uh,

    12. MM

      In Chicago, I was like ho- I da- I showed up. [laughs]

    13. GV

      I didn't know.

    14. MM

      [gasps]

    15. GV

      And they went, and I just battled and got through it. It was pretty cool.

    16. MM

      Well, you do speak Russian, which is amazing.

    17. GV

      Yeah. Yeah, I can speak Russian.

    18. MM

      I'm glad you... Yeah.

    19. GV

      Russian, huh? Crazy. So- no,

    20. MM

      I

  2. 1:25 – 4:32

    Gary predicts what the next 5 years will look like

    1. MM

      actually wanna talk about AI and what's happening. And, um, you know, I've been watching you for eight years now, so I've been preparing for this interview for eight years, and what I noticed about you is that you're right at so many things. I remember you predicted TikTok, and you're the reason I started TikTok. I have 3 million followers there 'cause you were like, "You need to start a TikTok."

    2. GV

      Yes.

    3. MM

      When you're looking at this AI era, do you think it's our last chance to build wealth right now?

    4. GV

      That's a great question. You know, one of the things I try to do is when I talk about things publicly, I've spent a lot of time thinking it through, and I've seen indicators of actual human action that shows me an insight to the earliest of preview of something I think will be at scale. So that's why a lot of my predictions have worked out. It's a... Like, when I talk about our grandkids marrying AI robots, well, it's already happening in Japan.

    5. MM

      It is.

    6. GV

      And so, like, to me, that's not a long putt. That's just something that's happening in a part of the world that clearly, to me, is a human psychology, and so it's gonna work. Your question's interesting because my intuition is it has the chance to create hyper micro-wealth, the fragmentation of, you know, vibe coding and all this stuff, and the stuff we're already seeing, right? Kids building out products very quickly and having success. On the flip side, you're also alluding to clearly the super scalers, right? When you look at what Meta and Microsoft and Google and App- like, the biggest... and companies in China, like, you could see a winner-takes-all scenario where 12 or 13 companies. My gut is that the economy and the consumer behavior is so large that, yes, there'll be 25 companies that take so much, right? You look at, you know, Adobe and Salesforce and ServiceNow, SaaS companies.

    7. MM

      Yeah.

    8. GV

      I mean, SaaS companies are clearly coming out of an incredible 30-year run and now walking into a potential buzzsaw. You know, I saw a headline yesterday. I don't know if it's true, I mean, it just... You know, I was busy yesterday. But X- or maybe it was Claude. Claude just made- gave everybody a Bloomberg terminal for free. You know, like-

    9. MM

      Yeah

    10. GV

      ... those kinda headlines seem very real to me. They seem really natural. But it's almost like Meta or Anthropic or, or someone else is gonna eat up more Bloomberg and ServiceNow and Salesforce. Like, th- it's like the battle of the titans.

    11. MM

      Yeah.

    12. GV

      And then over here on the scraps, well, the scraps actually might be quite big, and it might be a social media-like era where all of us become, literally all of us, become vibe coders. Like, just like I thought... One of my great predictions in 2008 was everybody would have a social media account when it did not seem like that.

    13. MM

      Yeah.

    14. GV

      Is everyone going to have a mini app that is monetizable 'cause they themselves were able to build it, not need a developer for 500,000? I don't know.

  3. 4:32 – 5:53

    The middle class will be in trouble

    1. GV

      I think, I... So I, I, I believe that the middle will be in trouble, and the middle might be a VaynerMedia, you know. Um, but I have a feeling the h- the, the separation of the middle class of entrepreneurship and could be real. The difference is the long tail could be quite at scale, maybe even then creating this middle, you know, this middle class. I don't know. If you put a gun to my head, I would say no, it's not our last chance.

    2. MM

      Okay, so we have a few years, [laughs] right?

    3. GV

      I think so. And a- again, let me take another counter just to build on this, the conversation. If it is our last chance and 79 companies make all the money, governments will get massively involved.

    4. MM

      Yeah.

    5. GV

      And, like, it may lead to a nirvana. Like, you know, back to where we come from and where we're sitting, could extreme capitalism mean a different version of socialism, right?

    6. MM

      Coming back to the roots. [laughs]

    7. GV

      You know what I mean?

    8. MM

      Yeah. Yeah.

    9. GV

      Could a world where there's only 100 companies that make 80% of the monies, would they then be forced to subsidize all the depl- displaced workers? Do we live in a three-day work week environment with the other four days subsidized from the companies that we work from? Do we have more leisure? Do we get more into the arts and family? And do we have side projects that make these micro pennies? I don't know.

  4. 5:53 – 6:26

    Lost everything — his exact plan for what to do next

    1. MM

      So what if tomorrow everything crashes for you, like VaynerMedia-

    2. GV

      [laughs]

    3. MM

      ... you lose your followers. What would you do if you have a laptop and AI?

    4. GV

      If I d- lost my reputation and my personal brand, but I kept my knowledge of how to make content on socialI would build an app that's five to $50 a month, and I would make unlimited organic content on LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, and try to get customers.

    5. MM

      If you want to stay ahead in the AI era, I bring you the people who see what's coming next every week.

  5. 6:26 – 8:12

    The brands still beating AI

    1. MM

      Subscribe to this channel so you don't miss it. That's very interesting approach. I just talked to Bill Gurley, who's like a legendary investor.

    2. GV

      Of course.

    3. MM

      And he told me, "You can't even imagine how many websites are there that are just like passport photos that charge you $6." And yes, AI can do that, but because we're still so used to going to a website and paying, and they're making tens of thousands of dollars a month, and we just don't realize it. 'Cause for me as a person in Silicon Valley, right, I'm looking at all the businesses and I'm like, "Okay, I can totally see how Anthropic releases new lines of codes tomorrow, and this business is done." And that's-

    4. GV

      It's not how consumers work. He's right.

    5. MM

      Exactly.

    6. GV

      It's not how it works.

    7. MM

      Yeah.

    8. GV

      And in fact, I would argue what I do for a living and what I'm obsessed with actually explodes in this next era. It's all gonna be about brand because you have to discover it. Y- there w- in 30 years by default, somebody will be like, "Oh, let me go to the main AI thing, and I don't need to..." But there is going to be a long period of time here.

    9. MM

      Yeah, so there is this long tail we still need to adjust. We're... As humans, we take some time to adjust to new reality, so.

    10. GV

      When you're a Silicon Valley Girl and you even know who Bill Gurley is, you live in a different world than the 99.9% of people on Earth who've never heard of Bill.

    11. MM

      And that's opportunity for everyone who's listening-

    12. GV

      Correct

    13. MM

      ... because transitioning to that era together with small companies, small businesses, other people, educating them, I feel like there is a lot of potential there.

    14. GV

      When you layer what I've been obsessed with about the last 20 years, which is there is a advertising and brand-building ecosystem called social media that does not cost you money, and that's the point about AI apps. It really doesn't cost you money anymore to build something in the way that I grew up. Um, but the fact that you can actually get awareness, that you're one TikTok away from having people know who you are and building a platform, that's, that's intoxicating.

  6. 8:12 – 11:34

    Will platforms replace creators with AI clones?

    1. MM

      But do you have another worry? Talking about social media, right, I see a lot of AI content, and, uh, we're getting flooded with so much content, so we're competing more. But also, another thing that I'm always thinking about, what if the social media platform... Like, why would they pay human creators? Why would they not just, you know, generate AI creators? This is much more personalized content. It's free, and they don't have to pay anyone.

    2. GV

      Well, platforms don't pay people.

    3. MM

      Well, some of them do.

    4. GV

      No, they really don't. Like, f- Meta doesn't pay people. TikTok doesn't pay people. Like, they don't pay people. They, they are an open vessel that people go on and create for, and then businesses come and sit in between people that make content and people that consume content, and then the businesses advertise on there or go to a creator and do a brand deal. Now, if you're saying, why would L'Oréal go to you, like they might today, versus someone that looks kind of like you that they could even own, like a Mickey Mouse, 'cause-

    5. MM

      Exactly, and make 100 videos versus one.

    6. GV

      They're, they're going to do that. That is very-

    7. MM

      So how-

    8. GV

      Now, right now there's stigma around that, and big companies are scared to go too deep into AI 'cause there's pushback. But over the next five to 10 years-

    9. MM

      Yeah

    10. GV

      ... they will. Now, what they might use you for, though, is you might be one of the hundred faces they use, 99 of which they own the IP, but you're gonna be able to do this. I think the rise of analog value is gonna be extraordinary. So we're sitting in this world right now where people... a lot of people behind the scenes doing stuff. I think, you know, for me, and I think you know this about me, I'm, I'm comfortable and good in both environments, both behi- in- with my thumbs and right here. That person's gonna do incredibly well. The person that's very comfortable with analog, hosting a conference, having 25 people in this room right now while we do this, right? Brands are gonna find incredible value in the analog world, real life. Restaurants, real life studio podcasts. Like, real life is gonna explode. We're gonna live in this barbell world, extreme technology, but extremely scaled. What we take for vantage, us four, is like, that's normal. Like being outside, like a pop-up shop, you know, going to a sporting event. They're gonna continue to increase in value. And so yeah, you're gonna be... Like, the game's gonna change. But I remind influencers... Influencers are crying to me quite a bit right now, like, "Gary, AI did a..." I'm like, "You took money from real celebrities." 20 years ago, none of us existed, and all of that money went to Jennifer Aniston. If you were on Shark Tank, you were the only business people. I, I, Gary Vee, do not have a television show. I get comped for speaking fees and appearance fees greater than most of the Sharks, right? That would've never been possible. So the world turns.

    11. MM

      Yeah.

    12. GV

      Shit changes.

    13. MM

      We just get too comfortable in our space and-

    14. GV

      Well, what's funny is when we're young and we're disrupting something, we like it. But when we're the one that gets-

    15. MM

      [laughs] Yeah

    16. GV

      ... disrupted, we don't like it.

    17. MM

      Yeah.

    18. GV

      Right?

    19. MM

      How are you adjusting your social media strategy?

    20. GV

      Nothing because of what we just talked about. To me, I stay in... My last book I wrote was called Day Trading Attention. I live in that environment. So if AI wasn't even happening right now, I'd still be focused on what I'm focused on, long form written content, so much more Substack, beehiiv, LinkedIn, X, longer form content.

  7. 11:34 – 13:03

    Gary's social media strategy right now

    1. GV

      So I hired two full-time writers on my staff, journalists, who basically will l- listen to this entire interview, and he's gonna come up with 15 to 20 follow-up questions, which is why I needed someone who had a journalistic background. 'Cause if it was just transcribing, I can AI that.

    2. MM

      Yeah.

    3. GV

      And then we will create a first-person article about the barbell theory, why analog is on the rise, right? So a lot more written content.

    4. MM

      Interesting. And I feel like it's becoming so much easier, 'cause I remember a couple years ago, I met... uh, four years ago, I met someone from LinkedIn. They were like, "You should be on LinkedIn." I'm like, "I can't write."

    5. GV

      Yeah.

    6. MM

      "So- I'm so bad at that." And then ChatGPT came around, and my LinkedIn's growing like crazy.

    7. GV

      Yeah, and I've always had ghostwriting infrastructure for my books 'cause I've never been able to write, and... but I've always wanted it. You know, it's funny, every book I've writtenEveryone, with my written content, people come up to me, they're like, "Man, it sounds so much like you." I'm like, "It is fully me."

    8. MM

      [laughs]

    9. GV

      'Cause it is truly s- transcribed from my words. I don't write differently than I talk because it's just the transcription. But so writing content, um, I'm incredibly focused on being, and this, I'm pushing my team right now on this, on just being remarkable on every platform. Like, obsession to how to win Snapchat Spotlight, obsession to understand how to be great at YouTube Shorts to make sure I'm feeding the LLMs of Gemini with my content.

    10. MM

      Why Shorts, not long-form?

    11. GV

      Both.

    12. MM

      Both.

    13. GV

      But I think, but Shorts allows me to pump out a lot of how to, why.

    14. MM

      Yeah.

    15. GV

      Right? There's a little bit of a different thing there. Um, so just,

  8. 13:03 – 16:59

    Why every entrepreneur needs to understand pop culture

    1. GV

      just hyperfixation on the craft of the written word, the images, um, testing new formats. W- I ca- I call it PAC, platforms, so I need to know everything that's happening on Substack, X, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, Shorts, all that. That's algorithms. Within those, what kind of content, what format, what kind of p- is it a reel? Is it a full... Like, w- with, uh, on LinkedIn, is it wr- right now, imagery is doing incredibly well. Video crushed last year. It's declining a little bit this month. Like, just so what's the algorithm within the platforms doing? And then C, culture. Like, what is happening in popular culture across everything? Like, the, you know, America's long and popular culture fed from Black culture. Now we're seeing Hispanic culture, we're seeing Korean culture impact so much of US pop culture. Slang terms, quarter zip, uh, Labubus in then out, uh, the Starbucks bear tumbler for three weeks, then not, Stanley Cups, then not.

    2. MM

      I love your passion-

    3. GV

      Y-

    4. MM

      ... when you're talking about this. Like, I see [laughs]

    5. GV

      Well, 'cause pop col-

    6. MM

      Yeah

    7. GV

      ... you know, bag- baggy pants for guy-

    8. MM

      Mm

    9. GV

      ... like, pop culture is relevance, right? I can make one reference in here of something that's happening in popular culture, and then for somebody who's listening, if they're also into the same thing I'm into, immediately we are connected.

    10. MM

      Connected.

    11. GV

      Right? We are connected by being born in the same pla- like, people look for... We're tribal. We love sports. Religion is because the way it is. Cultures, we have i- you and I met immediate- we, we're just from the same place. It is what it is. But by the way, when I walk outside right now, if somebody's wearing a Jets hat, they're immediately my brother.

    12. MM

      Yeah.

    13. GV

      So w- you know, I think pop culture, especially in B2B environments, is very misunderstood, but even B2C environments. The biggest consumer brands I work with in my day-to-day, I, I think they underestimate pop culture.

    14. MM

      Yeah, even creators. Like, I'm talking to so many big brands, and they're, they've never advertised with creators, and I'm just surprised. Let me pause here for a second, because what we've been talking about connects directly to something my team has been actively testing. Running a media company, the operational load never stops because you prep for podcast episodes, you have to push content to multiple platforms, and somewhere in between, a million documents landing in your inbox waiting for your decision. That's our day-to-day, and a few weeks ago, my team started testing something that's been changing how we handle it. That's Accio Work. And what I appreciate most about it is that you can build a full secure agent team for your business, not just one AI. Each agent has its own identity, intelligence, tools, skills, and persona. You can create as many as you need, full custom, and they work in parallel with a pre-built library of connectors already set up. Gmail, Shopify, HubSpot, social platforms, nothing to configure. And here is what that actually looks like in practice. So for example, my team runs three agents, a strategist, a producer, a CPO. The CPO leads the agent team, keeping operations aligned and making sure nothing falls through the cracks. The producer works under the strategist. Content decisions are always backed by data before anything goes into production. Each agent has a defined role, a clear reporting line, and they coordinate directly with each other without me in the middle. You can also set up recurring scheduled tasks, things that run automatically every day without anyone touching them. Set a time, set a task, and it runs. For example, every morning at 10:00 AM, my CPO agent sends the whole team a briefing with the latest industry news. No one has to ask for it. It just lands in the chat. Accio Work is built by Alibaba, 26 years of B2B infrastructure behind it. That's what makes it different from a generic tool. Right now, there's a limited time offer, two weeks of unlimited access to top-tier models, including Claude Opus 4.6. The link is in the description.

  9. 16:59 – 19:51

    Is Gary cutting people at VaynerMedia? (YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS)

    1. MM

      So you, you're saying you're not running faster because of AI, you're just doing whatever you're doing.

    2. GV

      I'm saying that I don't have a different social media strategy right now because of AI, per se. If I wake up from a coma right now in seven years and everything's different, it will not take me long to get back on the bike and be successful, 'cause I'll just spend 100 days paying attention to, where is everyone paying attention to? Oh my God, AI changed everything. We're back to reading newspapers? Okay, I'm gonna make newspaper ads. Like, it's not complicated.

    3. MM

      Mm-hmm.

    4. GV

      The thesis is simple. Understanding in how to be good at the thesis is hard.

    5. MM

      Has your hiring changed because of AI? How many people do you have now?

    6. GV

      You know, it's funny you say that. We at Vay- You know, so I have many different companies, but the biggest one I run is VaynerX, VaynerMedia, and there, there's Chuck Media and the Tamara Group, three very large advertising agencies, all of which do something pretty similar. We're exploding, and I'm having this very, very challenging game. I mean, I was in Seattle yesterday, as you heard before we went on here. I met with the three biggest companies that are HQ'd there, all of which are like, "We wanna do more with you. We wanna do a lot with you." Two that are already working with us, a third that wants to jam with us. So the demand of customers is exploding. I still need an extraordinary amount of human beings, 'cause it's a human-based business. Yes, I understand that AI can do the job of a, uh, it is not lost on me that 100 people can now do the work of 400 people.I'm just worried about the output wars of the future. What if you're competing with somebody that has 400 and you have 400? You cut 200, and they still have 400. And in our world, you and I, we're like, "Ah, we're outflanking them. We're gonna be better. We're gonna make more EBITDA. We're gonna..." But what if they weaponize those 400 people with the same tools that we weaponize our 200 people?

    7. MM

      Yeah.

    8. GV

      In my world, advertising, if my 400 people now make 27,000 ads and your 200 people make 16,000 ads, for whatever human element is there, and I understand it doesn't work that way, but there, this concept of is AI a shield and a sword and a gun versus rocks in a war, right? You would think 200 will beat 400. But what if the 400 also have shields, sword? Like, and so there's something here that I haven't fully figured out. I'm definitely being cautious. We are definitely first and foremost attacking things that do not have value. For example, if you're a project manager at VaynerMedia, and your sole... 'Cause, you know, every project manager comes in different shapes and sizes, but if you're the kind of project manager who only takes notes, like, that is how you'd-

    9. MM

      Yeah

    10. GV

      ... well, that person has already been kind of smoked out and asked to do more.

    11. MM

      Was

  10. 19:51 – 22:19

    What actually impressed Gary about AI

    1. MM

      there something that you transformed with AI within your team that blew your mind? You're like, "Oh my God."

    2. GV

      I- my mind has not been blown since kind of the... You know, I had a lot of friends in, in Silicon Valley talking that machine learning was getting better and better, and I'm just like, maybe I'm impressed on how fast everything is happening, but I'm in a point where, like, f- yes.

    3. MM

      It's normal for you now.

    4. GV

      To me, basically, here's where my head's at. I'm gonna take my phone and be like, "Build this app. I want it to do this. Enter. Done." So if I'm already there, everything in between is just a step to that. That's where I think we're going.

    5. MM

      Anything you transformed in your process or you just started executing by yourself? I mean, like building apps.

    6. GV

      I- probably the biggest thing that happened to me is I am an anthropologist pop culture strategist, so g- having that level of thinking power with me that I used to rely on search and, like, just digging around the internet, that was profound.

    7. MM

      I feel, I feel the same. When I was flying here yesterday, I was, uh, playing with, uh, Claude Skills-

    8. GV

      Yes

    9. MM

      ... which is, like, a skill that you can build-

    10. GV

      Yes, of course

    11. MM

      ... that executes for you. So, like, it w- it was preparing me for this interview, and I was like, "This is fascinating." I feel like I'm a superhuman [laughs] with all these tools. 'Cause Perplexity computer every day sends me stocks to buy. Claude Skills does my research. It's just fascinating.

    12. GV

      Yeah, but I also think it's, it feels like a superhero today the same way I felt with the iPhone, that first year with the iPhone. So I bought the iPhone the day it came out. The... Especially in New York because of Wall Street and any big city, there was BlackBerry obsession, and I felt like a superhero that first year because I could go on the internet for real, not like the way the BlackBerry people could, and that gave me a hyper advantage. Like, I would go and do... At that point, I was already out a- about a little bit. I would go and do something, and I could look something up before I, like, went on stage or went into a meeting, and that was, like, powerful in a way that, you know, I didn't have to do with my laptop, even though that used to have that. It was just so fast. You feel like a superhero with Claude, Perplexity, GPT. Uh, Meta's infrastructure's starting to get very impressive. To remind everybody who's listening, your grandmother in the office did not have internet, did not have AI, did not have social media.

    13. MM

      Didn't have an office. [laughs]

    14. GV

      Didn't have an office, to your point. Did not have mobile computing. Did not have computer in office. Did not have internet. Like, yeah, I mean, this is just technology.

  11. 22:19 – 23:40

    Do we need to move faster right now?

    1. MM

      But do you feel that we're in this period of time, and we are, like, 1% at grasping technology? Do we need to run faster to make the most out of it? Or are you like-

    2. GV

      Well, it depends on the human ambition. I mean, I think a lot of people are gonna check out of this era. Let's talk about Silicon Valley. I have a lot of Silicon Valley friends who were psycho all in, going so hard during early Web 2.0, 2005, '6, '7, '8, blogging, podcasting, and then social, who made enough money and are in a different part of their life now-

    3. MM

      Yeah

    4. GV

      ... who have given a shit about AI and blockchain. Could care less.

    5. MM

      For somebody who wants to build wealth, this-

    6. GV

      Yeah

    7. MM

      ... I feel like this is just such an opportunity, and it's unique for the next 10 years. I feel like-

    8. GV

      Yes

    9. MM

      ... we have this year.

    10. GV

      Yes.

    11. MM

      And then it's basic for everyone.

    12. GV

      I don't think... I think that's makes sense that you think that, and I understand that. I think you and I will see each other in 10 years and be like, "Man, you were right." It just, the, i- as much as it looks like AI creates a winner-takes-all world, I have a funny feeling it's not going to.

    13. MM

      Okay.

    14. GV

      Because don't forget, there is the human... Like, there's, it's gonna take too much time. Like, you know what people don't do well? Hang with me for a second. Let's play this game.

    15. MM

      Mm-hmm.

    16. GV

      Let's, let's take that point. Let's say 10 companies want everything. Do you literally think that eight billion people are gonna be like, "Yeah, that's awesome"?

    17. MM

      No.

    18. GV

      Okay. That's-

    19. MM

      And governments won't-

    20. GV

      But-

    21. MM

      Yeah.

    22. GV

      So-

    23. MM

      Yeah

    24. GV

      ... that's, that's it.

  12. 23:40 – 25:22

    Gary says hustle isn't for everyone — here's the logic

    1. MM

      It's just funny to hear this from you 'cause you're the one like, "Hustle. Do this." Like-

    2. GV

      People don't like to take my sentence in its totality. Hustle, go hard if you complain and are a crybaby and you don't realize that accountability can help you. Hustle if you like it so much that you would do it if it was free. I would build businesses if it was free, meaning, like, it gave, made me n- like, it's my joy. I build companies the way people like to go golfing and cooking and watching movies. It's more fun to me. You know, it's so funny. We put on a pedestal someone who's a philosopher or, or a great reader, someone who reads books all day in their rooms, a real thinker, and writes. Oh, wow, so noble. That's what I do. I just do something with it-

    3. MM

      Yeah

    4. GV

      ... on the other side. [laughs] You know what I mean? So I think hustle, if it makes you happy, one could argue that the extreme opposite of hustle-... is what I also do. I mean, you- the more you know me, the more you would realize I'm incredibly detached from my career or my, or my public persona. I'll make it very blunt. I don't give a [beep] about Gary Vee or my Vayner empire. I do not think it makes me better than. Who cares if I'm good at business? Some people are good at skiing. Some people are good at singing. Some people are good at writ- Like, it just happens to be something I'm good at. I have my self-worth wrapped up into who I show up as as a human to people in my life, that I'm a nice guy, that when I l-

    5. MM

      Was that a switch ever in your life, or-

    6. GV

      Absolutely not.

    7. MM

      Mm.

    8. GV

      Never. It was ingrained in me by my mother and my circumstances and my DNA.

  13. 25:22 – 27:02

    Why tying your worth to results is dangerous

    1. MM

      What would you say to someone who thinks their worth is tied to their results, and that makes them very anxious in this era?

    2. GV

      Correct. Um, I would tell them that first of all it depends on what results, right? You know, if you're saying financial results-

    3. MM

      I don't know. I'm in Silicon Valley.

    4. GV

      Great

    5. MM

      Your company's valuation. [laughs]

    6. GV

      I would say I understand. It's a very common human trait. I would also say that almost everybody I know on Earth that is wrapped up in that metrics mindset has incredible anxiety, and anxiety sucks.

    7. MM

      How do you separate yourself from it? But I feel like it's easier to say for you, 'cause you have all the millions followers already and millions of dollars.

    8. GV

      You're saying that because you don't know me. If my friends that have known me my whole life will tell you that I have the millions of followers and dollars because I've always been this way.

    9. MM

      Mm.

    10. GV

      Even when I'm-

    11. MM

      That's the reason. It's not the-

    12. GV

      Right, my detachment, because I have an incredible relationship with losing.

    13. MM

      Mm.

    14. GV

      I like it.

    15. MM

      What do you tell yourself when you lose?

    16. GV

      That I sucked and that was funny and let's not try to do that again, and, like, what can we do d- Like, I love the chall- You know, I was the kid when I, when I was losing in sports or ping pong or pool, like, I loved playing again. I loved playing again. I loved playing again. I didn't think me losing in front of my sister or mom meant that I was lesser than. I played outside of this short-term validation framework, and I also was incredibly structured to not struggle with peer pressure. In high school and in college when so many of my contemporaries did everything for validation amongst their peers, I did not. And that was just tremendous parenting, luck of the draw with DNA, and the circumstances I grew up with.

    17. MM

      What,

  14. 27:02 – 29:23

    What Gary tells kids growing up in the AI era

    1. MM

      what are you telling your kids?

    2. GV

      Well, they're not me. I'm tell- I'm trying to leave deposits on that, but they're growing up in a very different environment. Now, luckily, my children share a lot of mine and my ex-wife's DNA and are also a little bit cocooned. Like, my 17-year-old daughter does not live her life for her friends' or boys' attention, so she's cooking with gas. My 13-year-old son also, he's ... I, I would have said three years ago, I'm like, "Mm, let's..." He's already starting to, like, really develop this. And so, you know, look, DNA is a real [beep] thing. And then when you have parents that are conscious and are pushing you on the right things, the only core thing they're for sure they have different is environment. I don't have this ideology for my children to be exactly like me or just like me or they need to be hungry like I was. I want them to be happy and lack anxiety like I was, and that comes into this, not anything else. This.

    3. MM

      Any tip how to teach that? I have a four-year-old and a six-year-old, and I feel like they really rely on what other kids think of them. What do you, what do you tell your kids?

    4. GV

      I pounded that narrative into my kid verbally. Like-

    5. MM

      You just tell them, like, you-

    6. GV

      I think it's cr- Like, as young as that, I would tell my children, like, "People making fun of you, people saying you're awesome means nothing. How do you feel? What do you like?"

    7. MM

      Yeah, and learning not to react to positive things and negative.

    8. GV

      The reason I can deal is I today have 95% validation, 5% skepticism and pushback. It's the, it's the goat emojis in my Instagram posts that I have to not pay attention to, not the, "You suck, Gary," or, "You got lucky," or y- y- you know, "You're a snake oil s-" Like, to me it's not hearing the accolades. I'm telling you that that's where the lack of anxiety comes from. I don't need to have a house or a plane or a third home or a Nobel Peace Prize or 40 million followers or an exit to impress Bill Gurley. I don't need that. It is not what my life is about. I like it, but I feel like I'm an athlete who wants to be great on the field, but off the field, that is not the man that I think I am.

  15. 29:23 – 33:55

    AI will split people into two types — which one are you?

    1. MM

      I feel like everybody should learn this type of mindset, especially now, 'cause also I have this question from my team-

    2. GV

      Please

    3. MM

      ... who read your, um, piece, AI Splits People into Architects and Masons.

    4. GV

      Yes.

    5. MM

      And half of my team thinks they're masons.

    6. GV

      But they have the ability to become an architect.

    7. MM

      So how do you deploy that mindset when you know you're losing right now-

    8. GV

      Yep

    9. MM

      ... 'cause AI is replacing you, but how do you go to the next step of your career utilizing this mindset, that I don't need external approval, and this mistake of failure is in me?

    10. GV

      How do you lose 25 pounds when you know you're not feeling great? I'm asking you.

    11. MM

      Well, it's either/or. You die sooner than if you don't. [laughs]

    12. GV

      Yeah, there's that outcome, but how do you do it? I'm not saying what the outcome is, and you're right about that.

    13. MM

      You can... Like, I don't know. I'm, I don't have this problem-

    14. GV

      Right

    15. MM

      ... so I can't relate. My husband has this problem.

    16. GV

      Okay.

    17. MM

      He loves sugar.

    18. GV

      Yeah, me too.

    19. MM

      So yeah, he just feels worse, and for, for him, it's s- it's stopping sugar completely.

    20. GV

      Yep.

    21. MM

      That what works.

    22. GV

      Yep.

    23. MM

      Like, completely.

    24. GV

      But, but it's hard.

    25. MM

      It is.

    26. GV

      Like, I go through patches where I also cut it out. I ... So I'm your husband. I have the same issue. Sugar is the real bane of my existence. To me, let me tell you how I stopped drinking soda for every beverage.13 years ago. I also- I hired a full-time person to l- literally 12 years ago. There would've been a man in here right now to make sure I didn't take a sip of-

    27. MM

      Really?

    28. GV

      For one year.

    29. MM

      [laughs]

    30. GV

      I took an extreme measure of babysitting to get me into the discipline. He suffocated me to then get into patterns to get into the discipline, and then it became my norm. If you are a mason and you wanna become an architect, you can cry about it. You can stop and start. We all stop and start in health, in wellness, in work, in d- but you need to, for it to become your actual pattern. It becomes your norm. To your point, sometimes it's cold, but it starts here first. Like, what I would... If I had that whole team right now, I'd be like, "Listen, you can do it. You have to believe that. If you don't, it's... What are we gonna do?" Like, it first starts mentally, and then it starts physically. Like, you need to start using these tools to help you think better, to put in the work. T- you need to start reading. You need to start doing this. You need to start hanging out with these people. Like, you need to start taking from your leisure-

  16. 33:55 – 37:36

    Starting from zero today

    1. MM

      who are watching who are immigrants-

    2. GV

      Yes

    3. MM

      ... because I have a lot of immigrants watching. You came to America at age three. I came when I was 25. For someone who arrives today, what is the first thing they should be doing?

    4. GV

      [sighs] I think it's a framework of... It's funny we used curiosity. I think it's a framework of self-awareness, humility, and curiosity. So self-awareness is if you come from Guatemala, Poland, you know, South Korea, and you're here in the US or you're... Or by the way, you're an American who's deciding, like, "Ah, I don't l-" you know, one, one of those people, which you're allowed, and you're moving to Sweden or you're going from India to England or England to Argentina. No matter what shift you're making, a, a lot of people listening here will move to other countries because of jobs. Their wife got a... Is... Their wife's the big executive. They're the entrepreneur, and she just got a big job, a- and now you're moving to Portugal. When you are new in an entirely new country, immigrant, I think there's three things to rely on. Number one is self-awareness. Who are you? Right? When I came over, you know, the... I was a kid, but the older generation, these people were engineers in the Soviet Union, and they were literally cleaning toilets.

    5. MM

      Yeah.

    6. GV

      That was the second part, humility. You know, humility is a superpower. You know, I'm aware that my humility does not show up on the internet 'cause that is not the way I communicate, but I will tell you that in my real life behind the scenes, it is one of the beacons of my success. I've never gotten away from the kid that immigrated. Like, with all the stuff on paper, I still don't think I'm better than. I don't think I am l- have earned the ability to not put in the work or to be gracious or to be kind or whatever it might be, so I would say self-awareness. Who are you? What are you good at? You have to then see if that's available to you in the country. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it's not. Nuclear engineers from the Soviet Empire literally had to clean, you know, toilets because America wasn't just giving them jobs, and then they had to build themselves up, and they owned a pharmacy later on. You know how-

    7. MM

      Yeah

    8. GV

      ... it all worked out, right?

    9. MM

      Yeah.

    10. GV

      Humility. I know that you were the big dog in India, but maybe here in Poland, that doesn't work, or you were amazing... You were a good creator in America, but now for some reason you live in Indonesia, and you don't have that many followers in Indonesia. Humility, right? And then back to curiosity. For me, I would just... If, again, face got ripped off like that John Travolta, uh, in, uh, John Travolta, Nicolas Cage movie, reputation lost, I find myself in Peru. This is where I'm going. Who am I? I have good people skills. I have h- I have work ethic. I know how to buy and sell. I know consumer behavior. Next, humility. I'll go work at a storeAs a cashier. If I have nothing, if I have nothing. And then curiosity. At night, after I get back from the, the store, what's going on here in Peru? Like, where's my angle? What can I do? What can I sell? So that is my advice, that emotional framework, and then you have to act on it. Ego is just pure insecurity.

    11. MM

      Yeah.

    12. GV

      Ego is just pure insecurity.

    13. MM

      Yeah.

    14. GV

      Posturing-

    15. MM

      Yeah

    16. GV

      ... trying to be the big dog. That just means you're [beep] scared. That means you're a [beep] . [laughs]

    17. MM

      And that places limits on what you're doing-

    18. GV

      Yeah

    19. MM

      ... 'cause you're trying to feed your ego versus build something.

    20. GV

      Yeah, you're just... You, you are not good internally, thus you must render your peacocking to trick everyone around you.

    21. MM

      Yeah.

    22. GV

      I... And by the way, I'm not mad at that. Do you know that I'm not mad at people that are like that? I'm sad about it.

    23. MM

      Yeah.

    24. GV

      I wish they could like themselves for all... I... Do you know how many shortcomings I have? Plenty. We all do.

    25. MM

      Yeah.

  17. 37:36 – 40:26

    The biggest opportunity most people are ignoring

    1. MM

      Okay, if someone's watching right now and they're like, "Okay, I'm gonna work on all of this, but I really wanna build in this AI era," what do you think is the biggest opportunity right now?

    2. GV

      It goes back to the last question. There's a million of them. I just don't know the person that's listening right now. For example, if you're overly charismatic, the biggest opportunity is to go live streaming on the internet and then drive all of that audience to an AI app that you built that's 10 bucks.

    3. MM

      Before it's automated by AI. 'Cause have you seen in China how they're doing this live-

    4. GV

      Of course

    5. MM

      ... they, they just basically-

    6. GV

      Yes

    7. MM

      ... put an item in front of the camera and it's automated, and there is this AI person already wearing it or showing it. It was crazy.

    8. GV

      That's right. Include- including the influencer is AI.

    9. MM

      Yeah.

    10. GV

      It's, it's me-

    11. MM

      Yeah, it's always

    12. GV

      ... and I put your face on me, and I'm-

    13. MM

      Yeah

    14. GV

      ... a woman selling makeup.

    15. MM

      Crazy.

    16. GV

      I mean-

    17. MM

      But c- like, when I think about this, like, why would I start if it's already being automated?

    18. GV

      Because everything you learn along the way will set up your next thing. What are you gonna do, lay down and cry?

    19. MM

      I don't know. Find something else. 'Cause I'm talking to a lot of entrepreneurs.

    20. GV

      Yeah.

    21. MM

      They're in this stage. They're like, "Oh, I really wanna do this," but then, yeah, it's just gonna be taken away by a big com- company in-

    22. GV

      You're too-

    23. MM

      ... a week

    24. GV

      ... you're too young for this, but in 2005, '6, '7, '8, '9 in Silicon Valley, the same thing was being said. Why would I start this?

    25. MM

      Mm.

    26. GV

      Google's gonna copy it.

    27. MM

      Mm. Yeah.

    28. GV

      You're just, you're just talking to fake entrepreneurs.

    29. MM

      Okay. [laughs]

    30. GV

      Real entrepreneurs are willing to lose. Real entrepreneurs know that the two years they work on something that clawed [beep] up was two years of them working on something that sets up their next thing. Real entrepreneurs don't know how to do anything else.

  18. 40:26 – 41:26

    Gary's top 3 AI tools and his favorite prompt

    1. MM

      a few questions that are fire speed.

    2. GV

      Rapid.

    3. MM

      What are your top three favorite AI tools that you use daily?

    4. GV

      GPT, Claude, and honestly, the Mangus is really in the la... like, like, is really ex-

    5. MM

      Meta's?

    6. GV

      Yeah, Meta's met- Like, I'm, I'm, like, just a couple weeks going in, but it's-

    7. MM

      Do you use it for your Instagram?

    8. GV

      Yeah.

    9. MM

      I feel like they have access to all the data, so-

    10. GV

      Correct

    11. MM

      ... they can, they can do better analytics than anyone.

    12. GV

      Correct.

    13. MM

      Okay. That's, that's a good one to work on. What's your favorite prompt?

    14. GV

      My favorite prompt is me intuitively feeling something that's happening in culture, right? Uh, I, I'll give you one right now. Does the baggy pants movement for men have another domino to fall? Like, I will l-

    15. MM

      That's a very advanced prompt. So you know exactly what's happening and you're trying to predict what's next.

    16. GV

      Correct. That is almo-

    17. MM

      Okay

    18. GV

      ... that-

    19. MM

      Mm-hmm

    20. GV

      ... almo- almost everything I'm doing is that, for me-

    21. MM

      Mm-hmm

    22. GV

      ... for what I like to do-

    23. MM

      Yeah

    24. GV

      ... professionally and personally.

    25. MM

      Okay.

  19. 41:26 – 42:07

    50% of people don't need a college degree in 2026

    1. MM

      College degrees in 2026, yes or no?

    2. GV

      For 50% of the people that are listening right now, yes, they need that degree to do the profession legally in medicine. For the most creative and entrepreneurial people, yes, if mommy and daddy paid for it, because 18 to 22 as a full-pledged vacation to hang out with other 18 to 22-year-olds is a lot of fun.

    3. MM

      It is.

    4. GV

      And you will work your whole life. No, for 18 to 22-year-olds that are taking on substantial debt, who are creative and entrepreneurial.

    5. MM

      Yeah, makes sense. One industry

  20. 42:07 – 42:42

    The industry you should not start a business in right now

    1. MM

      to stay away from.

    2. GV

      None. Everything's in pl- I mean, I'm t- I mean, look, betting your whole life to be an admin who doesn't think. An admin that's a mason, not an admin that's architect, bad. Admin that's architect, huge. I'm gonna hire people that have the power of 13 and, 13 admins for me, and she or he is gonna sit at the top of that, and I'm gonna pay that person a [beep] fortune to make my life effective.

    3. MM

      Yeah. And the last

  21. 42:42 – 44:40

    The most misunderstood thing about AI

    1. MM

      one. What's the most misunderstood thing about AI right now?

    2. GV

      The counter to whatever anybody's thinking. So for the people that are delusionally thinking this is the greatest thing ever, the counter of the negatives that are gonna happen. And for the people that think everyone's [beep] in China and Perplexity and Anthropic and America and Russia, there's gonna be nine countries and nine companies and everybody else is [beep] are out of their [beep] minds. The counter to the extremism of what people think.

    3. MM

      Thank you for your positivity and energy.

    4. GV

      You're welcome.

    5. MM

      It wa- it's really charging, right? What you're saying gives energy to create, versus like just lie down. [laughs]

    6. GV

      And I think, I think that sits... I, uh, thank you, and I wanna s- end with this. That, that doesn't sit in some blind optimism or, or even the great parenting that I was given. It sits in historics. It is historically true that we were scared of electricity and it wasn't. We were historically true to get off the farms. We did so much more. It's, humans are great. I know we're told that we're not. But 99.999% of us are either neutral or great. And if it, and if I am wrong, here's why I'm this way. And if I'm wrong, I promise you you're not gonna worry about your job. If I'm wrong, we're all dead anyway.

    7. MM

      [laughs]

    8. GV

      So either I'm right that you should choose practical optimism, and there's gonna be a million opportunities for you if you go insular and work on you.

    9. MM

      Yeah.

    10. GV

      Or if unfortunately I'm wrong-

    11. MM

      Then who cares? [laughs]

    12. GV

      ... I'll see you in [beep] heaven.

    13. MM

      [laughs]

    14. GV

      Like, you know, you know, like, this c- I mean, I don't get it. It's not practical to be pessimistic and cynical. It is not practical.

    15. MM

      Yeah. You heard Bill Gurley's name enough times today that I think you know what's coming. In our conversation, Bill shared a mindset shift that's worth every minute of your time. I put the video right here on the screen, and let me know in the comments if you came from this episode with Gary.

Episode duration: 44:40

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