Gary Vaynerchuk
Vaynerchuk in February 2017
Born
Gennadiy Alexandrovich Vaynerchuk (Геннадий Александрович Вайнерчук)

(1975-11-14) November 14, 1975 (age 48)
Babruysk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
Other namesGary Vee
CitizenshipUnited States
Known forEntrepreneurship, social media, angel investing, enology
Notable workVaynerX, Wine Library TV, Resy, Empathy Wines[1]
Websitegaryvaynerchuk.com
Signature

Gennady Alexandrovich Vaynerchuk[2][a] (also transliterated[b] as Hyenadz Alyaksandravich Vaynyarchuk[c]; November 14, 1975), more commonly known by his alias Gary Vaynerchuk or Gary Vee, is an American businessman, author, speaker, and internet personality.[3][4][5] He is a co-founder of the restaurant reservation software company Resy and Empathy Wines.[6][1][7] First known as a wine critic who expanded his family's wine business,[8][9] Vaynerchuk is now more known for his work in digital marketing and social media as the chairman of New York–based communications company VaynerX,[10] and as CEO of VaynerX subsidiary VaynerMedia.[11][12]

Early life

Vaynerchuk was born in Babruysk in the Soviet Union (today part of Belarus),[9] and immigrated to New York City in the United States in 1978 at the age of three.[5] He is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.[13] Growing up, Vaynerchuk lived in New York City's Queens borough and later moved to Edison, New Jersey.[14][15] At age 14, he joined his family's retail-wine business. After his family moved, he graduated from North Hunterdon High School.[16] In 1998, Vaynerchuk graduated with a bachelor's degree in management science from Mount Ida College in Newton, Massachusetts.[17]

Career

Vaynerchuk co-founded restaurant-reservation app Resy, which was acquired by American Express in 2019.[7] He is also a co-founder of winery Empathy Wines, which was acquired by Constellation Brands in 2020.[18][19] Vaynerchuk is the creator and founder behind the VeeFriends1 and VeeFriends2 non-fungible token series.[20][21]

Wine Library

After graduating from college in 1998, Vaynerchuk took charge of his father's liquor store, Shopper's Discount Liquors. He renamed the store Wine Library, launched sales online, and in 2006 started Wine Library TV, a daily webcast on YouTube covering wine.[22] He grew the business from $3 million a year to $60 million a year.[23] In August 2011, Vaynerchuk stepped away from the wine business to build VaynerMedia, a digital ad agency.[22][24]

VaynerX

Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a communications company that holds media properties and technology companies.[25][26][27]

VaynerMedia

Gary Vaynerchuk at Internet Week 2015 in New York

In 2009, Vaynerchuk, along with his brother AJ Vaynerchuk, founded VaynerMedia, a social media–focused digital agency.[28] The company provides social media and strategy services to Fortune 500 companies.[28][29] In 2015, VaynerMedia was named one of Ad Age's A-List agencies.[29] With 600 employees in 2016, VaynerMedia grossed $100 million in revenue.[30] The company also partnered with Vimeo to connect brands and filmmakers for digital content.[31]

Gallery Media Group

In 2017, Vaynerchuk formed The Gallery, later renamed Gallery Media Group, a VaynerX subsidiary company that houses PureWow, male-oriented news outlet ONE37pm.com, and other media properties.[32][3][33]

VCR Group

Vaynerchuck founded a hospitality company called VCR Group with David Rodolitz, Josh Capon, and Conor Hanlon.[34] VCR group has started many restaurants in Las Vegas and New York including: Ito, FlyFish Club, Capons and Bar Ito.[35] They opened a restaurant called Little Maven in NYC in the fall of 2023. [36]

Media

Planet of the Apps

In February 2017, Vaynerchuk was a participant of Planet of the Apps, a reality television series, with will.i.am and Gwyneth Paltrow.[37] In the show, Vaynerchuk and the team evaluated pitches from app developers vying for investment.[38][39]

YouTube shows and videos

Vaynerchuk hosted a video blog on YouTube called Wine Library TV (WLTV or The Thunder Show) from 2006 to 2011, featuring wine reviews, tastings, and wine advice. The show debuted in February 2006.[40] At 1,000 episodes in 2011, Vaynerchuk retired the show and replaced it with a video podcast called The Daily Grape.[41]

In 2010, Vaynerchuk launched Wine & Web on Sirius XM satellite radio. The show's programming paired new wine tastings in a "Wine of the Week" segment with coverage of gadgets, trends and startups in its "Web of the Week" segment.[42]

In 2014, Vaynerchuk launched The #AskGaryVee Show on YouTube in which he responds to questions from Twitter and Instagram.[43] The questions are mostly on entrepreneurship, family and business topics. The show inspired Vaynerchuk's fourth book, AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness[44] which reached The New York Times Best Seller list.[45]

DailyVee is a daily, video-documentary series on YouTube hosted by Vaynerchuk. Started in 2015, he records interviews with other businessmen and broadcasts investor meetings and strategy sessions at VaynerMedia.[10][46]

New Media Expo 2008
with iJustine and Leo Laporte
with Ben Parr, Ezarik, et al.

Reception

Vaynerchuk has earned a social-media following around mentorship.[47] However, critics have called him a snake oil salesman.[5]

In 2015, Vaynerchuk was named to Crain's New York Business 40 Under 40.[48] In 2017, Vaynerchuk was listed as one of Forbes' Top Social Influencers.[49]

Works

Notes

  1. ^ Russian: Геннадий Александрович Вайнерчук
  2. ^ BGN/PCGN romanization of Belarusian
  3. ^ Belarusian: Генадзь Аляксандравіч Вайнярчук

References

  1. ^ a b "Get ready for disruption in the wine industry: How Gary Vaynerchuk and Empathy Wines plan to cut the middlemen and sell the best $20 wine". Food & Wine magazine. November 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Lapidario, Milie (February 4, 2012). Quicklet On Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It! (CliffsNotes-like Book Summary). Hyperink Inc. ISBN 978-1-61464-765-2. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  3. ^ a b McAlone, Nathan (April 1, 2017). "Gary Vaynerchuk is buying PureWow, a women's media company that generated about $20 million in 2016". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  4. ^ Schonbrun, Zach (December 28, 2018). "The Self-Described Jets Owner-in-Waiting Will Tailgate for Now". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Roberts, Daniel (December 8, 2014). "Is Gary Vaynerchuk for Real?". Fortune. Archived from the original on May 20, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  6. ^ "Doodles used to create Gary Vaynerchuk NFT collection sell for $1.2 million in Christie's auction". CNBC. October 2021. Archived from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Chowdhury, Reza (May 15, 2019). "American Express is Acquiring Restaurant Reservation Platform Resy". Alleywatch. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  8. ^ Clifford, Catherine (March 17, 2017). "Social media guru: Facebook video is the best ad buy for your money right now". CNBC. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  9. ^ a b Clifford, Catherine (March 13, 2017). "Self-made millionaire Gary Vaynerchuk: This is the real secret to success". CNBC. Archived from the original on March 13, 2017. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  10. ^ a b Fraser, Ted (December 17, 2017). "I Spent a Week Living Like Gary Vaynerchuk". Vice. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  11. ^ Johnson, Eric (July 21, 2016). "Entrepreneur and investor Gary Vaynerchuk 'cannot wait' for the startup armageddon". Recode. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  12. ^ "Gary Vaynerchuk Discusses VaynerMedia's Rapid Ascent". Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  13. ^ Gary Vaynerchuk. Crush It:Why NOW Is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion.
  14. ^ Friend, Tad (June 7, 2010). "V-va-va-voom!". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2013. He thumped his heart. 'I was born in the Soviet Union, and we were poor when we came here' — to Edison, New Jersey — 'so it's incredible to me that that many people are interested.'
  15. ^ Dunn, Taylor (March 31, 2018). "Gary Vaynerchuk on how to quit your day job". ABC. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  16. ^ O'Donnell, Chuck (February 20, 2018). "How Gary Vaynerchuk's childhood in Edison helps him crush it in business". Courier News. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018. The Vaynerchuks eventually relocated and Gary would graduate from North Hunterdon High School, but the Edison environment and his own immigrant's experience seem to have shaped Vaynerchuk to his core.
  17. ^ Asimov, Eric (September 8, 2009). "Pop goes the critic". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  18. ^ "Constellation Brands acquires Gary Vaynerchuk's Empathy Wines". CNBC. July 2020. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  19. ^ "Gary Vaynerchuk launches disruptive new wine co". The Drinks Business. August 2019. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  20. ^ "How Gary Vaynerchuk Became an NFT Guru And lord of his own metaverse". New York magazine. November 16, 2021. Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  21. ^ Graham, Michelai (April 18, 2022). "VeeFriends Series 2 NFTs: Everything You Need to Know". Boardroom. Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  22. ^ a b La Gorce, Tammy (June 22, 2008). "At Wine Superstores, Tastings Are Just the Start". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 26, 2018. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  23. ^ Kane, Libby (May 4, 2017). "The CEO of a multimillion-dollar company explains what he did in his 20s to set himself up for success in his 30s". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  24. ^ Pattison, Kermit (September 16, 2008). "Selling Wine The Web 2.0 Way". Fast Company. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  25. ^ Peterson, Tim (May 2, 2019). "'Everyone is a competitor': Gary Vaynerchuk's Gallery Media Group straddles the line between publisher and agency". DigiDay. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  26. ^ Thomas, Aby Sam (January 2, 2019). "Stepping Up: Serial Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  27. ^ Flynn, Kerry (June 13, 2018). "Gary Vaynerchuk's Tracer wants marketers to stop wasting time with Excel". DigiDay. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  28. ^ a b Segal, David (November 2, 2013). "Riding the Hashtag in Social Media Marketing". New York Times. Archived from the original on December 6, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  29. ^ a b AdAge, Staff (January 26, 2015). "Ad Age's 2015 Agency A-List Standouts: Grey, 180LA, AKQA and More". Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  30. ^ CNBC, Staff (March 26, 2016). "CNBC's 'Follow the Leader' Uncovers the Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success". CNBC. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  31. ^ Stein, Lindsay (December 1, 2016). "Vimeo and VaynerMedia Create Exclusive Content Partnership". AdAge. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  32. ^ Spangler, Todd (October 9, 2018). "Gallery Media Group Aims for Authenticity". Variety. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  33. ^ Perlberg, Steven (January 4, 2017). "Gary Vaynerchuk Acquires Women's Publisher PureWow". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 26, 2018. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  34. ^ "VCR Group". Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  35. ^ "VCR Group". Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  36. ^ Perry, Brianna (November 30, 2023). "This Intimate Eatery Is Serving Maximalist Whimsy & 'Chocolate Mousse From The 80s'". Secret NYC. Retrieved February 11, 2024.
  37. ^ Heath, Alex (August 4, 2016). "3 big-name celebrities will be mentors on Apple's new show about apps". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  38. ^ Epstein, Adam (February 14, 2017). "There's nothing original about Apple's first foray into original TV". QZ. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  39. ^ Dillet, Romain (August 30, 2016). "Somebody at Apple thought the reality show 'Planet of the Apps' really needed Jessica Alba". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  40. ^ Robinson, Jancis, Financial Times (November 15, 2008). "The online evangelist". Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.((cite news)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  41. ^ Brion, Raphael (March 18, 2011). "Gary Vaynerchuk's Daily Grape". Eater magazine. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  42. ^ Dugan, Lauren (August 23, 2010). "Gary Vaynerchuk to Host Sirius XM Radio Show". AdWeek. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  43. ^ Yeung, Ken (February 28, 2016). "Review: Gary Vaynerchuk's new book taught me 369 lessons about business". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  44. ^ Long, Jonathan (August 3, 2015). "Why Gary Vaynerchuk's '#AskGaryVee Show' Is Marketing Gold". Entrepreneur magazine. Archived from the original on February 5, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  45. ^ "Bestsellers: Business". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  46. ^ Roof, Katie (April 14, 2016). "Gary Vaynerchuk on why he's betting on Facebook Live, Snapchat, and Musical.ly". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  47. ^ Coscarelli, Joe (December 18, 2019). "Gary Vaynerchuk Is a Rapper's Best Friend". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  48. ^ Flamm, Matthew (July 5, 2018). "40 Under 40". Crain's New York. Archived from the original on December 11, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  49. ^ Forbes, Staff (December 21, 2017). "Forbes Releases List Of Top Social Influencers In Three Categories -- Food, Tech/Business And Kids". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2019.

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