Who is Gary Vaynerchuk?
Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as “Gary Vee”, is a successful businessman, author, investor and motivational speaker, born in Belarus in 1975. In 1978, he and his family moved to the United States, where they started a new life in New York and then New Jersey. Gary Vaynerchuk graduated from Mount Ida College, now known as the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst.
His passion for business began at a young age when he began selling baseball cards and exploring other ventures. He consolidated his experience and success in the business world, including running the family wine store, the Wine Library. In 2009, he co-founded the media agency VaynerMedia, where he holds the position of CEO. Additionally, he plays an important role as president of VaynerX, an umbrella company that encompasses several entities such as VaynerCommerce, VaynerSpeakers, VaynerSports, The Sasha Group, Gallery Media Group, among others. One of his notable ventures is co-founding the restaurant reservation platform Resy.
Gary Vaynerchuk has demonstrated an interest in cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, with a particular focus on the NFT world. In 2021, he launched VeeFriends, an NFT collection and community based on his business principles, in conjunction with the VeeCon conference.
In early 2022, Gary Vaynerchuk released NFTs that would provide access to Flyfish Club, a members-only restaurant in New York City scheduled to open in 2023 and built by VCR Group, which he co-founded.
In 2021, he expressed the opinion that the vast majority of that year's NFTs would eventually lose value. In December 2022, he reflected on the downfall of the NFT space in a blog post, highlighting short-term greed, abundant supply, and inadequate operators as causes of this downturn.
With his ambition and energy, Gary Vaynerchuk is likely to continue advancing his many business ventures in 2023. He shared his belief that the NFT and digital asset space will grow in a similar way to the Internet in the early 2000s following the boom of the dotcom bubble. Vaynerchuk is a prominent presence on social media and at frequent speaking engagements, contributing significantly to the conversation in 2023.
VeeFriends, the project of Gary Vaynerchuk, focuses on valuing its existing community in 2023 by taking a more deflationary approach to its NFTs. Additionally, Flyfish Club is set to open this year, featuring an 11.000 square foot, three-story building offering a sophisticated and exclusive seafood restaurant experience with memberships represented by NFTs.
