Gary Vaynerchuk

Who is the guy who helped MrBeast launch "Feastables"? Ben Acott, is the CEO of Magnetic Labs (billion-dollar brands at breakneck speed) and the CMO of Feastables the SVP @ Manscaped, and the CPG at Facebook or so his profile says. So what is Magnetic Labs, a venture studio & fund that builds iconic brands alongside the world's most influential creators, celebrities, and athletes. He worked directly with MrBeast launching and scaling Feastables as the brand's CMO. And if that is not Big Boss enough for you, he also scaled Manscaped, a men's grooming brand, to $300M in annual sales via e-commerce. He's a board member, advisor, and investor to 40+ brands including JuneShine, the most popular hard kombucha brand. Feastables, Manscaped, JuneShine, ... what do these brands have in common? Other than Ben and Magnetic Labs? Well they all: - Got extremely creative with their marketing strategy - Leaned in on creator marketing - Created a strong community of loyal fans Let's dive into each... as when I did this with Ryan Reynolds you all loved it. Let's start with the Wonka one first.... Feastables MrBeast built a large community of loyal fans before launching "Feastables". He singlehandedly created a new playbook for creator-led brands. Jimmy is a pioneer in creator-led brands & original marketing but did you know that the @Feastables marketing team named one of the candy bars "Deez Nuts", but had to change the name after being sued by a Florida-based company Dee's Nuts. The team turned a "loss" into a huge marketing opportunity, as Jimmy regularly brings the lawsuit up in his videos. His loyal fans still refer to the candy bar as "Deez Nuts" even though he legally can't, proving how strong his fans and community are Jimmy Donaldson (aka @MrBeast) understands the power of distribution- now lets go below the belt Manscaped is the first brand to focus on men’s below-the-waist grooming, with an electric razor for "down there" Let's be real, promoting this type of product can be awks however the team did an incredible job at embracing this AND taking risks. For example, by naming their electric shaver "The Lawn Mower". This startup is backed by Channing Tatum, so they heavily leaned into leveraging celebrities. JuneShine : The marketing team regularly hosts special events at their tasting rooms including new flavor launch parties with celebrity collaborators. The Marketing team did an excellent job leveraging these physical tasting rooms to increase online sales. So going IRL to increase online clicks. The brand also strategically selected investors that would act as brand ambassadors, like Diplo, Whitney Cummings, Cody Ko, and U.S. Women’s National Team soccer players Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger. What Can we Takeaway from these: 1) Get extremely creative with your marketing 2) Build a strong community of loyal fans 3) Focus on partnerships with creators and influencers as they already have distribution.

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Introducing: 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐳𝐚. The most fun you'll have at New York Tech Week. Rho and I have planned an extraordinary evening of programming for you: ​• Live music and performances by some of NYC's greatest entertainers ​• Retro arcade games and pinball machines, reminiscent of the most innovative tech from decades ago • ​Activities to bring the community together: a special lineup of foosball, shuffleboard, and darts • ​Fortune tellers who will predict the future of your tech career ​• Caricature artists who will draw you in your very best self • ​The most exciting startups will showcase and giveaway their favorite products for you to experience ​• Even an F1 simulator to put you behind the steering wheel of a racecar going 300 mph ​This will be the most spectacular event of New York Tech Week 2024. ​Prepare yourself for an evening of connection, conversation, and fun with over a thousand other tech founders, operators, and investors. RSVP while spots last (link in comments below).

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Getting to know the entrepreneur before investing into their idea. Check out the full interview with Fred Wang. A Venture Capitalist out of Adams Street Partners. Fred Wang YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ef6BjQQg Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ekAH-V6J Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/exQs4yXe Subscribe on YouTube | Follow & Rate on Spotify | Follow & Review on Apple Podcast | #highvaluediscussions #podcast #entrepreneurship #business #venturecapitalist #investing #financialliteracy #mindset #innovation #tech #technology

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Selling "Hot Ones" is The End of BuzzFeed as We Know It As the reported unloading of "Hot Ones" by BuzzFeed appears to be in the works, the implications for the digital media giant are profound, signaling a potential endgame for its public company status. Here's why selling this asset is emblematic of a deeper crisis: #1. A Reversal of Fortune: BuzzFeed's initial public offering was predicated on the vision of building a large-scale digital media conglomerate. This vision included acquisitions like HuffPost and Complex. However, the strategic about-face—shutting down BuzzFeed News, divesting Complex, and now potentially selling Hot Ones—suggests a retreat to a more niche operation. Such a drastic pivot questions the necessity of remaining a public company, especially with a valuation now hovering around just $78 million. #2. Strategic Disarray: Jonah Peretti's leadership has seen a dizzying array of strategic shifts—from championing individual creators to demanding better deals from platforms, pivoting to commerce, and most recently betting on AI. This lack of a consistent north star has left market observers and potential investors bewildered about BuzzFeed's core mission and value proposition. The company's public venture via a SPAC—once a trendy pandemic-era financial maneuver—now seems another misstep in a series of strategic miscalculations. Buzzfeed was hoping to raise $288m from that SPAC. They raised just $16m. #3. Financial Precipice: With $100 million in debt maturing in December, and only $45 million on hand after losing $60 million last year, BuzzFeed's financial sustainability is in jeopardy. The stock has plummeted 95% since its IPO, underscoring investor skepticism about its future. Selling "Hot Ones" might seem necessary to alleviate financial pressure, but with a $70m asking price in a $78m company, the logic seems flawed. If no sale occurs, bankruptcy appears inevitable, making any current valuations moot. The #HotOnes Conundrum According to the Bloomberg piece, despite its popularity and success, the internal resources allocated to Hot Ones have reportedly been insufficient. The production team's desire to expand into branded merchandise and live events suggests untapped potential that BuzzFeed is struggling to harness due to its lack of financial stability. In essence, BuzzFeed has to sell its most popular asset to stay afloat, but if it does, what in the world is left? They've got no news. No sneaker audience. No famous food TV show. "No nothing!" Thus, the broader question remains: is there a viable path forward for a digital media firm that expanded rapidly through acquisitions but failed to sustain a cohesive strategic direction, or should we just be counting the days until Buzzfeed is bankrupt, sold for parts, bought out, or flat-out shutdown? And given Buzzfeed has sold many of the assets it has most recently been known for, if it goes away, will anybody miss it?

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Sam Altman on the difference between generalized models vs. deeply specialized models trained on specific data for specific purposes: “I would bet that it’s the generalized model that’s gonna matter.” This clip is from Sam’s interview on the Logan Bartlett show yesterday. Link for the full interview is 👇🏼in the comments. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

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What does it take for a startup to succeed in music-tech? More than Product-Market fit -- you also need Industry Market fit and Investor Market fit. I wrote about these patterns https://lnkd.in/gF4wBSfX

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨 This past Monday, I had the incredible opportunity to demo and pitch Jammy to over 100 investors at NY #TechWeek AI Demo Day. Two weeks ago, thanks to Cindy Berman, I found out about the event and hesitated to sign up, doubting our product’s readiness. However, I saw it as a chance to push our limits. After a screening with Shriya Nevatia we were one of eight companies chosen, and I had to figure out how to demo our work-in-progress app and deliver an eight-minute pitch. I prepared thoroughly and felt confident. On the day, Dorothy Chang informed me I’d be the first presenter, which made me both nervous and excited. The pitch went well until the live demo. When showcasing Jammy’s ability to recommend post-session music, the integration failed despite my preparation. I still finished the presentation, landing the vision for Jammy and with congratulations and consolation from my peers: “live demos always break,” they said. It helped. Though I didn’t win the $50K prize, I secured a check from an angel investor, generated interest from several others, and met amazing founders in AI. The winning pitch went to the highly deserving CAPSULE, who is set to revolutionize contextual visual shopping search (like Shazam for shopping). Very cool. This experience highlighted the value of taking risks and the importance of failing forward. It also reminded me of the supportive NY Tech and entrepreneurial community. The journey can be lonely, and many dismiss community events and networking as distractions from the "real work." While that might sometimes be true, Monday night was a reminder that we’re not alone in this journey. We all want to see each other succeed in building the - extremely AI-infused - future we envision. On to the next challenge! And definitely check out these amazing companies & founders: Glist, Gülin Yilmaz (Posokhow), Path, Soar.com, Abood Hannoon, DeepLeads.ai, pre.dev, and In The Loop

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Disney Calendar Q1 2024 Earnings (FY Q2): DTC streaming business of Disney+ and Hulu had an operating income profit of $47M, ESPN+ lost $65 million. Added 6.3M Disney+ Core subs (117.6M total), excluding Disney+ Hotstar, which lost 2.3M subs. Hulu SVOD gained 700,000 subs (45.8M total), Hulu + Live TV lost 100,000 subs (4.5M total). ESPN+ lost 400,000 subs (24.8M total). Will add an ESPN Plus tile to Disney+ this fall, giving subscribers access to "select live games and studio programming" within the Disney+ app. Disney will begin cracking down on password sharing starting in some markets in June, followed by a wide rollout in September. UPDATED 11:28am EST - Stock is down almost 10%. Earnings release: https://lnkd.in/ea58MB2n -- #hulu #streamingmedia #disneyplus #espnplus #SVOD #AVOD

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Your character is built through facing the chaos head on. Check out the full interview with Fred Wang. A Venture Capitalist out of Adams Street Partners. Fred Wang YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ef6BjQQg Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ekAH-V6J Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/exQs4yXe Subscribe on YouTube | Follow & Rate on Spotify | Follow & Review on Apple Podcast | #highvaluediscussions #podcast #entrepreneurship #business #venturecapitalist #investing #financialliteracy #mindset #innovation #tech #technology

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Cannabis Industry, why are you putting the primary revenue-generating system to a third party? It's baffling. Instead of relying on external platforms prone to frequent breakdowns, consider the immense value of an in-house solution. Let's collaborate to craft a robust system tailored to your specific needs, ensuring seamless operations even on landmark days like 420. Initially, the appeal might have been compliance and connectivity, but that convenience came at a big cost, both in effectiveness and expense. Today, the market offers a myriad of compliant options, including the opportunity to internalize your critical revenue infrastructure with our expertise. Demonstrate the professionalism this industry demands. Let's not settle for amateur-hour solutions. Let's do better. Give us a call, and together, we'll build a solution that empowers your business for the long haul. https://kief.studio/metrc

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Dude Perfect raised $100M for global biz expansion. The deal is getting lots of buzz, but our team’s math signals challenges ahead. Let’s break it down… DEAL DETAILS • $100 - 300M growth capital investment • Led by Highmount Capital • Unclear if 100% invested upfront OR draw down of commitment over time • No previous capital raised USE OF FUNDS • Hire mgmt team to expand biz • More live experiences incl int’l tour, consumer products • Grow content formats, frequency, channels, global localization e.g. animation, TV, movies, streaming • Extend brand beyond 5 founders by building talent network • New HQ in Frisco, TX as prod facility and “family-friendly entertainment destination”: – Retail store, podcasts / gaming / fan UGC spaces, trick shot tower, DP museum, mini golf, restaurants – Original plans for 3-story, 30 acre facility est to cost $100M+, 2 yrs to build COMPANY OVERVIEW: Dude Perfect • Digital-native comedy and sports media brand • Faith-based mission: “We’re about giving back, spreading joy and glorifying Jesus Christ”  • Other YouTube franchises: “Stereotypes,” “Overtime”, “Bucket List”  • Media brand also incl books, mobile games, board games and toys, and merch / retail / food and beverage partnerships • 25 current team members PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS • 60M YouTube Followers, 17B views • Est 2024 revenue: $50M per DP • Est 2023 and 2022 revenue: $25M and $20M per WSJ  • Consumer product partnerships incl Nerf toy line, Columbia Sportswear • Partnered with A Parent Media co to launch a streaming service • ESPN “30 for 30” doc premiering at Dallas Int’l film festival • TV series on CMT in 2016, later aired on Nickelodeon • Alternate broadcasts for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football • 4 live nationwide tours as of 2023 ORIGIN STORY • Founded 2009 by 5 friends at Texas A&M • Cofounders = twins Coby Cotton and Cory Cotton, Tyler Toney, Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert • Started as YT channel featuring trick shot videos INVESTOR OVERVIEW: Highmount Capital • Growth stage and middle mkt PE fund for tech, media, healthcare • Founded in 2023 by jason illian and David Hawkins • 4 team members on website + advisor • 3 team members have faith-based ties per bios • No other investments listed on website other than DP My takeaway... I really like and support the trend of increased investment into YouTubers and digital-native media brands. But as I wrote about in my 2024 State of Creator x Media capital markets reports (will link them below), investment must match market and opportunity size. To ensure good ROI, and to set good precedent for future investment into our space. The DP bet is exciting, but could be overly optimistic based on our prelim math. My colleague Michael Booth's post breaks the math down (link below). More analysis to come in my Friday newsletter. —- I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do m&a and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. My dm’s are open. #media #agency #creatoreconomy

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This article gives a fascinating look at a few of the AI technologies that are changing the game in video. If you're as curious as we are about how AI is transforming video production, you’ll want to check this out: https://lnkd.in/efbgcmRd #AI #VideoProduction #Innovation #LevitateMedia

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Every company with workers in #NYC has a new #AI use case. Starting this week, all NYC employers are required to post the city’s “Worker’s Bill of Rights,” which were announced earlier this year. Because it’s 2024, the normal breakroom poster is a QR code, which links to the Bill of Rights website, which itself goes to a bunch of individual links across multiple agencies. Further, while some rules apply to all employers, others are industry specific, only apply only to employers with 20+ FT employees, and/or have other exceptions. Examples of what’s in the bill of rights include: - “Employers can’t ask about your salary history during the hiring process." - If you work in retail "you must get your weekly work schedule 72 hours before the first shift." - “If you work in fast food, you must get; regular weekly schedules; extra pay for schedule changes; priority to work new shifts; job protection from firing, layoff, or hours reduction." - Employees have the right "to make temporary schedule changes for up to two business days per year for certain personal events." - “Most employers must state the pay range in a job posting” is a good example. And it’s not just NYC. Other states / cities have similar frameworks, although what's covered varies greatly. California is now considering a "right to disconnect right to disconnect from communications from the employer during nonworking hours" So where does the AI come in? Frankly, all over. Here are three: 1. In recruiting, an AI Agent can help create job reqs for NYC that “include salary ranges” (and can read all job reqs before they’re posted to ensure they comply with the required city / state / federal regulations). 2. In Task / Workforce Management - AI-enabled workflows can ensure that schedules are posted in line with advance notice requirements, schedule changes trigger an alert to payroll (for fast food), and PTO requests are accomodated (ideally, automatically trying to re-fill a lost shift) 3. HR Helpdesk. An “Ask HR” chatbot can provide everyone in the company answers on what their specific rights are for their workplace location. (This can also be made accessible to candidates / applicants). And a comprehensive AI platform will stay abreast of the latest changes, making recommended updates as new regulations come online.

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This is how we brief UGC creators... our Hook/Rehook Framework: Hook: first 3 secs, visual focus, makes users stop scrolling. Rehook: next 5 secs, verbal focus, makes users stick to the end. This framework is the refined work of thousands of branded short-forms campaigns. Top 3 Rehook Techniques: - Heft: provide a quick proof or demonstration of the claim made. - Contrast: counterintuitive element to the initial hook. - Sequence: tease the end of the story. (learn 3 more techniques on our blog, link below) And what after the rehook? Read the entire thing in the link (no email paywall), this is just a linkedin post :) https://lnkd.in/dng9R6ry

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Here's another great talk from the Liquidity Summit Can your brand make people question everything? Michael Jones discusses how Liquid Death creates tension and curiosity to build a strong following and drive product virality.

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Everybody needs a place to put their love. - Karina Dresses tagline, circa 2012 In 2012 I made my first investment in a #femalefounder who also happened to be 50+. At the time I had no idea how unusual these founder traits were. I just knew the founder was passionate, authentic, experienced, perfectly aligned with both the product and the market. Most importantly there was a strong emotional bond between the product and the customers who bought it. 🤷🏾‍♂️- it just seemed like the smart thing to do. Not a lot of my investor buddies agreed at the time- probably not so surprising. Fast forward 10+ years and the value of my investment is ~20x & the amount of free cash flow distributed to equity holders is substantial & still increasing YOY. My takeaways: ✅Invest in authenticity, passion and intimacy (customer)- no matter what the founder profile looks like relative to others. ✅Follow your gut. ✅Not every deal is venture scale worthy. But there’s a potential investor for every deal. ✅Be the best version of you, not a lame version of someone else. Works for both investors & founders. :) Congratulations to Karina and the team at Karina Dresses! Proud as punch to be on this journey with you all🚀

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Want to know the story behind those unique Asian-inspired sparkling water flavors you've been seeing? I sat down with Sandro Roco of Sanzo on the Consumer Rundown podcast. We talked #Asian representation and voices, building a #beverage empire, and the importance of being a "good ancestor"! Listen to the full conversation – link in comments! #entrepreneurship #cpgindustry #beveragebusiness

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Occupier - We ❤️ Leases! is building software to help commercial tenants make better real estate decisions to drive the operational needs and growth of their businesses. It's W7 / Q2 / 2024 & this week in our MGMT Boston startup series we’ve got Occupier, a growth stage startup building a platform where all commercial real estate decisions are made, facilitating access to data and collaboration required by all the stakeholders who require it. Andrew Flint & Matt Giffune teamed up with technical co-founder 🏔 Erik Pearson on nights & weekends to work on their project before signing their first customer: DraftKings. Occupier was born in 2018 to solve tenant real estate portfolio management administration. The commercial real estate market in the U.S. is a $25T market. With a T! Real estate is typically the second largest company expense (historically) after payroll and there are more than 20,000 employers with 500+ employees. These companies have sprawling office & retail footprints to go along with their large employee bases and customer responsibilities. Let’s say you’re a large restaurant chain with 500 global retail locations. If you don’t have a sound system to track certain dates throughout your lease portfolio, you might miss a renewal option. Occupier is still growing through the post COVID commercial real estate contraction because they help customers more rapidly abstract data out of their lease documents. As employers have needed to get a tighter grasp on their real estate expenses (and strategies), they’ve helped customers centralize their data & workflows to make better decisions. Occupier is in a fortunate spot to not need to raise capital right now and can patiently grow in 2024. Like many startups that raised in 2021, they had an ambitious operating plan and have responded to market changes by continuing to grow as efficiently as possible in this new environment. They still grew revenue over 100% in 2023 relative to 2022 and hope to double again in 2024. One third of their employee base sits in Boston, one third of the team sits in New York, and they have the remaining third remote. Occupier is backed by Stage 2 Capital, OMERS Ventures, MetaProp, Alate Partners, & Second Century Ventures Operators to Know: -Mia Arrieta, Account Executive  -Jerry Aviles, Software Engineer -Lauren Bahr, CPA, VP Finance -Morgan Beard, Director of Marketing -Noah Cate, Account Executive -Krishan Taylor, Principal Software Engineer -Clement Titsworth, Senior Account Executive -Lisa Gaffney, Senior Product Manager -Jessica Kurz, VP Customer Success -Vrajesh Patel, Senior Solutions Consultant -Amber Perez, Senior Customer Success Manager -Leah Prescott, Head of Design If you're interested in learning more, the full post is linked in the comments! And sign up for the newsletter to see who we bring you next week, will you?? #bostontech #startups #proptech

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