Gary Vaynerchuk, chairman of VaynerX, CEO of VaynerMedia, and creator of VeeFriends, joins Next Up with Adam Breneman for an unfiltered conversation about ownership, obsession, artificial intelligence, NIL (name, image, and likeness), and what it really takes to build something that lasts. From building his dad’s company from $3 million to $60 million and walking away with nothing, to firing his best friend to save his company, Gary opens up about the career-defining moments. He shares why he believes most coaches are losing the locker room, how NIL money is exposing, not changing, young athletes, and why his advice to 17-year-olds getting paid is simple: Tune your parents out.
This episode dives into everything from Gary’s mindset on momentum to the reality of working 100-hour weeks in his 20s, and why balance is relative. He also goes deep on the future of AI, predicting a world where our grandkids might marry robots, Google may become obsolete, and athletes could be replaced by AI-powered machines.