It’s hard to ignore the impact Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee) had on the NFT space in 2021-22. The founder and CEO of VaynerMedia and prolific content creator onboarded thousands of new people onchain with the launch of his project, VeeFriends.
For those outside of the Vaynerchuk ecosystem, VeeFriends was misunderstood when it launched and for many, still remains so today. It often sits outside the regular discourse on NFT Twitter and its extensive character base can make it seem complex to the causal NFT degen.
But despite this, four-plus years on, VeeFriends continues to expand its universe. While the brand and IP was born out of the blockchain, VeeFriends has crossed over into different worlds and niches most NFT collectors would not even be aware of.
We sat down with VeeFriends president Andy Krainak to discuss what’s been cooking at VeeFriends and what it’s like to work with Vaynerchuk on a project whose mission statement he describes as: “Brick by brick, we build”.
What is VeeFriends: The beginning
Vaynerchuk has described VeeFriends as his “Pokemon, Disney, Sesame Street or Marvel,” an IP ecosystem of characters based on traits he believes in and wants to spread positivity through.
The original genesis of VeeFriends is the Series 1 NFT Collection that minted around the same time as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Meebits, and just two months after Beeple’s iconic $69 million sale of “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” which set rocket fuel under the emerging category of crypto.
All of the Series 1 VeeFriends were hand-drawn by Vaynerchuk himself and are described as the grail collectible in the VeeFriends universe. The collection features 10,255 NFTs, representing 268 unique characters. Of these, 236 characters are IP characters that grant admission to VeeCon, such as Gift Goat NFTs and “access tokens” such as Basketball Butterfly and Facetime Five.
NFTs with “utility” weren’t yet cliche during the lead up to the VeeFriends mint, and Vaynerchuk was ahead of the curve attaching a three-year ticket to VeeCon for 2022, 2023 and 2024 for each Series 1 VeeFriend. VeeCon is Vaynerchuk’s version of an SXSW-style conference.
Krainak describes the IP play as constantly evolving and that it’s not just a traditional NFT project that often revolves around a single character.
“It’s a universe of over 250 characters that are coming to life through comics and collectibles. Every character will have a different origin and meaning, but it’s grounded in our ultimate collectible, which is a Series 1 VeeFriend NFT, which unlocks different opportunities and advantages either in our collectible ecosystem or with other perks and special events with the VeeFriends community,” Krainak says.
For Series 1, the floor price currently sits at 1.05 ETH ($4,545), but as Krainak points out, it’s a collection that traditional floor price isn’t the easiest to translate due to the extensive character library.
“The interesting thing about VeeFriends is it does have a floor price but I actually think VeeFriends has 250 different floor prices, based on the character. Some characters are way more popular than others and the prices reflect that.”
“The most emotional I’ve ever seen him” — Memories of the mint
With Vaynerchuk’s favorite number being five, the mint had originally been earmarked for 5/5/21, but a few delays set it back. Krainak recalls how intense that period was, living at Vaynerchuk’s apartment in the lead-up and ultimately seeing his boss the most emotional he’d ever seen him once the mint went live.
“That launch changed my relationship with Gary. I was basically living at his apartment for a week. We just weren’t sleeping. We were trying to get it done. I really learned the aptitude he had to do what he did throughout that time. I saw how fearless he was.”
“He’s a very successful individual and businessman. He did not need to launch VeeFriends. Was there capital to gain? Yes, but there’s also so much downside. He put his reputation and legacy on the line because he wanted to build this IP, and he thought putting collectibles and his IP first on the blockchain was not only going to be an unprecedented opportunity to build IP, but to be a blueprint for how others could do it.”
“That’s the most emotional I’ve ever seen him. I think it was a culmination of everything. All the hard work that we did to get to that launch and just cementing what was going to become like his life’s legacy as creating an IP.”
Evolving the VeeFriends universe
Since the original launch in May 2021, VeeFriends has gone on to launch two NFT additional collections — Book Games in August 2021, and Series 2 of VeeFriends in April 2022, while VeeFriends “Iconics” also carved out a slice of the NFT pie in the ecosystem.
Book Games tokens were available to anyone who purchased 12 or more copies of Gary’s Twelve and a Half book, his sixth at the time, in August 2021. The book shot up the New York Times Bestsellers list, and eligible purchasers of the book received their Book Games NFTs in early January 2022. The collection spanned 125,000 NFTs, but the total quantity is now down to 98,800 NFTs as these tokens are burnable for certain benefits. The floor price for Book Games sits at 0.18 ETH ($80).
In April 2022, Series 2 of VeeFriends was introduced with a mint of 55,555 NFTs that introduced 15 new characters to VeeFriends, including Resilient Red Devil, Gritty Ghost and Competitive Clown. This series also saw the return of 236 characters from Series 1, with the original drawings being brought to life through animations — a completely different look and feel suitable for cartoons and future IP development. Floor price for Series 2 VeeFriends currently sits at 0.052 ETH ($226).
Each Series 2 NFT also received a physical counterpart in a box of the VeeFriends Trading Card Game.
“Something that I think has always been important to Gary and VeeFriends is, aside from the collectibility of the characters and creating connection with the characters, is driving digital ownership. And with that, Gary’s always been bullish on creating instant value with the purchase of the NFT,” says Krainak.
“For Series 1, that was access to VeeCon for three years. In Series 2, it was if you minted, you got a box of trading cards. That box of trading cards right now is around $400. It’s almost about to be the mint price of the NFT itself.”
The VeeFriends universe has expanded from NFTs into physical collectibles, comics, content, apparel and pop culture.
Earlier this year, VeeFriends partnered with Topps, with the physicalTopps VeeFriends Chrome cards released in a limited edition featuring 100 of the 250+ characters. The YouTube Kids cartoons for VeeFriends have their owndedicated channeland align with Vaynerchuk’s vision of building out a brand that is “for people that are for 3-year-olds all the way to 93. VeeFriends is for every age and every person.”
To date, some of the VeeFriends partnerships and collaborations include: UNO, Macy’s, Starter, Chuck E Cheese, Reebok, Toys R Us, Mattel and Nick Kyrgios.
What it’s like to work for Gary
Krainak began working for Vaynerchuk back in 2013 after stumbling upon Wine Library TV while taking a wine course. He was immediately captured by the content Vaynerchuk was delivering and by the New Yorker’s unique communication style.
One tweet and one email later, Krainak joined Vayner Media as an intern and spent the next nine years leading “Team Gary.” Timing was everything with his transition to VeeFriends President in 2021.
“Right around the beginning of 2021, I had just bought my first CryptoPunk, and Gary decided he was going to launch his own IP, first as NFTs, and he wanted me to be the president,” Krainak says.
Krainak says working for Vaynerhuck is “exactly what you would think and expect it to be like working for him. I think people would be shocked at how involved he is. It could be something as random as a DM our social account gets that he wants to know the messaging on how we’re responding back.”
“He’s heavily involved in everything, but VeeFriends is probably the most involved in all of his businesses. These are his characters. He drew them. He has a specific vision for how he wants them to look on a trading card, yet alone how he wants his conference VeeCon to be thrown.”
Known for his nonstop high energy and in-your-face style of communication, Krainak highlights Vaynerchuk’s upbringing in Soviet Russia as a driver for his work ethic.
“He just loves it and it’s 24/7, non-stop. He says that it comes from gratitude and I believe that when his family was traded for wheat to be able to escape Soviet Russia. It really was humble beginnings.”
“He grew up with 13 people in a small apartment in New York City, and I think those upbringings are why he’s grinding from 6:00 am to 11:00 pm, ready to talk business.”
Rapid-fire Q&A with Andy Krainak
What’s your favorite crypto?
I bought ETH around 2019. I’ve always loved ETH. Bitcoin versus ETH, I think both are winners. I think the future of both those cryptos is very, very bright.
Your personal favorite VeeFriends characters if you had to name 3-5.
It really ebbs and flows, but I’ll give you a few.
1. Very, Very, Very, Very, Lucky Black Cat: The logo character. I was there when Gary chose it. It wasn’t always the logo. It was a couple days before we launched where Gary decided that he wanted it to be the black cat, and I thought that was a really special moment. I think it’s representative of what VeeFriends is, which is it’s up to you to define what success is and what you want your life to be. People say black cats are unlucky, but who’s to say that?
2. Forever Phoenix: A lot of the VeeFriends community knows this is one of my favorite characters. Gary gifted me the Phoenix holo right after the launch as the first NFT to ever leave his collection, so that sort of just means a lot to me sentimentally.
3. Rare Robot: It was always a cool character. It was nowhere near where it is now. Creating the Rare Robot song did a lot for it.
4. Jolly Jack-O: Having the Funko Pop did a lot for it.
5. Chill Chinchilla: We have a huge jumbo plushy that is on our livestreams a lot on whatnot. And because of that jumbo plushy just sitting in the background, it started to gain more momentum.
Will we ever see another VeeCon?
Yes, 100%. At VeeCon 3, we announced that we will be doing VeeCon again. We didn’t give any further details, but basically said this isn’t the last VeeCon.
What are people missing with VeeFriends in your opinion?
That we are a real company. We’re a transmedia company. We are storytelling in comics, in YouTube kids cartoons, in trading cards with the biggest most recognizable trading card brand in the world, Topps. We’re on TikTok live and whatnot live 60 hours a week, and that we are not going anywhere.
What’s a sleeper VeeFriends character?
A funny one that I’ll give love to is Patient Panda. Patient Panda is a top-five character in VeeFriends. But it’s actually a sleeper character because we’ve given it no shine, and there’s something to that. It’s being patient.
What other NFTs outside of your VeeFriends do you own that you really like?
I actually personally like v1 Punks. I like the thesis. I think they’re hitting an evolution where it’s no longer us versus them with v2 Punks. I’m in love with the idea of having a pair of my v2 and v1 Punk.
I would also say Moonbirds. I really like Spencer. I met him prior to him taking over the project, and I was talking to him about TCG (Trading Card Game). He’s just smart and a good dude, and I was pumped when I heard he bought Moonbirds, and I support him. I think they’re going to do well.
Even though I’m currently down bad on it, I have a Damien Hirst “The Currency.” I just believe in the operator and the creator. I’m also big into physical trading cards too. I have a pretty serious LeBron James collection, and Mbappe I think is underrated.
Who are your favorite follows on X (Twitter)?
Most of my stuff is all the ETH Maxis, DC Investor, etc. I really like Tom Lee and his thesis with BitMine and Granny Shots.
I think OpenSea is doing a good job trying to do more editorial content and building the culture a little bit.
Thread Guy is a friend. I like him. I think he’s been in hot and tricky waters, but I think he’s doing his best to navigate it.
Ansem is funny. Crypto Twitter is funny. They all want the same thing.
What’s your advice to someone trying to get started in the VeeFriends universe?
There’s a blog that we have that basically gives a great overview of what VeeFriends is. Outside of that, my real answer would be to come and join one of our live shows with Gary. Through that, you will learn the characters, you will see the community,and you will see the passion and fandom we have around our characters.
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