GigaOM » Gary Vaynerchuk

Cooking site Food52 raises $2M to expand publishing, mobile and shopping initiatives

Laura Hazard Owen — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 20:06:24 +0000

Food52, the crowdsourced cooking website cofounded by former New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, has raised $2 million in Series A funding, the company announced on its blog Wednesday.

The round was led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments and included participation from Vocap Ventures, Zelkova Ventures and Gary Vaynerchuk. Lerer Ventures, 15 Angels and investor Joanne Wilson, who had also participated in the company’s $750,000 seed round in 2010, contributed to this round as well.

Betabeat actually reported the news about the funding round back in January when a Series D form was filed with the SEC.

On the Food52 blog, Hesser and Stubbs write about their plans for the funding:

“Over the next year, we’ll be improving our user experience for all mobile devices. We have a great new shop, unlike any other, in the works. And we’ll be expanding our publishing platform through an innovative partnership with Random House, Inc., which publishes renowned food writers Ina Garten, Alice Waters, and Yotam Ottolenghi.”

Food52 has already published two cookbooks with HarperCollins’ William Morrow. Hesser said that the company will have more to share about its new publishing plans soon.

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Cozy raises $1.5 million to make the landlord life a little easier

Eliza Kern — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 07:01:30 +0000

With rising real-estate prices and increasing demand for city living in San Francisco, most people in Silicon Valley aren’t terribly worried about the plight of landlords right now. But for every open house that results in throngs of wannabe-renters on the sidewalk clamoring to submit pages of applications for closet-sized apartments, there’s a landlord who has to weed through the details and pick the right renter. And once they find a renter, the landlord has to actually collect checks.

Cozy, a San Francisco-based startup founded in March, plans to announce Thursday that it’s raised $1.5 million in seed funding to standardize the application and rental payment processes for landlords nationwide. The round was led by the Social+Capital Partnership, and included investments from Google Ventures (Kevin Rose was behind the deal), Tim Ferriss, Jason Calacanis and Gary Vaynerchuk.

The site, which had been testing its product this year and is now accepting members for its beta product, attacks two key points of interaction between landlord and tenants: the application process and monthly rent payments. The founders hope that standardizing these interactions will benefit both landlord and tenant and provide a digital record for both down the line. Cozy is available nationwide, and so far, has seen the most interest from landlords in the Bay area, Portland, and New York City.

The founders have created a shorter, more succinct rental application that asks only what landlords need to know about applicants and tries to eliminate unnecessary or repetitive questions. CEO Gino Zahnd explained in an interview that most rental applications ask far more questions than landlords actually want to know, and provide details best left for the actual lease. Zahnd said that most landlords just want to know if a tenant will pay his rent on time.

The other aspect of Cozy’s product helps tenants looking to prove their competency to landlords. Cozy allows landlords using the app to collect and track monthly payments online, and provides renters with digital proof of their reliable payments, something which isn’t reflected in credit reports. The process allows landlords of multiple buildings or apartments to manage payments without using paper.

Cozy is led by Zahnd and John Bragg, who worked together at Kosmix, which is now Walmart Labs, and then at Seabright Studios, a user experience firm. Previously, Zahnd worked for Flickr, Splunk, and Adaptive Path, and Bragg with Capital One.

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A Web Worker's Grown Up Christmas List

Nancy Nally — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:00:13 +0000

One of my favorite holiday songs is “Grown Up Christmas List.” Amy Grant sings about all the things that she wants for Christmas that can’t be wrapped in a box. Her list, of course, is full of grand altruistic dreams such as peace and love for the whole world.

Well, this web worker has a grown up Christmas list, too. And if your jaded heart is overloaded on holiday peace and love this season already, I promise you there isn’t an altruistic wish in the bunch.

Time

Especially because I own my own business, it feels like I always have more ideas than I have time to execute them. There are so many avenues and possibilities to explore in my business. It feels like even if each day were 48 hours long I still wouldn’t have enough time to do everything I want to do.

If you could somehow figure out how to put more hours in a day or days in a week, Santa, it would be greatly appreciated. Maybe then I’d even have time to write you a thank you note.

Clairvoyance

Since I have so many more ideas than I could ever execute, it would be nice if I could devote my time to only the ones that are sure-fire winners. But to do that, I’d need to see the future (or be Warren Buffett).

What I could really use, Santa, are psychic powers or a time machine. Or maybe you could lend me your reindeer Lightning, the one in “Elmo Saves Christmas” who can fly so fast he can skip through time?

Understanding

Many of us who are web workers are working at jobs that didn’t exist ten, or even five, years ago. That can lead to some blank stares and awkward silences in response when we try to tell someone what we do. “You do what using what?”

Perhaps worse, it can cause a lack of respect for our jobs since many people don’t respect what they don’t understand. Our families ask when we are going to get a “real job” (meaning one they can understand that will impress their friends) even while we are earning six-figure incomes.

So, dear Santa, could you please give the world a crash course in Web 2.0 business and economics?

Cool

I keep hearing how geeks are cool, but I’ve seen little real evidence of it in my interaction with the world (see the above wish). Sure, Jimmy Fallon had the Diggnation guys on his show and Gary Vaynerchuk is crushing it, but what about the rest of us? Most of the non-geek world really just thinks of Twitter as an interactive pocket protector.

Real geek cool would be getting invited to velvet rope parties, not just to people’s houses when they need free tech support. Or how about a reality show on Bravo called “The Real Social Media Consultants of San Fran?” Figure out a way to make geeks truly cool, Santa, and I’ll get you set up with your own blog and iPhone app. Then you’ll be cool, too.

I stopped believing in Santa long ago (she should have done a better job at disguising her handwriting, is all I’m saying). But that doesn’t stop me from having wishes this time of year. Maybe, with the passage of time, some of them might even come true someday.

What are your grown-up holiday wishes?

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LessConf Interview: "Crush It!" Author Gary Vaynerchuk

Nancy Nally — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:05 +0000

Gary Vaynerchuk is the host of Wine Library TV (with over 80,000 viewers a day) and Director of Operations at his family’s company, Wine Library, in Springfield, NJ. He grew that business from $4 million to $60 million in only five years, and is now the co-founder of VaynerMedia and a consultant for Fortune 100 companies. An in-demand public speaker, Vaynerchuk has keynoted at events such as FOWA and South by Southwest, and also appeared on many television shows such as “Ellen DeGeneres”, “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”, “The Today Show”, and CNBC’s “Mad Money With Jim Cramer”. Vaynerchuk’s second book, “Crush It!“, came out earlier this month.

I sat down with Gary at LessConf in Jacksonville, Fla., to talk about working hard and building brands.

Nancy: You are famous for cheerleading, for telling people to work an 18 hour day. How has being a dad changed your perspective on that?

Vaynerchuk: It hasn’t. I don’t necessarily need people to work 24 hours a day. I need them to not do stupid stuff when they’re unhappy. If that ends up being 12 hours a day, or seven, or four, that’s fine. Because obviously family is first. And a lot of times for a lot of people, your first job is first, because that’s what pays your mortgage. It’s just at night, instead of plopping on the couch and eating junk food and watching Baywatch re-runs, there’s a lot of opportunity to build brand.

Nancy: Although you are known for doing all that motivational speaking, recently it seems to me that your focus has shifted a little bit away from pure motivation into a little more practical advice, especially with the book. Can you talk about that shift a little bit?

Vaynerchuk: It’s always been there. It’s just that the “rah-rah” stuff is so sexy, and people focus on it. I’m not a motivational speaker as my profession, or a life coach, or a self-help dude. I build businesses. I built a $70 million wine company. AJ and I, my dad and I, our partners and family have spearheaded Vaynermedia, which is well on its way to being a million dollar company. And Gourmet Library. And I was the kid that was making a thousand dollars a weekend selling baseball cards, which if you prorate it is $52,000 a year for one day a week’s work. So, this is a knack, this is a skill. I’ve always said be patient, hustle, you know, practical advice, but it always got pushed to the side. So this is no shift…this is probably why I wrote the book. Because in a book environment, I think it comes through more for a lot of people. It doesn’t get lost as much, because there are sections just devoted to it.

Nancy: You’ve been investing in a lot of startups lately. What gets your attention or gets you excited about one? Like at my house, when we’re looking at a new tech product, it has to pass the mom test of “could our moms use it?”

Vaynerchuk: Well, I don’t think that I would invest in any startup if that had to be my barometer, because moms get involved later. Products iterate to become mom-friendly. Mine is, is this valuable? And does it invoke emotion? Those are the two things that I’d look at. Does this product make people think about something, feel something? Facebook inherently created an environment of your world, gave you a feel of speed, almost like having a fast Porsche that you never saw before. So those are the kind of things that I look at.

Nancy: So you assume that if it brings that kind of feeling, that that’s a good investment down the road, because it’ll gain some traction?

Vaynerchuk: No, that’s just some of the things I look for from a product standpoint. Then I look at who’s the entrepreneur — who’s driving the car. That’s imperative to me. And so, there’s a lot of factors. Is the product over-hyped in the mind of the entrepreneur, which means it’s not going to be as good of a deal for me? There’s a lot of practical things that I look at.

Nancy: You’re talking a lot about personal branding, finding your passion. What are the top three skills that you think people need to be able to craft that sort of branding for themselves?

Vaynerchuk: I think this is what’s important: I think everybody can win. Everybody is going to win. Not everybody is going to be Oprah, there’s going to be a lot of Donahues, and a lot of Sally Jesse Raphaels, and a lot of Geraldos, right? What I think is important is this, for people to understand: The fact that we all can now go to Yankee Stadium and tap the plate and get a swing at the bat, was not real three years ago. You couldn’t become a brand. What you were going to do — leave your kids and your husband and fly to LA and find an agent? You had no shot. So that’s what I’m screaming about. Not that necessarily everybody’s going to win on this epic level and everybody’s going to make a trillion dollars, but do not disrespect the fact that everybody has a swing at the plate. And that’s a big deal.

Nancy: Everybody knows you want to buy the Jets. Do you have any other goals?

Vaynerchuk: The only goal that I have is that, and to spend time with my family and make sure that they’re healthy. And even the Jets goal is a big one but not something I’ll let define me. I’m not going to jump off a cliff if I don’t end up buying them.

Nancy: A lot of web workers spend a lot of time on the road, just like you do. What’s the number one piece of travel advice that you’ve picked up in your time on the road?

Vaynerchuk: That’s a great question. I do a lot of interviews, so when I get a new question, they’re good. The number one piece of advice? I think there’s only two things you should do as a businessperson in this web world when you’re flying. Two: Sleep or do email…no in between. Hardcore get in the trenches with your audience and answer their questions, or get the rest you need to execute it. Don’t watch a movie. And I understand you need time to unwind, people need that. But that stuff needs to be cut out a little bit. That part, where you’re watching Seinfeld reruns on your flight. That’s those two hours that really are the difference in building a big business. Now if you’re happy, and content, then watch Seinfeld.

Are you really working towards your goals? What are you giving up?

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Vaynerchuk Thunders Into Book Deal

Chris Albrecht — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:23:55 +0000

Gary Vaynerchuk is like the James Brown of Web 2.0 — the hardest-working man in the social media business. Forget turning water into wine, Vaynerchuk has so far turned wine into a video/blogging/Twitter empire and is now expanding away from his digital roots and into a seven-figure, 10-book deal.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Harper Studio will publish the books, with the first, Crush It! Turn Your Passion into Profits in a Digital World, due this September.

This isn’t Vaynerchuk’s first book. He also wrote the aptly titled Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World. (Given the length of his book titles, Vaynerchuk should opt to get paid by the word.)

Watching Vaynerchuk is like taking a master class in brand building (a very hyperactive master class). The guy sticks to his message, engages with his community and constantly works to promote himself across every new platform available. He even squeezed in a video show during a recent flight on Southwest Airlines. No wonder we named him one of our 2008 Breakout Video Stars.

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The Wit and Wisdom of Gary Vaynerchuk

Liz Shannon Miller — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:13:44 +0000

Without even the promise of free wine, Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk (an NTV Breakout Video Star and old favorite) packed an auditorium here at South by Southwest Sunday evening with the faithfully devoted of the Web 2.0. Moderator Susanna Hamner, a self-employed writer, Jenna Wortham of the New York Times basically stayed out of the way — the interview triumphed thanks to the sheer force of Vaynerchuk’s immense amounts of personality. The result was a panel that became a sermon on the man’s philosophies regarding work, life and self-promotion, with quoted lines flying fast around the web.

The gist was this: the best thing you can do to create your brand online is be as aggressively yourself online as possible. But below please find an assortment of some classic lines, transcribed as best I could for your re-Twittering ease. Because if you’ve never heard Vaynerchuk speak, just know this — he talks FAST.

“The work is when you go into the community and you find your audience.”

“Stop emailing me to ask what kind of camera I’m using. The camera is not the game, the lights are not the game, the mike is not the game.”

“It doesn’t matter how many followers you have. It’s about the people who care, that’s the game.”

“Putting up the content is the beginning of your day.”

“Delegate everything except what you love.”

“When you go for what you want, you have to pay for the consequences.”

And finally, in regards to his experience of taking a risk on following his passions:

“If you live for the weekends and vacations, your sh– is broken.”

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Garyvee: After Wine Comes Women

Liz Gannes — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:21:36 +0000

Larger-than-life online video personality Gary Vaynerchuk has gone from wine red to hot pink for a new original production, Obsessed. A long-form interview show focused on women’s lifestyle topics, Obsessed is hosted by home how-to writer Samantha Ettus, with guests like “the greatest floral designer of our time” (name: Preston Bailey). TechCrunch has more details.

Vaynerchuk, who has become an online marketing phenomenon in the three years since Wine Library TV launched, isn’t yet starting his own umbrella production studio, but rather collecting a set of properties (he appears at the end of every Obsessed episode to talk about wine). He co-owns the property with Ettus, and it’s produced by ambush.tv.

What’s interesting is Vaynerchuk — who sells plenty of wine, don’t you worry about him — had previously come under the roof of online video studio Revision3, only to be dropped when that company reorganized last year. Now he’s looking to run the empire himself.

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Google, GE Join Up to Tackle Energy Policy & Tech

Edit Staff — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:34:57 +0000

[qi:_earth2tech] Search engine giant Google and conglomerate GE have announced a partnership to collaborate on energy policy and technology, including pushing for a smarter electricity grid, cleaner power generation and greener transportation. Initially the companies will work on policy to build out more electricity transmission lines that will connect renewable energy, as well as work on implementing smart grid technology. In terms of technology, they will start out by collaborating on enhanced geothermal and plug-in vehicles, specifically electric vehicle-enabling technologies, including software and services that help utilities. For the full story, head over to Earth2Tech.

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