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Mike: Hi, I’m here again with Gary Vaynerchuk, as part of our Build a Business Contest, where
we’re giving away a one-on-one power session, with Gary. These are really amazing opportunities,
you can check out the Shopify blog to find out what happened with the first one, with
Dexter.
This time we asked our stores to submit a video, tell us a little bit our their product,
their store, and what they thought they could get out of a meeting with Gary. I’ve got
Gary on the line here, hi Gary.
Gary: Hello.
Mike: So you’ve watched all these videos, and checked these guys out?
Gary: Indeed I have, Mike.
Mike: Before we announce the winner, let’s go through each one and talk about the company,
and see if Gary’s got any thoughts.
The first video is Adam Baumgartner, from JackBacks, which is a really cool product.
It basically replaces the back of your iPhone 4, with a real wood back replacement. I personally
always love the mix of wood with new technology. The website is jackbacks.com. Gary, what do
you think of this product?
Gary: I like this, this is not a simple “skin-ing,” or placing one of the protective stuff…
this is actually replacing the actual back. What I like about it is, he went all in, it’s
definitely not a half-pregnant, novelty item. Meanwhile, it still is a novelty item at some
level. It’s for the creatives in us. I like this product, I thought it was very interesting,
I like the handcrafted thing. I totally agree with you, Mike, I knew I liked you. I do also
like the aesthetic blend of wood and metal, and technology, I’ve always liked that as
well. That caught my attention.
Mike: Next was a really interesting video, from Natasha Wozniak, of Natasha Wozniak Designs
Jewelry. What I like about this video is, she actually shows us her work space. One
of the things Natasha is interested in is trying to find her customers, and where they
are. Any thoughts on Natasha, and her video?
Gary: Loved her, loved her real-ness, I think everybody should watch it. Back to what I
do with wine, there was no glitz and glamour; it’s all about her building her own name,
since the name and her is the brand. Finding her customers, there’s a lot of “quant”
people out there, using search, Facebook ads. She’s interesting business, because I know
exactly what she needs. It’s really understanding the web world today. Understanding how to
extract users that… there’s an Etsy “world,” the Google “world,” a Facebook “world,”
a Twitter “world,” there’s ad algorithms, and thoughts that would really convert for
her… From a global standpoint, that’s sales. From a marketing standpoint, she needs
to go all in on building her name… It spoke to me, it was probably the thing that’s
most similar to who I am.
Mike: I think Natasha could have a future in video, that’s for sure. The next one,
David Hachey from Razwar, one of our European entrants. Razwar is a line of razors and blades
and shaving accessories, and that’s really a field dominated by the most multi-national
of multi-nationals. What were your thoughts on David and his company?
Gary: The video was well done. I thought he had a really good sense of humour, which is
always hard to convert from different countries, and slang… I’m the ultimate lover of David
versus Goliath, my father-in-law was a major executive at Gillette, so it spoke to that.
I like the uphill battle, I like the direct consumer world. There was a lot that I liked
about this, from the polish to the depth of the website, the thought-out-ness, the narrow
focus… I like this one.
Mike: It is a very nicely designed website, it feels professional. The next video is our
anonymous, wig-wearing Give Dap friend. This is someone who has a 9-to-5 job, and like
a lot of people, he’s trying to bust out of that with his own business in his off hours,
and what Give Dap is, is basically a gift service for men. As he says in the video,
it’s really easy to find a gift for women, online, that just gets automatically delivered
to them, whether it’s flowers, chocolates, baskets. Give Dap is trying to do the same
thing, but for men. What were your thoughts on this video?
Gary: I love this dude, it was so gangster. Real practical. Exactly what he’s living
is what so many people are living. Love the concept. I’m an investor in Birch Box, so
I love retail, this spoke to me. I think there’s a lot of people playing in this space, there’s
a lot of stuff going on. He’s going to have a crapload of competition to deal with, but
more importantly, the “box-of-the-month” clubs that are starting to spur up. So he
needs to focus and be careful of that. But big upside, heavy competition… I loved his
passion, he’s the kind of guy I want to help, so, it spoke to me.
Mike: And our final video was from Ilene Chao of a very new store, Play Lashes. I must admit,
this was a product I did not know existed before this. They’re fake lashes, or faux
lashes, that are made out of mink hair, cruelty-free of course. Ilene certainly has the passion
and energy. What were your thoughts on her video?
Gary: I really liked it. I like the simplicity of the product, it sounded cool. She clearly
is into it, it’s a demo… I most certainly won’t be using it, but I also didn’t use
Birch Box, and I love that… There was a lot to like here, I like very simplistic,
very targeted businesses, that’s what she’s got.
Mike: I’d like to thank those five entrants for taking the time out of their day, and
actually creating a video. We knew that wasn’t easy, but we wanted to really deeper into
people’s business experiences, and what they were looking to learn.
Now I guess it’s that fateful time, Gary, where you get to select the winner, and the
person who will receive the Skype call with you.
Gary: I will have to go with… this one’s tough for me, because as an entrepreneur,
you think you can help everything. I want to take on the challenge of Razwar.
Mike: That means our winner is David Hachey of Razwar. So David, we’ll be contacting
you and setting up a time that works for everyone. As a thank you to all the other entrants who
entered, and didn’t win, we’ll be sending out a nice Shopify gift pack to them, with
some cool Shopify clothes, and other great things. We’ll also include a copy of Gary’s
latest book, The Thank You Economy. Thanks a lot Gary, we’ll look forward to the actual
video of you talking with Razwar, and maybe we can get you some samples, and get you all
shaved up for the call.
Gary: Thanks Michael.