← The GaryVee Audio Experience
The GaryVee Audio Experience
Founder of StockX & Fanatics Collectibles | Josh Luber's Bold New Venture
00:36:47
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- [00:01]
A
This is the GaryVee audio experience.
- [00:03]
B
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the GaryVee audio experience. I'm Mike from Team GaryVee and on today's episode of the podcast, Gary sits down with Josh Luber, co founder of StockX Fanatics Collectibles and now his new venture, Ghostwrite. Gary and Josh dive a little bit into how they met, what their relationship's like, and then we learn a little bit more about Josh and his entrepreneurial journey. This is an incredible episode for collectors and entrepreneurs of all types, and I really hope you all enjoy. Now to the episode Vaynernation.
- [00:33]
A
How are you? I'm excited about a live podcast. I know those over index and people get excited about it. And today I have one of my favorite entrepreneurs and a friend on the show, Josh Luber. We're going to talk about his new gig, which I think is really exciting because pretty much often I think about things from a perspective of like, in 20 years when I watch this, will this be cool or interesting or rad? And you know, Josh, I met in a diner the first time when he was about to start StockX and I know a lot of you heard of it, and he's gone on to do a lot of cool stuff and we've known each other now for a little while and his newest project feels very right to me. You know, I've been saying a lot over the last three years, five years, that like fashion and food and sports. I feel like collecting collectibles is starting to switch into a genre where I believe the mass and vast majority of society in 20 years, we'll go to a dinner party. I had a dinner party the other night. We had eight, 10 people over and we talked obviously about many things. We talk about like, what are you watching on Netflix and what restaurants are you going to? We did not in this evening say, what are you all collecting? However, multiple people made mention to a painting I had in the apartment. Multiple people made reference to the sneakers I was wearing and made a comment about how they're collecting Air force ones or something like that. I believe we're within the next decade in a place where, where both men and women will just in general conversation talk about just like, did you see the big game last night? They will say like, hey, I just picked up a spider man, first appearance of Carnage, or I just found the hardest to get marble for my marbles collection. And so I think collecting, which by the way, is the most human truth, like you go back to cavemen and they were picking up like, I don't know, dinosaur bones and shit. Like, collecting is forever, and it's crossed the chasm five years ago, and now it's just building towards that momentum. And that's why I'm so excited about talking about what you're doing, brother. And so that's the setup. I really want to get into the depths of entrepreneurship, collecting and then what you're up to now, mainly to be very frank, because I want a lot of people who find it interesting in my community, which will have a lot of crossover because of what I'm into, to be able to get in early, which I always like. I always like the feeling of, like. I literally get an email every day, 10 of them, actually. Or let five to 10 a day of like, thank you for getting me on TikTok. It changed my life. Or thank you for sports cards, or thank you for making me invest in Facebook back in 2015 or what have you. I love that feeling, and I love when people find a passion of theirs. And I feel like you're gonna have a very passionate community once this thing gets really rolling. So that's the big setup. The podcast could be over by now. By now, actually, but that's a big setup. Josh, why don't you. For the people that don't know you, take the mic for the next two, three minutes and tell them who you are and what you're up to now.
- [03:24]
C
Thank you very much. That was an amazing introduction, by the way. This can be like the rich Eisen Giannis PSA 10 conversation, right? You can be rich, and I'll be you. And we can. We can talk about collectible toys and how they're next. Thank you, by the way, that we don't need to tell the whole story of that day in the diner. But the first thing. I don't know if you remember this. The very first thing you said to me, you sat down, you didn't say hi. Right? It was a super. You know, it was a super.
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A
I remember it was like, everybody. It's literally out of a Seinfeld episode.
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C
Absolutely.
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A
Literally, this diner. We're on the counter.
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C
It was a typical.
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A
We're on the counter.
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C
It was so tight. Like, you couldn't turn around in there. And I was.
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There were 49 people in a space that held three.
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C
It was so New York. It was so typical, like, OG New York. And you slide down next to me and you look at me and you don't say hi, and, you know, and then you go, oh, you're about my age. Baseball cards are candy. And it took me a second and I was like. I was like, oh. I was like, I know exactly what you're asking. I was like, both. I was like, yeah, it was like candy and bubblegum in middle school and high school and then, you know, collecting cards my whole life. And it was because we're about the same age. I think you're like four or five years older than me. And everything you just said about how collectibles are changing and becoming more and more part of culture is because we are now the ones creating the companies that create the culture. And we. We grew up like that. Right. We didn't have that generation before because Phil Knight wasn't a sneakerhead because he had invented Nike. Right. Steve Jobs wasn't an iPhone5 because he had invented that. These guys invented these. We were the ones who were consuming that. And then now we're creating those businesses before there. So, you know, it really is not only central to what you and I both like, but it's been my career now for 10 years. And to some extent, I'm just lucky that I was one of the first people to sort of create a business around sneakers and then around trading cards and now around collectible toys. But it's all just the stuff that we collected as kids.
- [05:17]
A
Couldn't agree more, friends. Literally as recent as 1975, which is when I was born, ironically, 49 years ago, nobody was, like, buying Superman's first comic book as, like, a core collectible. There was a small crew.
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C
Yep.
- [05:34]
A
I had to say that part because I was going to get emails, be like, bro, fuck you. In 1974, I went to a comic book store. I know, but there was like 19 of you. I'll go to sneakers. Because I lived that. Not the comic book thing. The comic and cards thing started to kick in in the late mid-70s. The sneaker thing. In 1990, people weren't collecting Jordans. I remember I actually, in 1998, went to a wine dinner, and the daughter of the guy, the daughter, because she was a fashion girl, like a cool girl, was collecting Jordans in 1997, 6. And I was like, huh?
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C
Yeah.
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A
You know, like, new things get collected. Like, I just don't think people understand, like, video games, I was early on that they are now. You go to ebay, you go to completed items. Video game. You'll be stunned of what some of these things sell for. You're right. We're the byproducts of the golden 1980s, 90s pop culture era. That spongebob us that sneakers us us, that all this stuff's us. And it's very, very real. When I was a kid, my parents had friends that had more money and they would go to Sotheby's and buy antiques for real money. $400,000 for a vase. There's no fucking buddy buying a 400,000 vase. That's like our crew, which is the crew that now is amassing wealth. We're not buying. That's right, a fucking $380,000 urn. And again, I know there's people are gonna email me and be like, I know you're from a third generation wealthy family and like, you're affected by that culture, but the new money. That's right, the new money wants a fucking Jordan rookie card or a pair of sneakers or, you know, amigo Superman action figure, which is like a 1970s rare toy. Like, like, it's just different.
- [07:34]
C
I literally had someone email me last night that said, hey, can you help me find a buy. Can you help me buy a Jordan PSA 10? Right. They're not somebody that collects cards. There's somebody that is actually in sports media and said, hey, I want to put some money into cards. I want a Jordan PSA 10.
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A
Good timing.
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C
Yeah.
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A
Tell us about two seconds on StockX. Zero cool that era. And then like, let's segue into this really rad thing I think you're doing.
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C
Most people know me as the founder of StockX, as they should.
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You built one of the most important contemporary companies in the world. It's pretty fucking cool.
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C
I appreciate that. You know, a lot of this is timing. I stood outside at 21 Mercer during the Galaxy phone drop in 2012, you know, and sat out there with everyone else and said, is this really how Nike's most important sneaker release ever happens? And the chaos. And so I was in the right place at the right time for some of these. But I've collected sneakers all my life and all these products I've collected all my life. But I almost intentionally avoided creating any businesses around them for years because when we grew up, the word entrepreneur didn't exist. The idea of chasing your passion didn't exist. So StockX, we started in 2015, obviously, I moved to Detroit. We started that company with Dan Gilbert. I left in September of 2020. And at that point I was trying to build a trading card business and somehow I ended up partnering with another billionaire MBA owner and Michael Rubin, and we created fanatics, collectibles. We went out and acquired all the licenses for baseball Basketball, football, cards. And that business was bigger, faster, crazier by every metric. I mean, that thing was nuts. I mean, we built a $10 billion company in one year. At the end of, the end of 21, we acquired TOPS and then we built that. But unlike StockX, where that was my baby, that was like everything around my whole life. It took me a year to realize that just because I started that company doesn't mean I can't leave. Whereas with Finax Collectibles, from the very beginning, Ruben and I were on the same page. And if this thing gets as big as it's going to get, you don't want me running this, and I don't want to run.
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A
You're not a corporate CEO type. Yeah.
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C
No way.
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A
And you're a founder.
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C
Yeah. And so. Which was great because, you know, Ruben and I were on the same page as that. And once that business got big enough, I went back to the same thoughts we had as StockX was growing, which are the other categories on StockX that are interesting. In 2018, we added collectible toys to StockX. We started with Bear Brick, which is kind of the most longest running, most successful collectible toy franchise. Cause Astro Boy, a lot of these sort of like typical hyper economy kid, robot kidrobot is part of it. I mean, they don't really have the energy they used to in sort of the mid-2000s, but there's a couple of them. But you have these hype economy products that are all the same as sneakers and trading cards and streetwear. They're all products that are supply and demand driven, that are based on the intersection of culture and commerce, that have resale value and. And collectors. Right. They're. They're all the same. Right. It's just a different product, a different blank canvas. Right. A Jordan one. The value is based on the color pattern and how many exist and the supply and demand of it all. But it's a Jordan One's a Jordan one is a Jordan one. Right. The value is based on who that that collaboration is with. In the same way a trading card. Trading cards are all the same. The value is. Is that Wemby or is that the backup catcher for the twins? Right. And so for me, as we're moving to the next business that I wanted to create, we had always been fascinated by collectible toys because the collectible toy industry is big enough to matter. It's big enough to work with all the most important brands and artists and cultural creators. But it wasn't so big that you had these monoliths in the space, there wasn't a Nike or the NBA or fanatics in the space. You have Funko and Metacom and these okay companies, but it's not the NBA. It's not Nike. And so I very, very specifically chose a place where we could build a brand and leverage everything we learned from sneakers and trading cards, about the intersection of culture and commerce, about supply and demand, but a place where I could do it on my own. I didn't have to partner with a billionaire MBA owner to build a multibillion dollar company to even be relevant.
- [11:32]
A
You went back to your roots.
- [11:33]
C
Yeah, yeah. And by the way, when I left StockX, there were 1400 people. When I left Fanatics, Collectibles, there were probably close to 2,000. It is me and 10 people at Ghostrite, which is, I mean, a business is just people, right? Like, this is the best. I get to work with exactly who I want to work with. Almost every one of them worked with me at one or both of the last two companies. They all get the industry, the space, and working with me. Yeah, and like that, that's the, like the true joy of this thing.
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A
Hey everybody. Actually, if you're a really hardcore listener, you know I never do this. I'm sorry to be jumping in the middle of the podcast, but the truth is I'm like shitting the bed on this. Everybody else is getting people to review on Spotify and Apple and like the vaynernation does none of that because I've never asked. So if this podcast has ever meant anything to you, please go to Spotify or Apple right now and leave a review. By the way, even if you give me a one star review because you think it's shit, I respect it, but just leave a review, an actual review, four or five stars, and the actual details of why. Yeah, that would mean something for me. So thanks. Now back to the podcast. So, Ghostwrite. Ghostwrite, what is it?
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C
Ghostwrite is a collectible toy brand, but we say it's a blank canvas brand, which means that the product is the shape. Now the best example of this is bear brick. Bear brick, which is made by a Japanese company called Metacom, is 25 years old, is a human body with a bear head. Most people who are somewhat relevant at all with the hype economy are aware of bear bricks. Stockx, when we added them, we were overnight the largest seller of bear bricks, which means that almost every collectible toy is a character. It's ip, it's Spider man, it's Astro Boy, it's. It's Iron Man. Right. A bare brick can be anything. You could put Iron man on it, or you could wrap it in the American flag or a Warhol painting or something else. And that's what allows. It's a canvas, and that's what allows us wider aperture in the culture. And so at GhostWrite, we are doing the exact same thing. So a ghost, which I have here is a kid wearing a crown, but a ghost, like a bear brick. There's no face, there's no gender. The ghost itself is not a character. It's about what you put on it. There's been four public releases. One's been an NBA basketball. Another has been the logo from Eastside Golf. Another has been a Rocky's Matcha, which is a T brand. Right. And now we're moving into the WNBA set, which we'll talk about. But the idea is that it can be anything. And that gives us the opportunity to treat this exactly the way the trading cards work, the exact way that sneakers work. And it's a fun place to be because it means we get to collaborate with everyone. Interesting, right?
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A
So if Louis Vuitton wants to do a deal, you can do the pattern there. But if the WWE wants to make a deal, you could put the actual wrestlers on it. Exactly. It's pure blank canvas. The shape is the ip.
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Exactly. Exactly.
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Understood.
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Yep. We. For a year, all we did was make ghosts to give away. We started making ghosts in August of 2023. The first one was with Eastside Golf, where we actually made ghosts for their golf tournament. They were tee box markers for the tournament. And then over the next year, we made 1 here, 10 here, 5 all friends and family promotional, all brand building. After that, we started selling ghosts about four or five months ago. There's been on ghostrite.com everything else, ghostright.com.
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And spell that out, because some people are going to get the wrong right.
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G H O S T W R I T E dot com. And this is about the ethos of the brand ghostwrite is that these are products that tell other people's stories. Right. As a blank canvas, we can tell other people's stories. It is not about the ghost story itself. That, by the way, I love this case is AFA graded ghost. Okay. Which we have a partnership with afa, which grades GI Joe, He Man, Star wars. All the, like, the classics, they're the. They're the PSA of vintage toys. And so we have a partnership with them where we can have our ghost graded. In fact, that is the sample case there that I brought you so. But as we then launch Ghosts on GhostWrite, which to date everything has been sold direct using what we call blind Dutch auction.
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A
Which you revolutionized with StockX.
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Right? Which is. This is not the first time we did this. We did this at StockX.
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We did this how we did Ven0Cools Series 1 boxes.
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That's right.
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People snagged for like 20 something hundred. Now they're like 6K.
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Yep.
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People did well with that.
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And, and we're not.
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Tyler blew it.
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We're not going to turn this into economics lecture. But that, that, that, that delta right there is exactly the way the economic theory says it's supposed to work. Which means that when the product sells as a blind Dutch auction, there is hype left in the system. Which means that by definition everyone should be able to resell it at some point from more than what it cleared for. Just the way that. A way that works. And that's cool. That's why we like this concept. But so to date, all of the. By the way, the same. We have the same three sizes, bear brick. The 400% which is 11 inches which you have some of these. That is kind of the flagship size. The thousand percent which you also have one of those that is kind of the promotional one. And then this which is called the 100% which is two and a half inches and so obsessed with this one. Yeah. In December we are going to do the first ever 100% release with the WNBA.
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A
So rad.
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C
It is joint license with the league and the players.
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A
So you got the WNBA and the WNB APA.
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C
That's right. And this is the first two boxes. These are blind boxes of 100%.
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A
These look so good.
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C
Thank you.
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A
I'm so proud of you.
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C
Thank you.
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A
I don't expect less, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was impressed. This is proper.
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C
This is the thing about being able to work with who you want to work with. They're all rock stars. I get to go and have great designers and product people and everyone else. And so we get to looks like a fucking iPhone.
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Like the. You know what I mean?
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We've spent so much time on this because this has to be a true collectible. It has to matter. It has to be a phenomenal product. Right. The supply and demand of it all. That's just the gravy. Right. The product itself has to actually matter. So. And by the way, to have a license with the WNBA and we have licenses with the NBA and baseball.
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A
Are you Kidding me. The fucking gangsters of the gangsters.
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C
This is trading cards, right? This is a blind box. And so we're going to open this the same way we opened the first cases of. Of Aubrey.
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A
You have the famous fan. That's cool.
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C
This. When I say we take everything from sneakers and trading cards, you know, the. The Kobe World cup prism card. That is number to 25 and autograph. And the last one sold at golden auction for like 60 grand. Right. That concept. We didn't make that up. To put the most relevant people in culture that are the big fans of the sets. So Aubrey Plaza. And here's. Here's her ghost. This was the outfit she was wearing at the WNBA all star game in Phoenix this year, where she tore her ACL playing knockout with the players. And her ghost has crutches and an ice pack on her. I mean, like, these are the stories of the wnba, right? This is the idea. Ghost tell stories. We get to tell all the most interesting stories. And by the way, what a year for the wnba. I mean, look, there's so much that's just. I'm so lucky from a timing standpoint. Like, holy crap. I get to come in at the first year. The WNBA with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and everything else going on.
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Timing.
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C
Yeah. Time is great. So this is the first set. I haven't opened a box yet either. This is the first one we get to open.
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A
Yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. I'm pumped right out. Amazing. Do I get to keep mine?
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C
Yeah, absolutely. So here's the thing. There are. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's. Let's remember. Do you remember what happened? We opened the first.
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A
Yes. We pulled in a sketch card in the first box. I still can't get over that for the V. Friends, bro. Honestly, I know that some of you are watching the videos, but most of you are listening on the audio. The packaging is remarkable. Like, really well done. Really well done. I'm impressed.
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C
Thank you.
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A
How much are they going to be?
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C
So there are 900 total cases that are being sold.
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A
Cases.
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C
Each case has 12 individual blind boxes in them.
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A
And this is a box?
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C
Yep.
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Man. This is the girth. The girth. This is substantial.
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C
Yeah. So there's 12 ghosts inside this?
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A
Oh, there's 12 ghosts inside of this?
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C
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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A
That makes sense. Sense.
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C
Yeah.
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A
Okay.
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C
Yeah. They're this size. Yeah.
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A
So wait, this is not a case. This is a box?
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C
Well, I. Yeah, so I call it a case because there's. It's a box.
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A
This is a case.
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C
Yes. This is a case.
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A
Goddess there's only 900 of these.
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C
Yeah. It's super limited. Yeah.
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A
Oh, I'm hyped.
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C
Yeah. I'm like.
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A
I'm like, let me just.
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C
Yeah, I got. I got one unopened case here for each of us and then one to open. So again, thank you, brother. One case to open, because this is not open. Yeah. So there are. There are five main parallels that we're chasing. And so you can see on the side of the box on this side, we have our five main parallels here. Right. Fire, which is 101. Gold number to 10, Chrome number to 5. This purple one, which is a bet on women. We can talk about that. That's number to 25. And then this alternate face, which we call victory, is number to 50. So the face. The look here, which we call game face, was this idea of sort of like the elevated intensity of athletes. So that's the major look. And you can think about this as, like, a panini prism design, because this will be the same look we use for the NBA and major league baseball for this year. And then next year, we'll flip to a new design for each player. So, like, each year, we have that design. But the five parallels, I mean, this is what we're chasing. Right. And by the way, I.
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A
Is there a chase in each case?
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C
On average, the math works out that there's one per case, but.
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A
But not guaranteed.
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C
Yeah, there's no way to sort of guarantee. The factory does it randomly. And I honestly don't know what's in here. Hopefully we get.
- [21:08]
A
This is literally first time you're opening?
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C
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is like the first now, basically. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we literally had them. Have them overnighted from China yesterday as everything else is rolling in over the next two weeks.
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A
Unbelievable.
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C
The release.
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A
Are people going to get them?
- [21:23]
C
Yeah. Well, so there's. There's two ways. So there's 900 cases. 700 of them are sold wholesale to the breakers. So the top 10 card breakers are opening. This backyard breaks blaze cherry. Like, you know, that's who's mainly opening this. And then we're doing a blind Dutch auction on. On Ghost Rate for the other 200. So second week of December, we'll have. We'll do our blind. Our blind Dutch auction for.
- [21:47]
A
Where should they. For my homies here that want to go that route. Where do they go?
- [21:51]
C
Everything on ghostwrite.com we added. Product page went up this morning, so all the information is there. And over the next three weeks, we will do all the storytelling and marketing and all that. But it will be. People can enter into breaks or they can buy cases directly from us.
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A
Love it.
- [22:08]
C
Okay.
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A
Do I rip with this?
- [22:10]
C
Yeah, I think we rip them here. So I haven't opened any.
- [22:14]
A
I'm telling you, like, I've got, like, am I like, just like the. I've gotten much more into product design. I feel as I've gotten older, like, I appreciate. Oh, this is pretty.
- [22:25]
C
This is the first time I'm opening them too. Which is. Yeah, let's just point out, because we took these boxes randomly and we took the boxes randomly for Vee friends and you ended up with the number to 15.
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A
So you were the one that hit the sketch.
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C
No, you hit.
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A
Oh, I did, yeah.
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C
Yeah.
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A
These open. Nice.
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C
Yeah.
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A
All right, everybody. I'm opening my first one ever.
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C
And I'm opening mine at the same time. We'll see. There should be one. One chasing each. We'll see who gets what. I mean, look, the base number. 800.
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A
I mean, just even the poly bag.
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C
Yeah.
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A
This is really well done. Proud of you, man. This is really nice.
- [22:58]
C
Thank you. Thank you.
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A
I think these are going to be really popular. Here we go.
- [23:05]
C
Kelsey Plum bass. Oh, you pulled Aubrey Plaza on the first one.
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A
Aubrey on the first one. I love it. I pulled the Aubrey. And is it.
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C
It's all what's on the foot. So it says 1024. That is October of 2024. When the set was created. When the set was produced. And then number to 800. So there's eight. Even the base are only numbered 800.
- [23:24]
A
But this. But this will only say 800. We'll say one of 800.
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C
That's right. That's right. And it'll say the same thing if it's number to 10 or 5. They're not individually numbered, but it says exactly how many.
- [23:32]
A
Oh, yeah, the head turns.
- [23:33]
C
There's a little bit of movement. Yeah, Head and legs move.
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A
Legs move.
- [23:37]
C
Yeah, the head and legs move.
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A
Oh, the leg. Okay, so I can have a little. I can give you a little side eye.
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C
So. Because we can't. You have the AFA sample here. So. By the way, if anyone pulls any of the top three parallels, Gold, Fire, Chrome, we will pay for them to grade it with afa.
- [23:54]
A
No.
- [23:55]
C
Yeah, we are paying for free because how do we care about is the long term value?
- [23:59]
A
I get it. How are you. How does one do that there?
- [24:02]
C
Every. All the info is on the site. Yeah.
- [24:04]
A
On ghost. Right.
- [24:05]
C
Yeah. So this I'll. Well, this will be. This is a separate cases that we have for this Is like. Think of this as like psa. And this is like a, you know, a semi rigid, right? This is like your top loader. Yeah, yeah. So you can buy this one on.
- [24:17]
A
The site as well.
- [24:17]
C
Yeah, this one is, is. I brought one of these for you. So whoever your big hit is. Okay, you can put in there. Put it in that.
- [24:23]
A
Well put. My big kid. I'm sending the afa. It's right, right?
- [24:26]
C
That's right.
- [24:30]
A
These are fun. These are fun.
- [24:35]
C
Yeah.
- [24:35]
A
I mean, like parents, if you're listening, like, this is just like a super duper, duper, duper elevated blind bag toy play.
- [24:43]
C
Exactly right.
- [24:43]
A
For a lot of the parents that raise kids in the last 15 years, blind bagging for toys has been monstrous. This is just think of this as like the LVMH of that experience. Like from a package, you save the poly bag and then. Ooh. Now how like. Okay, so they're gonna have like. For a lot of people that may want to get in on this, but don't follow the. The WNBA yet. What you're doing well is you're putting the jersey on the back, right? So I get Carrington.
- [25:11]
C
Like, yeah, that's how you Carrington. I just pulled dawn staley. So there's 12 active players, three legends. Dawn staley, Lisa Leslie and Becky Hammond.
- [25:21]
A
Oh, didn't I see. Wait a minute, did I see Diana Tarasi?
- [25:25]
C
Diana still playing?
- [25:26]
A
Oh, she is, yeah.
- [25:28]
C
Yeah.
- [25:28]
A
What a fucking gangster. She is.
- [25:30]
C
Hell yeah.
- [25:31]
A
Are you kidding? What year is this for Diana now? 30. Yeah, I'm not, I'm joking. But like it's 20.
- [25:37]
C
Yeah.
- [25:40]
A
15.
- [25:40]
C
I think it's like 13 or 14. Yeah. I mean, she's been. Yeah, she's such a gangster. I'm like, I haven't seen any parallels in real life yet.
- [25:49]
A
Kels.
- [25:50]
C
Asia Wilson.
- [25:51]
A
I got a plum as well.
- [25:52]
C
Asia Wilson.
- [25:53]
A
Asia Wilson's so gangster. She's such a player.
- [25:55]
C
Yep.
- [25:56]
A
She can really play.
- [25:57]
C
She was the first pig.
- [26:00]
A
20 years. I was right, bro. I told you 20.
- [26:03]
C
So one of the other things that we did, which. This is fun, I'm not sure anyone's ever done this before, is all of the information on the site about the players is written by Shay Serrano.
- [26:16]
A
I saw, I saw. Yeah.
- [26:18]
C
So he's got. We put his quote on the side and then if you go to the site, like this is instead of having like an intern at Tops, right, the back of a baseball card, right? We went to a four time New York Times bestselling author who's got an NBA and WNBA podcast to do the content about the players. Right. It's like it was, it was a no brainer. I was like, how does no one thought of this before? There's.
- [26:39]
A
I pulled her, I pulled the Tarassi. That's so awesome. Yeah.
- [26:43]
C
And I got Becky Hammond at the same time.
- [26:44]
A
These are really nice. Can I get a scoop here? Like, do you have another license yet that you've been able to lock in?
- [26:52]
C
Yeah, yeah. So NBA and Major League Baseball and the players. So.
- [26:57]
A
So you have MLB and mlb. Pa.
- [26:59]
C
Yes, and NBA and nbap.
- [27:02]
A
Oh, so NBA and MLB are coming?
- [27:03]
C
Yes. So NBA will be timing been announced or you. We haven't announced. We're shooting for like start of the playoffs for the NBA and then like all star break for, for mlb.
- [27:13]
A
So you'll be, you'll be close on both of those? Yeah, they'll be close to each other.
- [27:17]
C
Yeah, yeah, pretty close. I mean the idea is that, you know, this becomes a regular cadence. Every year there's a new set. We have the stars, we have the rookies. You know there's four rookies in the set, which is. And you'll notice as soon as we pull one, they actually have an R on the jersey. So like a rookie card designation.
- [27:34]
A
That's really nice, bro. These are really nice. What else is happening? Let's broaden this out for the people listening. Oh, I gotta pull two Diana's and.
- [27:45]
C
I have two Becky here. I'll trade you Becky Hammond for Diana.
- [27:48]
A
No, thank you. Talk to me about. No, no disrespect, Becky, I love you, but I'm obsessed with that. As a multi time entrepreneur, what's the biggest fear concern thing that's keeping you up at night? Or even if it's not that drama filled, what's a watch out that you're thinking a lot about?
- [28:06]
C
Yeah, it's. Look, I gotta say, it's definitely not that drama filled at this point. Right.
- [28:12]
A
Smaller. Right.
- [28:13]
C
And, and look, no matter what happens, like I have my wife and kids, I'm fine financially. Like, but you know, now I've brought these people in with me that have been with me at Stockx and been with me at Fnatics Collectibles and I want to do this for them as much as for anyone. Right. Because we're all bought in. Look, the beginning of this is ghostwrite. It is the product, it is the license.
- [28:41]
A
How did I not start with this? Full disclosure, I'm an I for you. You've been at this for so long. Glad I fucking said this. I invested at the Starbucks downstairs, was it Covid or like. All I remember is, like, we sat down for seven minutes. You're like, I'm doing this company. I'm like, tell me. You're like, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, all right, fine. Like, I'm like, I'm not making that fucking stock X mistake again.
- [29:02]
C
It was. It was almost. It was almost two years ago. It was when I left Fanatic Spectacles. We've been working on this a while because, first of all, it took eight months to create the design. We threw away so many. To have something that's a true blank canvas like that there was something unique about it, but not a character of itself. Right. Like, every V friend is that specific character. We know exactly who that is. This has to be in between, you know, a piece of paper and a character.
- [29:30]
A
How. How quickly into IDing did the crown pop up?
- [29:33]
C
Oh, you have just pulled three. You've. Well, I just got an injurious rookie, so.
- [29:38]
A
Okay. You just got the. That's a monster.
- [29:40]
C
We still don't have this parallel.
- [29:42]
A
Let me see where the rookie patches. Top left corner, right?
- [29:44]
C
Yeah.
- [29:45]
A
Angel. Reese, let's.
- [29:47]
C
You pulled three Aubrey Plazas.
- [29:50]
A
I forgot that angel wears five. I gotta get her jersey and rock it.
- [29:55]
C
So I have. For the. For I have the first rookie. You have three Aubrey Plazas, though. But neither of us have hit a parallel.
- [30:01]
A
Yeah, I need a parallel. Yeah, you're gonna know because it, like, takes over. It, like, takes all the coloring.
- [30:07]
C
Yeah. Yeah. Well, it'll be the crown or the face, depending on who we hit. Let me see the face of that Rikia Jackson. Yeah, yeah. Same face.
- [30:16]
A
Yeah. Oh, right. There's a face parallel, right?
- [30:19]
C
Yeah.
- [30:20]
A
I gotta look out for.
- [30:20]
C
But we don't. We haven't hit any. We would know. Oh, do you think back to back injuries? I have two injuries.
- [30:27]
A
Okay. I may want to make a treat. Yeah. What about overall collecting? What? You know, you've been following it for a while now. What's the state of the union? What are you seeing out there? What? Just get a Lisa. Leslie.
- [30:39]
C
Lisa.
- [30:39]
A
I got you.
- [30:40]
C
I'm.
- [30:40]
A
Lisa and I are very friendly. I love her a lot. Great.
- [30:43]
C
Damn.
- [30:43]
A
I only have three left. I need a parallel.
- [30:45]
C
I have four left here.
- [30:46]
A
What. What's going on in overall collecting that's caught your eye? That's been interesting. You and I were both for a long time on non fictional or like, non sports rookie cards. Right. You were in actual non like, nonfiction more like, you know, Rita Franklin and Michael Jackson. All That I was super hot. It was really funny. We didn't do, you know, this storyteller. Me and Josh didn't tell each other that we started, but we're so, like, in sync to, like, watching collectibles. We both started collecting things that weren't athletes at the same time. He went more like, you know, like, you know, Jimi Hendrix, and I went more Fred Flintstone. I went fictional. You went more non fictional. But we're still crossing over a little.
- [31:29]
C
Well, we both had the same realization that, like, it's just supply and demand and you have these other characters other than athletes, that have tremendous amount of demand and cultural relevance. And that's what. That's what collecting is about.
- [31:41]
A
What do you see out there? Anything capturing. Like, what about the overall toy stuff? I collected toys heavy in the 90s. I have Optimus Prime. I have Cobra Commander, Mickey Mouse. Like, I have. I have. I have 12 back Star Wars. I have Migos from the 70s. I have, like, real shit.
- [31:57]
C
I've been collecting a lot of GI Joe over the. I think you just hit it. Is that a victory? Is that her face?
- [32:01]
A
Oh, I got a victory. I got a Diana victory. Oh, See what the difference is? See the face, huh?
- [32:07]
C
Nice. So. And if you look on the bottom, I think victory is number to 50.
- [32:12]
A
Number to four, to 50.
- [32:15]
C
50. And I just hit Cameron Brink victory. So these were our parallels here, which, you know, is.
- [32:20]
A
Is that. Is that the parallel?
- [32:22]
C
These are the most. Yeah, the. And look, these are the most common parallels. So that makes sense, right? That number to 50. So in future boxes, we'll hit, you know, more rare ones. But that was perfect. After talking about Diana.
- [32:36]
A
Bro, I love the packaging. I love the whole, like, the top loader thing. How much are those Little top load. What are they called? What'd you name?
- [32:43]
C
I don't know. We got a name. What do you think I should name it?
- [32:49]
A
Feels like a marijuana reference could be good. Because I feel like the first time I saw that shave, my homies were fucking smoking some proper weed. Like, I was like, what's that?
- [32:57]
C
It kind of did.
- [32:58]
A
Like, I was like, why is it not in a little dime bag or nick? Cause I went to a hood college, and those fuckers smoke knick bags full of dirt. And then, like, when we were older, I went to, like, California, and I was like, what's that? And they're like, this is some good shit. I was like, oh, that's how you guys do it.
- [33:14]
C
So I just hit. I didn't realize this. Okay, So I just Hit an angel. Oh, so we both just hit a second parallel. So that's great. So you hit an angel. Reese, parallel.
- [33:25]
A
Let's. Do I need another one of these little.
- [33:28]
C
Do we have the bag holders? I think I. Hand me my bag. I think I have one more I can give.
- [33:33]
A
Thank you, brother Gary.
- [33:34]
C
The other one.
- [33:35]
A
So let's go. We both double paralleled.
- [33:38]
C
So let me show you something. So this is your variation base. Asia Wilson. Okay. Las Vegas Aces.
- [33:46]
A
Yep.
- [33:46]
C
This is the Victory Asia Wilson. Number to 50. That one is a sample. So it's got a slightly different top. It's got. Place the top. Yeah, yeah. Like the reverse, right? Yeah. We had kind of done a couple different versions. That was a sample one.
- [34:01]
A
Yeah, yeah. I'm listening.
- [34:02]
C
Yeah, yeah. If you stand it up and then. Yep. Perfect.
- [34:07]
A
And this is why you probably didn't use this design, because it's a little harder.
- [34:10]
C
Yeah, makes sense. Yeah.
- [34:11]
A
All right.
- [34:11]
C
But it works for. Yeah. Okay. So if you see this, this is the Victory Asia Wilson. You see how she has silver hair?
- [34:20]
A
Yeah.
- [34:20]
C
So on media day last year, she wore a silver wig. So she had this sort of iconic look. Just for me, it's like a secret.
- [34:28]
A
This is a secret hit.
- [34:29]
C
Yeah. So it's. I didn't realize that we did. For the parallel for Asia Wilson, we used her silver hair, and for the base, we use regular.
- [34:37]
A
This is the actual yellow because the crowns.
- [34:39]
C
Yeah. So you see how.
- [34:41]
A
And so what. I would see that at the bottom because it says 50.
- [34:44]
C
Yeah. And it's got a different face. Right. So that has the victory face. Right. And that's numbered 800. So this. We made the.
- [34:51]
A
Oh, is that the. Is that the victory face parallel?
- [34:53]
C
Yeah.
- [34:53]
A
That's not one of the crown things that we were chasing.
- [34:55]
C
We didn't see.
- [34:56]
A
We didn't hit the crown.
- [34:57]
C
No, we had. We each had to.
- [34:58]
A
I needed a fire. Oh, pull a fucking fire crown.
- [35:01]
C
We hit two victory, which is great. But neither of us hit any of the. The rare crowns, which, you know, that's how it goes. Last one. Nope. A second. Kelsey Plum. So. But you see that? So this is number to 50, but we used a different hair, which I think is badass.
- [35:17]
A
900. 900 cases. This is a case times 12. Only 1080 units.
- [35:24]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [35:24]
A
I mean, I'm sorry. 900. So 10. These are 10,080.
- [35:31]
C
Yeah, 10,900 cases that we're selling. There's another 150 for seating and everything else. So it's like 1150 total, but still times 12 yeah, yeah. And that's it. It's. You know, there's actually. On the side of the box. So we had Shay do the content and we actually had Kurt Goldsberry do shot charts.
- [35:48]
A
I gotta get out of here, guys.
- [35:50]
C
Josh. Yeah, 310. Okay, we both. Yeah, we both have to bounce a second.
- [35:53]
A
Good.
- [35:53]
C
Okay. We had Kurt Goldsberry do the infographics for the Scarcity. Right. So you have.
- [35:59]
A
I saw it. It's crack crazy, bro. Honestly, everybody, real talk. Do your own homework on Josh, on ghostwrite. But if you're into collectibles, especially collectible toys, I think people that collect. My brother, thank you so much. If you collect Lego mini figures, I can see LEGO minifigures, people crossing over. If you were envious of your kids that they were blind bagging and you wanted something for adults, this is one. And obviously for all the dads and moms that have little girls that have become infatuated, wnba, I think this can elevate their collection. It's really rad. I really, really can't express how obvious this is to me and the AFA collaboration. Josh, I'm excited for you, brother. Good luck with this and I will be collecting.
- [36:46]
C
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.