A Beginner’s Guide to VeeFriends: GaryVee’s NFT Collection
by corporate trash
4/13/2022
VeeFriends has been one of the biggest NFTs in terms of volume and community growth since minting in 2021. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk — known popularly as GaryVee — rose to prominence by investing in quickly growing startups and creating content, and was early to gain interest in the NFT space and the possibilities of Web3 in 2021.
GaryVee’s first NFT project, VeeFriends, was launched in 2021, has aimed to bring likeminded NFT collectors together and celebrate each of the unique human traits that are embodied in the collection. In addition, it was one of the earliest promises of IRL utility for an NFT, as it doubles as a ticket to VeeCon.
VeeFriends and Vaynerchuk have since expanded to other NFT collections, but VeeFriends Series 1 remains the most popular with the highest value.
What is VeeFriends NFT?
VeeFriends is an Ethereum NFT collection of 10,255 with 268 different characters that Gary Vaynerchuk drew himself. He teased different character drawings on his Twitter account as far back as February 2021, and people were guessing why he kept drawing so much.
Throughout the year, he kept drawing as his followers started to guess they were related to his upcoming NFT collection.
The main utility of a VeeFriend is the community and three-year access to the VeeCon conference, starting in 2022. However, Gary has suggested this will be his life’s work, and will be continuing to build the VeeFriends universe for years to come.
Owners have no commercial rights to the artwork in the NFT. There are about 5,300 unique holders of the Series 1 VeeFriends NFTs. The floor price for a VeeFriend Series 1 is currently about 12.5 Ethereum ($39,000) at the time of this post, and nearly 50,000 Ethereum in sales volume has been generated on the secondary market.
VeeFriends NFT Launch
The VeeFriends drop took place from May 11 to 15, 2021 in a Dutch auction format. Depending on the token rarity, the auctions began at ranges from 2.5 to 7 Ethereum, and ended at ranges from 0.5 to 3 Ethereum.
Within the first 24 hours, 3,129 tokens were sold. It actually took 20 days from launch for the project to fully sell out on June 1.
Traits for VeeFriends NFTs & Unique Utility
The tokens are of three different levels: Access (300), Gift (555), and Admission (9,400). 1,242 tokens were held back by Gary as Gary Original Owned (G.O.O.) NFTs, which command more value than others. All of the tokens are drawings of human traits that Gary admires, and believes will lead to happiness.
The 9,400 Admission tokens are broken down into levels of rarity: Core, Limited, Rare, Very Rare, Epic, and 1/1 Spectacular. The NFTs each have fun animal names like Confident Cobra, Radical Rabbit, Common Sense Cow, Karma Kiwi, and many more.
The highest sale to date of a VeeFriend is 130 Ethereum in January 2022 for a gold Admission G.O.O. 1/1 Empathy Elephant.
VeeFriends Access NFTs
Each of the 300 VeeFriends Access NFTs are redeemable for unique experiences with GaryVee — from pickup basketball to Facetime calls to brunch.
The names of these Access tokens represent the utility. For example, there are 10 Breakfast Bats, Brunch Bears, Lunch Ladybugs, and Dinner Dears for in-person meals with GaryVee.
Some of the Access tokens include 1-on-1 access with GaryVee. These include 85 tokens which can be used for a FaceTime call with GaryVee, three Mentor Meeting Mongooses, a Garage Salin Yale, Workout Wolf, Podcast Panther, and Courtside Cat.
VeeCon Tickets for VeeFriends Holders
Every VeeFriends Series 1 holder gets access to VeeCon, an in-person conference, for three years. The first VeeCon will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2022. This conference is focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, Web3, NFTs, and more.
It promises influential speakers in the NFT and creator industry, and the opportunity to connect with the community like never before. The 2022 lineup spans from web3 builders to influencers, including Logan Paul, Faze Banks, Kevin Rose, Andy Chorlian (creator of Fractional), the Cool Cats founders, Danny Cole, the D’amelio sisters, and many more.
GaryVee has a massive following both inside and outside of the NFT community. VeeCon will be a popular destination for those who are experienced in NFTs, and those looking to get started.
For many, access to VeeCon is the main perk of holding a VeeFriends Series 1 NFT.
VeeCon 2022 Tickets are currently on sale on the secondary market for .7 Etheruem, with art created by Art Blocks founder Snofro.
Other Related GaryVee NFT Projects
VeeFriends Book Games NFT
Following the success of VeeFriends, Gary launched a new project, mysteriously called Book Games. In August, he said that anyone who preordered at least 12 copies of his book “Twelve and a Half” would be eligible to claim one NFT months later. Every 12 copies would equal one NFT.
This offer led to him selling 1 million of his books in preorder within the 24-hour offer window.
It became a meme on NFT Twitter that holiday season, with dozens and sometimes hundreds of physical books showing up to people’s doors so they could receive multiple NFTs. Everyone in their entire extended family was going to get these books for their holiday gifts!
This transpired into the Book Games NFTs, which are housed on the Immutable X platform. Book Games are made up of 125,000 NFTs, and they are burnable for other assets and NFTs.
Book Games also acted as a chance for the “Friends List” to gain access to mint VeeFriends Series 2. In the lead-up to the Friends List, Book Games were being sold for around .5 Ethereum (about $1,600 at the time).
VeeFriends Series 2 NFT Collection
VeeFriends Series 2 was announced in March 2022. The total supply is 55,555 NFTs. According to the VeeFriends blog, “Series 2 consists of 251 characters, including 236 characters from Series 1 and 15 new characters who are officially being introduced to the VeeFriends universe.”
The characters are more evolved cartoon drawings of Gary’s original VeeFriends doodles.
For the launch in April, owners of VeeFriends Series 1 are eligible to mint one Series 2 per Series 1 that they hold. 15 new VeeFriends Series 2 characters are available only by burning a certain amount of Book Games tokens. Friends List mint was a random drawing for all Book Games token owners, and finally a Public Mint will also be available.
TL;DR – VeeFriends, GaryVee’s NFT Project
Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the most popular and engaged entrepreneurs in the world today, especially on social media. His following on Twitter is in the millions, and his audience listens very closely to what he says, whether on social media or on the news.
Whatever one may think about GaryVee as a person, he has introduced NFTs to many people through mainstream culture.
VeeFriends is GaryVee’s first foray into an NFT project, because he wanted to launch his own before diving deeper into investing and consulting in the Web3 space. By his presence in the Discord and on Twitter, you can tell that this project is extremely important to him. Even with other launches like Book Games and Series 2, VeeFriends Series 1 will remain a key NFT for major collectors to own.
The very first VeeCon takes place this year, so it remains to be seen how valuable that access to the conference will be. But regardless, the NFT collection commands a high price premium as it is linked to GaryVee, his massive community, and the speculative future value he may add.