Gary Vee's 36-hour Saudi Arabia trip: business, esports, and emerging tech

Executive overview

Building real relationships in a new region requires multiple trips on the ground — not headlines from afar. Gary documents a sprint through Saudi Arabia for an esports conference and Al-Nassr football match, using the trip to gather firsthand context before committing to business decisions.

Blockchain and AI are serious opportunities; most people dismiss them without ever trying them.

Most people are headline readers, not practitioners — and that gap is where opportunity lives.

On travel, work, and time

• Long flights are productive windows for catching up on work and setting up future meetings
• The region is moving faster than most of the world on pop culture and business
• Convenience and time are the ultimate value drivers — fast food was never about food

On age, impatience, and regret

• Feeling old at 27 is driven almost entirely by outside opinions, not reality
• At 47, the internal experience of ambition feels identical to 25
• The real risk is inaction — sitting with regret for 30–40 years, not taking the leap

On blockchain, NFTs, and emerging tech

• Only 1% of any genre breaks through; NFTs were no exception — hype distorted expectations
• The underlying technology — decentralised servers — remains one of the most significant shifts ahead
• Most people form strong opinions on AI and blockchain without ever using them
• The right posture: stay in "the business of maybe" rather than defaulting to no

On entering new markets

• Context matters; prefer patience and multiple visits before committing to a region
• The relationship is the favourite part of doing business — not the transaction
• Saudi Arabia is on offence; the same signal that attracted Gary to Silicon Valley in the 2000s