Gary Vaynerchuk is known on social media as Gary Vee, a serial entrepreneur worth over 200 million dollars. Now he's launching a four-month accelerator to transform founders from within — for a price.

Accelerator, he called vYve (pronounced “vive” as the number “five”), is going through Vaynerchuk's group of companies, VaynerX. It gives a small group of 12 founders and corporate leaders a customized program to grow in several areas – personally and in business.

“We felt like there was a moment in time and there continues to be a moment in time in the business world where people need a fundamental leveling both in their spirit and in business,” Vaynerchuk said. “I think this is a very big deal for us.”

There are 14 hours of live sessions with notable names including Deepak Chopra and Bobbi Brown, a three-day summit in Santa Fe, executive coaching and peer-to-peer sessions. The program accepted its first group of about a dozen founders three months ago in stealth mode.

The program costs $50,000 to participate, and already has a waiting list.

^{Andrea Sullivan, Gary Vaynerchuk and VaynerX president of startup operations James Orsini. Credit: VaynerX}

Vaynerchuk says vYve took off because of “demand from the outside and travel from the inside.” As he grew his businesses, he noticed that the interactions between VaynerX and its founding corporate and startup clients went beyond marketing tactics or strategy.

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“She had a lot more sensitivity, a lot more emotional intelligence, a lot more of what modern people call spirituality,” Vaynerchuk said. “And so it just had more heart to it, which was great.”

Based on what he saw, he identified an opportunity to “level up” leaders both emotionally and tactically. VYve focuses on mental and emotional health, which are part of the progression to higher professional success, Vaynerchuk explained.

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Part of the program's appeal is access to Vaynerchuk himself. He has 10.2 million followers on Instagram and built his fortune through endeavors such as restaurant reservation app Resy, purchased from American Express in 2019, and Empathy Wines, acquired by Constellation Brands in 2020. The vYve program features an initial two-day in-person session with Vaynerchuk and an additional 1:1 session.

In a recent one-on-one session with someone currently going through the accelerator, Vaynerchuk said the person wanted to do right by her team about a problem she's struggling with from above. Vaynerchuk reminded her that her team “were not 6-year-olds in kindergarten.” They were in their forties and fifties making over half a million dollars a year in salary and they could afford what she was talking about.

Other VYvers may deal with insecurities and fears that affect their management styles.

“One of the things I'm most excited about this program is that for some people self-esteem is their issue, even though they've reached the highest levels,” Vaynerchuk said. “And we need to talk about it.”

Andrea Sullivan, president of vYve, also said entrepreneur that despite the $50,000 price, they “have not had a problem in terms of interest.” She stated that the program has a waiting list and the first batch of vYvers felt like it was a “worthwhile investment.”

“They do it again with yeast,” Sullivan said.

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