From Broke & Broken to a $3M Empire. Danny Grant’s Wild Rise

Danny Grant went from wild nights in Melbourne’s club scene to building viral alcohol brands that shook up the industry. You’ve probably partied in one of his venues or knocked back one of his drinks, yeah, he’s the guy behind Wet Pussy.

In this episode, Danny Grant lays it all out. From getting flogged in business and being dead broke to backing himself hard and building a multi-million dollar comeback. No BS. No fluff. Just the kind of story you don’t hear often unless you’re tuning in to his Danny Rants pod, which has exploded for a reason.

This one’s not about getting lucky.

It’s about betting on yourself when everyone else thinks you’re done.

• From chaos to control.
• From broke to millionaire.

Full episode’s live now, and it goes hard.

00:00: Intro

00:53: Powered by Little Fish

01:21: Legendary Danny Grant

02:06: From Wild Parties to Big Business

03:56: Danny's First Gig

07:34: Throwing Club Nights

09:15: Melbourne 2000s Club Scene

13:21: The Birth of Melbourne Sound

20:39: Danny Goes Full Entrepreneur

21:42: Trademarking Wet Pussy Shot

29:10: Building a Booze Empire from Scratch

35:21: All Chips In

37:58: Setting Up Ugly Vodka

39:07: Setting Up Gee Up Vodka RTD

41:46: Going Into Business Together

52:59: Outro

📺 Prefer video? ⁠⁠⁠Watch it on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠

🏠 Join Australia’s #1 Property Developer Network: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Now for Free⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

📣 Powered by: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Little Fish Property

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And I remember like hundreds of thousands of dollars in 24 hours
and I was like, what the fuck? So by the time I was like 18, I
definitely was never, ever goingto work a traditional job.
I can't do that. Like there's not going to be
what I could do. So as soon as I sort of worked
in the Club World and I saw a couple of people who were doing
it and living off it, I was like, this is what I'm going to

(00:20):
do. You know, I actually sold my
nightclub because of this. And I'm like, this is a better
opportunity because there's no ceiling.
Last year, with 300% up on the year prior, we went from doing
$0.00 to 3 million in that firstyear, which is insane, right?
I've had so many ups and downs, having to put all my money back
in and risk everything and thinkI'm gonna lose it and all that
sort of shit. I just like grab cash, go out.

(00:41):
I don't even know what I'd spend.
But I'm like everything in excess, if that makes sense.
Like partying, alcohol, drugs, to be honest, like all that
shit, shit. And it was only like when I was
24 that I realised like I have to fucking figure out what the
next step is. So I sort of had.
Welcome to the Little Fish podcast, bringing you
extraordinary stories to inspirebig moves.
If you're planning a knockdown, rebuild, dual occupancy or

(01:03):
townhouse project, don't risk getting it wrong.
A little fish. We manage the entire process.
We get it done faster, cheaper and stress free.
Scan the QR code or visit littlefishproperty.com dot AU
links in the description. Let's get into it.
Welcome back to Australia's number one podcast, our little

(01:23):
fish. We speak to the big fish about
town each and every week. Please, guys, like share,
subscribe. We've got a Ripper today.
I've got an excited little Bennyboy to my left.
Yeah, you're pumped. I am pumped man.
This is going to be a mad trip down memory lane.
Not just for me but for everyoneout there listening.
This is mad. Danny Grant, thanks for coming
in, mate. Thanks guys for having me down.

(01:45):
You know, this isn't fully my scene, which people out there
understand that it's Benny scene.
Let's go. But I can sense the the
excitement, mate. Do you do you want to do you
want to take us to you know, where this where this, you know,
where this play for you started,you know, getting into
nightclubs, events and all that sort of stuff.
Like what? You know how, Where, Why?

(02:06):
So I was like a young kid, you know, like all young kids do.
And I was working and and working was getting in the way
of partying. So I was like, how the fuck do I
figure out a way to do this fulltime?
So by the time I was like 18, I definitely was never, ever going
to work a traditional job. Like even growing up, I remember
like thinking of watching dudes become painters or plasterers or

(02:26):
builders. And I was like, I can't do that.
Like there's not going to be what I could do.
So as soon as I sort of worked in the Club World and I saw a
couple of people who were doing it and living off it, I was
like, this is what I'm going to do.
Yeah. And so, and I'm one of those
guys. I'm like, I'm, I'm all in on
anything I do. And for me, I'm really passion
driven. Like money comes second.
Like passion comes first. And I just was like, this is

(02:47):
fun, like I want to do this and figure out how to make cash out
of it. So very, very early on, like
I've only really had like I had two jobs.
I worked at Safeway and fucking cleaning meat at the back like
for three hours out of their thingy.
And then second to that I, I hada job at fitness first for like
3 weeks and then I didn't go on the long weekend because I
partied too hard. And then I went there and got

(03:08):
like a like they, they came backto me and gave some constructive
criticism and they said that I wasn't selling well.
And I argued with the boss and got sacked.
And then I used to believe it ornot, it's random as, but I used
to deliver clean towels to brothels for a bit.
I think pretty quickly I was like, fuck, what am I going to
do with my life? And then I fell into clubs.
So I was very early, very so like I started working in
nightclubs at like 18 and that'sall of it.

(03:30):
Like I've now I've moved into you.
Know bus busing or like what we're waiting to show.
Straight up like promoting, yeah, like I say, early days
kind of fell into it in a sense.Like back then, you know, you
used to get $3 on your guest list or whatever.
You win prizes, so you get like a slab of Bacardi breezes.
Or which club were you were? Everywhere.
So Pete for you was sort of where my heart was, but I wasn't
getting paid there. The first ever giggle I got was

(03:52):
there's a dude called Jason. Jason.
No, Jason was Jason Colbeck. But the guy who hit me up was a
guy called Nick Corvo. And I was just partying and he's
walked up to me and he kind of like, I guess kind of poached me
in a sense. And he was like, hey, I want you
to come to my club on Sunday. I'm going to give you 50 bucks,
5 drink cards and a free meal. And I was like, fuck, yeah, So.
And I was getting paid, you know, fucking 16 bucks an hour

(04:13):
back then, probably. And then so I started doing that
on Sundays and then pretty quickly started knocking around
with guys that were doing it. And then I started putting guest
lists everywhere. And back then, there was no,
like, social media, right? So people just kind of figured
out your name, but I moved heapslike I can't.
Be doing the window Flyers and all that kind of.
Giving out like passes and shit.But like really to be honest the
reason why I was successful was because of I grew up in a broken

(04:35):
home so I moved so often. Like I've lived in before I was
18, I lived in like 16 differentplaces, went to different
schools, played different footy clubs.
Like, so I had a really good network prior to social
networking. So when I first started doing
it, I'm like, oh, people are going to these clubs.
Sweet. I'm the guy.
But I knew people from fucking all these places that I lived.
And then people knew who I was. So.
And then they'd spread the name back then.

(04:56):
So people in the line would turnback and be like Danny Grant's
list. Yeah.
Like, so pretty quickly, like there was a lot of people who
knew who I was on the name because they were using it on
doors because my name was on every door in Melbourne.
And then on Saturday I'd just gopick up the envelopes.
Yeah. And I cannot have maybe like 102
hundred, 300. And at that time it was just
like I just spent it on partyingagain.
To be fair, I probably did that for the first four years of my

(05:17):
life. And then I kind of put together
like a proposal at the time. So the first full time gig I had
was actually a billboard. And I put together a proposal
and I was like, I'm going to runthe side room, I'm going to take
photos, I'm going to book the DJs, but I want 400 bucks every
single week, plus bonuses. Is this for Lucky?
No, that was for Marky Dorvich. So lucky is Luka Dorovich.
Yeah, he's like the club royaltyactually having dinner with.

(05:38):
Him, absolutely, man. He's a legend, that guy.
Yeah, so Luke is Mark's son, butMarky Dorvich started like Dome
and all the he was the first nightclub owner in in Melbourne,
right. So I basically he's dad was the
first one to give me a go. So I started working there and
then I had that security quit myjob.
And then I was like, how am I going to do this properly?
Like I had back then, man, 400 bucks at 18, like my major

(05:59):
getting paid 150 bucks to be a trade trading.
So I was, I was like loaded. He's like.
So then pretty quickly after that I started doing the mass
and I was doing like one 50s on on like through my guest list
and shit. And I still had secret ones even
though I wasn't supposed to at other clubs.
So I'd go collect the cash and whatever.
And then I was like looking at them and going, well, they're
paying 20 bucks. Like there's, there's three

(06:20):
grand there. Yeah, like how can I get that
whole 3 grand? And then I went up to a club,
which is a place called Grover Bar, which is on the top of
Bourke St. back in the day. It was like, it's very, very
iconic in my scene. Like it was like the sort of
starting block of fucking everything.
Like in that whole Melbourne sound, bounce, anyone who's big
from guys like wheels. Yeah, which building?
Which building? It's on the top just near
Parliament. So it's next to Metro, like 2

(06:41):
door. It used to be called Barfly back
before. OK, Yep, Yep, Yep.
Anyway that I went up there, it was like a little 152 hundred
person room and I knocked on thedoor and then back then again
because you couldn't get contact.
So I just like literally knockedon the door.
Dude opens the door. It's an old security guard that
used to work at a club that I used to tank called TFU who
actually bashed me. And I'm like, fuck, are you
kidding? And I was like, hey man.

(07:03):
He's like, hey, he didn't obviously love me at that point,
but we ended up coming really good friends.
And then I'm like, is there a chance I can run your night?
But he was like just starting his venue.
So I sort of started there. And then at the start it was a
slog. We're doing like 40-50 people.
I was just sort of like, you know, paying the bills,
sometimes losing money. And then about 3 or 4 months in,
it just blew up. And then we were doing 400 a
night. I was doing 20 little covers.

(07:23):
What? But what?
What was bridge that gap for us?Was it blow up?
Yeah. Yeah.
What was what? How did you bridge the gap?
Was it the music artist? Was it, you know, your promotion
strategy? It's kind of actually a funny
story in a sense. So at the time there was a joint
called Tefu, right? And Tefu was or two floors back
then, but. Tefu was two floors up.
Two floors up. Yep, Yep.
So it was super iconic. And that's where I kind of cut
my teeth. And that was where I used to
attend and I was working with those guys.

(07:44):
So prior to this here I was likesort of hosting.
And I had to guess if they pay me money, it's called retainer.
And and then I decided to go outon my own because I was like,
you know, and at that time, no one should go out on your own.
So everyone's trying to squash out.
So in our industry, it's like it's the opposite of.
Yeah, you don't want to do this,man.
It's it's no. Good.
Yeah. And everyone's like, no, no, no,
you can never work for me again.Fuck you, Rah rah, 'cause it's
like if you go out and you figure out how like to make

(08:05):
money off it, then you become a threat, right?
So they were like, if you're gonna go up the road and do this
thing, then you can't work for us.
And I made the decision not to. And then what they did was they
kind of cock blocked me. So all the DJs that I'd grown up
with and worked and was doing stuff with my event, they're
like, if you play for him, you're never gonna.
Play and what what, what was your sound at that time that you
were sort of getting behind as apromoter?
Kind of Electro was what it was and then that kind of evolved

(08:28):
into. The Melbourne bounce.
Bounce, which is obviously, you know, it's a very famous area
like you talk about like shuffling and PhD and Melbourne
shuffle which blew up around theworld.
You want me to tell you a fucking crazy story, man?
I'm proud of this. You know the Melbourne Shuffler
documentary? Yep.
The opening track, the scene of the chick dancing, the
silhouette in Federation Square.Yeah, yeah, that's my tune, man.

(08:50):
That's mad. That's my tune man.
I've got, I think I've got 3 tunes on that documentary dude.
Yep, that's me claim to fame theMelbourne.
Touch shuffling Melbourne, such an iconic city 'cause it hasn't
happened once. You know, Melbourne continues to
like create these new sounds that blow up around the world.
And it's like we're very iconic place.
Not just it's not just like, youknow, it happens in Australia,
very sorry, Melbourne often, butlike you're talking however many

(09:13):
countries there's sound 188 whatever it might happen in
five. Yeah, like, so Melbourne, for
whatever reason, we're an outlier where we continue to be
sort of like a head in the frontof culture when it comes to
dance music. So anyway, so we.
Started to cut you off. Yeah, text back.
Yeah, so we did. We're doing Electro.
And then so I got back blacklisted from all the DJs
that I kind of had grown up withor was used to booking and

(09:34):
whatever getting back then, no Myspace, no Facebook.
So I was like just started like talking to people like do you
know any DJs like this guy? I played at footy club.
Yeah, I'll get him on. I went to school with the guy.
I was DJ, I'll get him on. So I started getting these guys
on and then what made a blow up was they used this.
So weird to say this, but back then like you'd buy a record and
you owned it. So when we were blowing up in

(09:56):
being able to download off the Internet was just starting.
So I used to have like forums and there was leaks and all that
sort of shit and I guess like utorrent and rah rah.
So what would happen was it was easier for DJs to get access.
So prior to my time someone would go buy 5 sleeves like DJ
Slaves. So they would own that song and
then it would take three months for that song to come back in.
So they kind of have the head start and that's how they would
build up their careers. When I was starting with our

(10:18):
guys is that anyone could download a tune.
So what would happen was these guys would physically fight one
another. So like they would find a tune,
they'd play it, everyone would fucking froth the tune.
And then if someone else played it downstairs, they'd be like,
that's my fucking tune. I earned that song.
And it got so territorial. Like I literally, I remember one
night breaking up a massive fight between these dudes
because they were punching on every song, right?
So then I made this thing where I was like, no one can play each

(10:40):
other's tunes if you you're not playing for me, if you don't
make your own tunes. Oh.
Shit, so I. Was like, you're gonna make
bootlegs, you gotta make whatever, but I'm like, I'm
fucking sick of everyone fighting over music, so I'm
like, you gotta make your own tunes.
So I was the first one really inMelbourne to do this.
Yeah, stop it, man. That's mad because it came from
somewhere. And I remember that time, right?
Because for the people again playing at home, I was DJ ING

(11:01):
through the the 2000s and I was on vinyl and I was going down to
store DJ and all the DJ stores and buying the sleeves and
trying to you have to get there on a Tuesday because I don't
really have 3 or 4 copies. And if you didn't get one, you
know what I mean? So yeah, but but I I guess by
the time I retired and stood back, this transitioning into
the Melbourne Bounce and from the Electro into the Melbourne

(11:22):
Bounce. And I think that the the the
growth of technology by, you know, like what what is it mixed
in key and and those mash up programs online started to come
in. I would yeah.
And they started to so yeah, this is fascinating.
So that's that's what you did it.
Was like old school. So it was kind of like a perfect

(11:42):
clash of old school, new school.So I've grown up with that idea
where it's like you owned a tune, it was your tune you kind
of played. You book a guy because that guy
had that tune. Everyone was still playing
vinyls back then. It'd gone into CDs and it was
like a lot more accessible. And then I'm like, fuck me.
Because like, if I hadn't done the old school, maybe I never
made this rule right, but I'm like, just stop arguing.
Like I'm like, from now on, if you want to play Carova, you
have to make tunes. Because everyone was making

(12:02):
tunes. And some of the tunes that were
coming out of the joint were fucking atrocious.
Like listening back to them now,I'm like, this is disgusting,
but people loved it because theywere hearing these songs that
they never heard before. So that's how it blew up.
So we uniquely accidentally, I created like a scene with a
bunch of other guys. Like not just made to take
credit, influenced by a bunch ofother guys, but I made a new
rule that they, and then what happened back then was that

(12:24):
these guys, if you wanted to listen to these songs played by
these guys at the club, you had to come to the club.
So you couldn't listen to them anywhere else.
So we went from doing 50 to fucking £100.
We used to have lines so big at this joint that the cops would
come and give us fines because there'd be that many.
People who'd have cut that fucking big yeah that it
launched the career or the careers that are still going now
of the guys like yeah, Fletch and and and Sparks and, you

(12:47):
know, orchestrated. There's so many of them.
I've got a question for you because that would like, again,
that was sort of off my post, mysort of thing, but I was on the
sidelines and I got to witness it sort of happened.
Where would you say where, where's your impetus of the
Melbourne bounce sound or the, the OR the, the, even the name
Melbourne Bounce, right. Because where, where, where

(13:09):
would you say that sort of came from?
You know what? What kind of artists sort of got
that pot going? So Melbourne bounce was not
called Melbourne bounce. So Melbourne bounce came after.
So when I'm talking about what I'm doing, it was called
Melbourne sound. And the reason why I was called
Melbourne sound was not us. Like it was it was punters that
were saying that. So everyone was like, well,
what's that music? And they're like, what's not
Electro? It's not fucking fidget.
It's not this, it's not that everyone's like, it's just the

(13:31):
Melbourne sound. Like that's how it started.
So I was like, it's a uniquely I'm getting goose people to stop
there. But it's like it was just the
Melbourne sound. And then everyone was like
Melbourne sound, Melbourne sound.
And then it just became the nameand everyone was like even from
other states, like, Oh, you know, I don't fuck with that
Melbourne sound or whatever. And then they'd come over
because no one could get gigs here because it got so big in
Melbourne. And then they're like, man, that
it's only here, like they play here.

(13:52):
And then what happened was, again, they were going real
deep. But it's what it is.
I started touring international DJs at this time, right?
And I don't want to say like I'mtaking credit, but I fucking
probably should and could because a lot of the things
happened, a lot of these guys did it and blew up and whatever.
But me doing these little bits and pieces, creating these
rules, like I definitely had a lot to do with the shaping of
it. So I started bringing
international DJs in because, you know, I'm just fucking

(14:14):
passionate, whatever. And these international DJs were
hearing it because I was running.
Laid back, Luke. Yeah, laid back Luke was 1.
You know, like even there was a guy back then called TJR.
Yeah. TJR.
Yeah, Dioro and these guys were coming to Melbourne.
I remember Dioro, yeah. Yeah, these guys were coming to
Melbourne and then they were addtheir own sound.
Back then it was like Afro House, right?
Or yeah, Afro House. Was it called?
No. No, wouldn't have been Afro.

(14:35):
House, Dutch house, so no Afro House is new Dutch house.
So they were coming in because that was sort of like if it
wasn't Melbourne sound, it was Dutch house.
So they were coming in and then listening to it and because all
my parties and gigs were just Melbourne guys.
So be like that guy or Melbourneguys.
So like, what is this shit? And then that would take
influence from that, taking it to their back to their home
countries. And they started using those
like those sounds into their shit because they were like, you

(14:57):
know, think about crazy would belike you're going to play 1000
person venue or 2000 person venue.
You've never fucking heard one of the songs that are being
played. You've never heard this sound
and people going nuts to it. Like they're screaming, they're
yelling, they're stomping, you know, like it would be a pretty
same experience for these guys. So that left like a mark on them
and they started to make it. And so as they started making
it, they started paying credit back to Melbourne and then

(15:17):
everyone all eyes on Melbourne and then those boys from the
Melbourne bounce. But again, that was actually
termed that was coined by a guy called TTJ.
RI was gonna ask, did someone claim it?
Yeah. TJ Yeah, yeah.
So he was like, oh, it's kinda bouncy.
Like it's bouncy. And then he was like, it's
Melbourne bounced. So he started calling it that.
So it was Melbourne sound prior,but Melbourne sound, Melbourne
bounce, two different things. Like Melbourne, Bounce is a is a
hybrid of Dutch house and Melbourne Sound Melbourne.

(15:41):
Sound. I would actually say because I'm
older as well, I would argue that it also stems from hard
house, UK hard house as well, all different inferences and
Electro, yeah, that same offbeatstructure.
Yeah, but the Melbourne sound was a lot more like darker yeah,
that makes sense. A lot more heavy and it's like
you guys like so I trancy cleaner for sure.
So orchestrated, I would say were the creators of it.

(16:03):
So like they're they're. We're actually doing it.
Love to hear that. Yeah, yeah.
So they they came in, they sort of make the tunes and they did
their bit, whatever, but like they started to like.
Retiring or Yeah, yeah, what a hell.
That sucks. Why are they doing that?
I did hear that. Yeah, I'm doing it with them
with with work almost sold out. I was going to do 5000 tickets
per. I cannot fucking.
When's that? When's I'm coming man?
For sure dude. It's the end of the year.
Oh. Yeah, I'm going to come for

(16:24):
sure. Yeah, Yeah.
Cool. So I've always wondered that
orchestrated so. They buy they were like, they
still the start of it. And then what happened was those
boys were influenced. So when I made that rule, they
were influenced by what they were making.
And then there wasn't one anymore.
There was fucking hundreds of them.
Everyone's making it. Songs were blown up left, right
and centre. But yeah, little bit of a
history lesson, but, you know, it's, it's cool that everyone
finds it interesting, girl, because when we were cutting our

(16:44):
teeth, it wasn't like that. Like everyone was looking down,
down to us. Like we were like leopards.
They're like, this shit's horrible.
And we were like, we're all the purest haters.
And now, you know, 20 years on, everyone wants to hear the
story, which I'm like, fuck yeah, because it needs to be
told. Yeah, it's a mad story.
So Danny, you're, you're blowingit up.
You had 40, you're getting a couple of 100 in there.
And obviously the money's flowing in and I imagine and
it's, it's pumping what sort of,you know, what happens from

(17:06):
there. Kind of.
I'm a young kid, as I said before, from a broken home,
right? So I'm.
And and just quickly, what age are you when you're running
these shows with a couple under people?
Yeah. 20 like not even 19. And you didn't start with,
because most people like when I started my, I guess promoting
career started with house parties, right?
You start with house parties. And my assumption coming in
today was like, you must have been throwing some sick house

(17:28):
parties back in the day that ledto promoting in the clubs.
But people sort of say that I did, but I don't remember it.
Yeah, you. Must have skipped.
Yeah, my mates are like used to run parties or do this or do
that. Like I I was definitely a party
guy. Yeah, but in my head I'm like
Nah. So I was like literally when I
ran class, but I didn't DJ. Most people DJ.
That's true as well. I DJ so then put the party on so
you could DJ your mates on. Yeah, I reckon because I didn't

(17:50):
have any money. Yeah, we didn't have a sense of
rub together. So the idea of finding a way to
get two and a half, $1000 for decks was just impossible for
me. So then I was like, how can I be
involved? I'm like, oh fucking run the
parties. Yeah, that's how I did it.
And then? So you're running the parties at
20, making money, blowing up, getting on the scene, and you're
20 years old is you'd have some six stories.
Yeah, for sure. And like the big thing for me

(18:10):
man, is like the money that I was making was big, right?
So that's why I was going back on before.
But it's like come from a brokenhome.
Like, you know, money comes in the house, we spend it.
Like that's how I grew up. And then when I was making
sometimes like back then, like which I'm making 5K in a night,
but I was doing other events or making 20.
So I had legit, which I thank God I don't have this anymore.
Don't have this in my house anymore.
Just let me know I used to have like a safe full of cash and

(18:33):
like I didn't never even looked at it bro.
So I was just like out of. Town where you were you?
I'd just like grab cash, go out.I don't even know what I'd
spend. But I'm like everything in
excess. And that makes sense.
Like partying, fucking alcohol, drugs, to be honest, Like all
that shit, shit everything in excess.
And then on the weekdays I'd go play like Tekken and I'd pump
500 bucks through Tekken playinglike random, random Asian dudes

(18:53):
in Box Hill. Yeah.
And so and then I like bought boats and I bought cars and I
did all the shit that, you know,you shouldn't do really, right.
And it was only like when I was 24 that I realized like, you
know, I have to fucking figure out what the next step is.
So I sort of had to pay that wayout of it, of that impulsive
spending because at the time we think it's gonna last forever.
And and it doesn't. Yeah, I say I've had so many ups

(19:14):
and downs and I've had so many, like having to put all my money
back in and risk everything and think I'm going to lose it and
all that sort of shit like over and over and over again.
But going back to what you were saying about those times where
like back then shit was wild, you know, like I say, there was
punch ONS, there was police, there was gangsters, there was
all that stuff all the time. And that was just the life I was
living. So everything was like, I now
know that I'm ADHD and probably not surprising to people that

(19:35):
watch my shit, but it's like at the time I'm like the flashing
lights, the drama, the fucking all that shit was the best.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just like, it was like
a not gonna say a war zone, but it's.
Like a fucking movie, man. And it was, man, like there's a
lot of stuff I can't talk on. Yeah, absolutely.
The shit you see in movies was like what we were saying, like
there was 100% cops coming through and then there was these
dudes running out and there was.And like all the stuff that you

(19:55):
know, like that, you can imagineit was happening, I can
guarantee. Hey PK, we need to ask.
Fucking dude. Wet pussy man.
Oh, that's. Where I was about to go.
I know dude. Like.
What that's the thing. So I'm feeling like, like you
say, broken home, doing shit differently.
Following your passion is something that I'm really, you
know, money will come next, but following your passion.

(20:16):
But it sounds like you would, even though it sounds like you
went hard and you, you know, youblew a bit, but at 24, you dog,
you know, how am I going to figure this out?
And sounds like you've started some businesses along the way
and I've heard some numbers getting sprouted, you know, so,
So yeah, talk us about that. Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, the entrepreneur journey, yeah, that's.
Right. So yeah, 24 comes and I give a

(20:36):
lot of credit to my wife. So I've been with my Mrs. since
I was 19, which is very rare in my history.
Still with her now and it. Sounds like a bit a while.
Right man following you around the door, girl.
Yeah, she was a door girl still my wife.
Yeah, but she was like. She was the door girl, man.
Yeah, she. Said she was.
She was the Yang to my gang. Yeah.
Like, so I'm fucking insane. Like I'm in like always off

(20:58):
doing crazy shit and she's she'shome.
Yeah, that makes sense. So she came from a good home and
her family were like, no, I don't think they're aware of how
much money I was making. But kind of once her dad kind of
figured it out, he was like, hey, this is what you need to
do. So then I started kind of
getting into property and shit. So I actually bought I think I
bought my first unit when I was like 23 and then I bought my
first house like 24. So then I then shifted, you

(21:21):
know, then it was all of a sudden it was like fuck, you
know, I can make good money out of this.
I still live a good lifestyle, but I need to like bank this for
a rainy day because it might end.
So buy club at 25 and nightclub and then that kind of takes me
into the wet pussy journey. So I work there, do that running
events, running clubs, running festivals, managing artists,
running record labels, list goeson and shit.
And then basically covert hits, right?

(21:43):
And then when I was running the club, obviously I got into more
of like a GM role. So I was more aware of what was
going on prior to that. Running parties, booking D's,
that's it. When I was running the club, I
was sort of the guy who conceptually with another guy
came out with the idea. But I was the heartbeat of it,
like I was the promoter. And because I live locally in a
window smashed, I was dealing with it.
The toilet flooded. I I got the guy out to fix.

(22:04):
So you had the keys. I had.
The keys, yeah, yeah. It was my job to you know, I was
working with the bar managers and I knew like what our our
profit shares were and like whatwe needed to make.
And it became like a like a different side of before I was
just partying, making coin, putting in my safe, spending it.
This was like I actually had bills and rent and all that sort
of shit. So kind of crash course, you
know, trial by fire worked through that and then getting

(22:27):
into it long, like short story long is what I always say, but
that's fucking kind of what I'm known for now.
But there's I basically we used to make buckets, like 20 litre
buckets of wet pussy. So we would pay someone to come
in. And if you live in Australia,
you're not wet pussy. It's like, right.
There's another yarn, probably after that we're about to get a
ban, the name banned by the government ban anyway.
That is my vintage. I know you think I'm.
No, no, I, I, I've. Knocked down my bear share of

(22:50):
wet no. No, you know what, Danny?
The drink for all the people sitting at home.
He's fucking down fucking Willy.Or up in Wang in the pub.
Jimmy Barnes. Back and wet.
Wet. Pussies for sure man.
That is PK's vintage for sure man.
So yummy. Anyway, SO logic too.
So you didn't come up with the actual drink right bro?
It's been around for 30 years. You.

(23:11):
Just fucking that's. Weird.
So we were just marketed it, Yeah.
So we're about to find out Peak.So we just we used to bought it
so we'd have to get like a staffmember in and they would, I've
said this heaps times but like you know, 1 bottle of vodka.
It's vodka and. 700 litres of, of fucking cranberry juice, but
we would make it and do whateverand then we'd pour into little
bottles, go in the fridge, rah rah.
So my business partner, Jess Conti, he's a club owner too.

(23:32):
He'd come up with the smile ideaof when he left clubs because he
to trade market. So he went through this whole
process and when that all happened, he was like, well, why
don't we fucking come up with a brand?
You're the brand guy, you know you understand how to talk to
the kids and rah rah. I've got this access to this
thing. We all know that we pussy is the
number one thing we sell at nightclubs because it is like we
had like we. It's a brand play.
Wet pussies literally bought my house.

(23:53):
Like that's actually. Yeah, it was illusions, wet
pussies and slippery nipples. Yeah, one of my mates says Ran.
UK is going tick, tick, tick. One of one of my mates managers,
one of the biggest artists in Australia, like not probably 1,
probably dumping his dumb dollar.
Oh yeah, yeah. And he is an old club owner and
he's like without wet pussy shots, he's like no one in
Australia blows up. He's like it's the popcorn to

(24:16):
cinemas where pussy is to clubs.Does that make sense man?
So he's like, if we don't sell them, we don't have a place for
these DJs. Bobby Mcgee's on a Thursday
night. Imagine how many fucking night.
I love saying that call. I was like, you know, wet pussy
bought my house 'cause it's true.
Like we used to sell, so we sell.
Like we'd sell close on thousands a week, you know, So,
so we do that whatever. And then I came up with the

(24:37):
brand, we got it figured out howto bottle it.
And we knew that when it came tonightclub guys like it was, it
was a cheap thing. That's why we sold so many.
So we're able to put them on special.
It was cheap to do. Well, you only you're bottling
them for yourselves. You weren't distributing and
selling them. At the start, just just.
Just friends. Just.
Friends. So we would kind of remember
like go back into the thing. We're like, oh, we can sell 2
pallets a month, We will. You know it's 2 1/2 grand

(24:59):
cheese. Bottling by hand.
And now we, we had a bottle up OK, and we're like, we can sell
2 pallets a month, like 2 1/2 grand each in our pocket.
Great. We we can still work in our
clubs and stuff. And then we sort of started it,
made the brand, did all that stuff, went to the whole
process, you know, like got it worked out how to get like very
cheap. Because that's the thing with
pussy shots. The reason why they do so well
is because you can buy them 5 bucks, right?

(25:19):
So we knew that we couldn't comein and go, this is a $40 bottle
and needed to be as cheap for these venue owners.
So we kind of like saw the problem and then and we come up
with a solution. So, you know, you got to pay a
staff member to come in, they'vegot to pre bottle it, they're
going to make it. There's no brand attached to
this. You know, like there's we're
going to make you, we're going to make you sell more and you're
going to buy them for the same price you're going.
To bring more to the aisles. No labour, no whatever, rah rah.

(25:42):
So we did that and then but we just sell it to our club mates
because again, in the world, I said before, there's like maybe
20 of us in the industry in Melbourne alone and they all own
venues and they're all family, they're all related.
Like it's kind of like a cool little network.
But so we started selling to ourmates and then it's sort of like
a kind of bit of a crazy story, but someone gets a bottle, so
not us, right? And they post it online and it

(26:03):
goes fucking viral. So it gives bananas all over
Australia had like 77,000 comments.
All these people be like, what the hell, Someone's bottled
this, Like what? Whatever it is pretty quickly.
Thank God. We've had all these like trials
and tribulations through our whole time in life and we knew.
So myself and my two other business partners, also club
owners going through COVID, going through this battle, we're
like, boys, strap the fuck in. Like we're we are, we are.

(26:25):
We're gonna blow up, right? Yeah.
So we start and then next day goes viral again, next day goes
viral again. So we've got people calling us
from America, New Zealand, everysingle state in Australia,
everybody wants in on on this thing that we've done that we
were just gonna sell to our mates for like a side.
Hustle. But you had created the brand
though. You created the brand trademark.
Is it called Wet Pussy? Always been called wet pussy
shots but we now own the name solike if you.

(26:47):
So no one. They didn't own the name.
The people who've created the name don't own the.
Name No one created the. Name no one ever no one claimed
it so these guys claimed it yeahso these guys have gone and
claimed the trademark within thewithin you know the clauses the
category the alcohol alcohol category so yeah yeah you could
we we could get it in the media space or something yeah so we.

(27:08):
So, so everything's on the lockdown.
It's actually you guys have now got a drink that's exploding.
Yeah, and everyone, you know, like they drink them in clothes.
But for context here, I want to slow down.
Like for fucking context here, to register a trademark today.
Not that big a deal, man, You know what I mean?
I could do that in fucking 10 minutes, right?
And you're talking hundreds of dollars.

(27:29):
You can do it online. Yep.
To register a trademark. What year are we talking, man?
This is like you're talking. He did it back in like 2000 and
maybe 7. That's a fucking different time,
right? That's a time when you got to
get your solicitors in and you're paying thousands of
dollars. They're selling your bullshit
clauses. And do you know what I mean?
So for him to not only like identify, you know, to trade

(27:51):
market, but to it would have been a capital investment as
well is what I'm saying. Not just those who play.
It wasn't a flyer. Wasn't Benny going, Hey, I think
we should this, yeah. I trademark shit all the time.
But if it's not pinned down, Benny's.
Yeah, I don't fucking talk aboutit unless it's pinned down, man,
right? But yeah, 100% so.
But that's easy these days. Well, even there's another part
of this which I actually haven'ttold before.

(28:11):
So he's done it, had a crack at it to an extent and it hasn't
worked because he didn't have the brand unlock.
Yeah and so and I'm going to name those boys.
So Jess Conti and George, I can't even say his name, it's
correct name. So George Guriguriguragaris,
yeah he's from a family good bloodline of club owners, but he
we started it up. He's going to, I've known him

(28:33):
for like 2 decades, can't say his last name, but anyway, so
he, so when he came to us, he'd had that mini crack prior.
And then we came to me, he's like, you know, create a brand.
So we've created this brand withthe bright pinks, the black, you
know, like the logo. And effectively I just made a
fucking logo look like a club brand, you know, like, so this
would have been like a night that I would have ran.
So when kids are looking at it like that looks like a club I'd

(28:54):
attend. And as I say, it was the perfect
storm. This went boom and blew up.
So we then had to strap in. So we basically figured out how
to do distribution to FMCG. We even worked out how to do.
So can I ask how did you do thatto bridge it for the guys at
home that might be thinking theywant to bottle something like
how do you go and find distribution?
Interesting so we figured out how to do it probably not the
best way. So we'll there's always there's

(29:15):
kind of like these like alcohol parts in the sense like these
guys that do a lot of stuff which is called parallel
importing. So they'll bring over because
the tax so bad in Australia. This is probably interesting so
parallel importing in Australia a tax on a bottle of vodka is
like $29 right, right. So if you buy vodka from say the
same brand, like we're talking Belvedere, whatever, from say

(29:35):
Sri Lanka, it's like 8 bucks because there's no tax on it.
So then you pay the tax on it and it's a later version or
whatever. So it actually ends up being
cheaper to buy alcohol overseas and paying the tax on the import
than it does to buy from the actual Belvedere Australia
company. That makes sense.
Yeah, it does make every bit of sense.
So it's called peril importing. So weird.
It's called not wasting your fucking money, man.

(29:56):
So weird. All worked in parallel importing
because in nightclubs every dollar counts.
That's right. So when someone comes to me Jim
Beam, which is kind of crazy, and they say hey mate, I can
give you Jim Beam for 38 bucks and then I'm like, oh, maybe
down the road, oh booze pirate, he'd give it to me for 33 and 1
litre bottle. And they're like fuck.
But it is what it is. So we would buy it cheaper off
these peril importers. Then we would buy it off these

(30:18):
things and then the only thing is it dries out.
So you get a flat for five weeks, try out, you go back to
Coke and buy you Jim Beam, right?
Probably not. We probably weren't supposed to
do that, but we did this is whatit is.
And then so because of that, we knew these peril imported dudes
who were buying and selling, they're kind of like, you know,
booze Cowboys. And then so when it first blew
up, we're like, you know, you selling the bottle shops and
shit. Help us move this.

(30:39):
So they're just coming and picking up pallets and trucks
and they're just, they're just putting it all across Australia.
And at that time we actually didn't know where it was.
So it was everywhere. Yeah, we were getting photos
from top of WA and people were like Queensland, all these
different places. But we were just sort of selling
it directly to these distributors and then they were
selling it to these bottle shops.
And over time, as we've gotten better at what we do now, I know

(31:00):
where probably 95% of my bottlesare going.
Who, who who funded it though? So that that sounds like a
capital heavy fucking investmentfor a bloke that grew up in a
you know what I mean, In a broken home.
Did you had a? Sneaky property portfolio as
well, yeah. True, true.
So did you, did you need to you know you bought people in
strategically and did you have investment or was it

(31:20):
bootstrapped by you guys at the bootstrapped at the start?
Yep, we actually got a guy in that ran a company that knew
more about bottle shop, so he was our first partner, so 3 club
owners. Another guy we got in he was ran
a company called Tipple. He came involved, he understood
the space of like more FMCG, like a bit of a high.
When you say FMCG, what does that mean?
Like I don't even know what thisstands for.
It's like Coles and Woolworths. Right, OK.

(31:41):
It's like a supplier or a big player in the Yeah, so my.
Juice boys were talking. About it, yeah, the Bondi Sands
guy had on, he was saying too. So yeah, what it actually stands
for. He was good.
Did you watch that? Yeah.
He's a fucking savvy. I don't know I should, but it
just, it just means like supermarkets.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get what you said, Yeah.
Anyway, so we, he, he came in, he was that first guy that sort

(32:02):
of understood a bit more becausewe're like, you know, basically
these club owners who had this idea that blew up and we had to
figure out the next step. And then so at that point we
were bootstrapping. So just we're pouring money and
I actually sold my nightclub because of this.
So I saw it and I'm like, this is a better opportunity 'cause
there's no ceiling. So in booze, like we're still
growing. Like we're like last year with
300% up on the year prior. Like you know which?

(32:23):
Is international. We are in New Zealand and Sri
Lanka and we've got so much room.
Like where? Sri Lanka?
Yeah I know random but they theylove their pussy and shy and
their bulgens. Fast moving consumer goods.
Carry on. There you go.
What is it? Yeah.
Fast moving consumer. Of course.
OK, so it's your category, brother.
Well, that's so it's the the intermediary.
Makes sense, right? It's the intermediary that's

(32:44):
moving your shit. Yeah, moving to fast.
Moving it fast. We're moving it fast, but so we
then we sort of bootstrapping, bootstrapping and then it kind
of it tipped over so quickly like 'cause we went from doing 2
pallets to hundreds in a month. Yeah, like not just like
whatever. So it went wild.
So I said it before, but we wentfrom doing $0.00 to 3 million in
our first year, which is insane,right?
So at that point I'm like looking at this club, I could

(33:07):
see the ceiling and I'm like, I don't I clubs you can only make
3 million in the club and then you there's 20% profit if you're
fucking good operator, this doesn't have a ceiling.
This could be. You've got to be a full capacity
and you've got a what? Yeah.
And you've got to be 4 nights a week full capacity.
Yeah, Alcohol sales are going tobe up.
Everything's got to go completely.
Yeah, yeah, 107. We like, yeah, it was pretty.

(33:27):
It was kind of in a sense like no one had done what we did.
We had guys like Dom Dollar and we had like Wolves Bar.
Out in the out in the suburbs, yeah.
It was a full look, like a city nightclub, like we'd build it.
And the at the time I was running Tramp, which is very
iconic nightclub. Yep.
And then the other one. I've been to that one.
And then the other owner that I worked with, he used to run 1.
So it was like we were both likevery much not kind of the guys

(33:47):
that would go run something in the suburbs.
So we created this like inner city suburb experience with the
actual artist that you'd watch in the city.
And we did really, really well. Like we, as I said, like we were
doing $3,000,000 a year, but we were running on Fridays and
Saturdays. And we'll don't, we'll turn it
over like anywhere between 2 to 4000 heads, which is it's
amazing. Like it's a great result.
That's a very busy, good, successful club, if that makes

(34:08):
sense. And that was like 6 years.
But at that time we were boomingbecause COVID, everything went
spastic out of COVID. And then I had this opportunity
with WP shots, wet pussy. And then I'm like, fuck it.
So I just again, I'm a real fireby trial again, like I started
trial by fire, but I was like sold out, did a deal that was I
probably could have made more money and then grabbed it,
pushed into this bootstrapped, you know, like building,

(34:29):
building, building got to a point where we needed coins.
So at that point we sort of wentto the world like and we sort of
started saying we need money. And at the time we needed like
close on 1,000,000 bucks to movethis forward to the next stage
because the demand was just insane.
What was the revenue roughly? At the time we were like at that
point I didn't even know it was so early like when this is
talking, first six months. So we were just sort of like

(34:50):
flying by it like that. You hadn't counted it.
You hadn't had time to count it.We just, all we knew is that the
orders were coming in were bigger than we could fund.
Yeah, that makes sense. Absolutely.
We got on these guys, they were like an equity firm, like
private equity. For those that don't know,
basically there's guys out thereand they have like I think they
call them family trust or something like that, and family
office, family office, that's the word.
And they deal with over 100 million.

(35:11):
So they effectively are a bank that they will take equity from
you, or if they don't take equity, they will give it to you
on terms that a bank won't give you, but you don't need the
documentation. Yeah, so if you're a star.
Loan. You're a startup and a business
blows up. You have to use these guys
because if you go to the bank. And go don't pay Anthony Gatos
coming around. Can you imagine me going to the
bank and being like, hey, I got this idea, it's called wet

(35:32):
pussy. I'm gonna sell it to nightclubs.
That's a great. Man, my big thing is that like
I'm always, and I actually thinkthis, I'm like, she can't get
worse than that. Yeah, absolutely.
I always look at like worst case, I still got a fucking ass
living. Like there's times where I was
living in my car. Well, you don't need much
because you've never needed much.
And I still don't. I lose nothing to lose.
You don't need. Chips in.
Let's go. Yeah, but I also, they don't

(35:53):
want much. Like that's the other thing
that's insane. So I can talk about all the
time, I don't want a Ferrari, I don't want a helicopter, you
know, I just want to do what I want.
To do all. The fucking time.
Same dude, I'm exactly the same.I would travel around the world.
I want to do whatever I want to do.
If I decide I want to go to Brisbane tomorrow, like to go to
a rival you. Just want your time.
That's all rich people, rich people, rich people get super
rich and then they spend all their time trying to get back

(36:13):
their time. Yeah, exactly.
That's what it is. But I actually say, which is
kind of crazy. I'm like everyone's like, how do
you do all this? I'm like, it's actually born out
of laziness, which is no, soundsinsane because I'm always like
on the go doing shit, whatever. But my reason why I work so hard
is eventually I don't want to work so hard, but I'm like,
yeah, it's I'm like, I don't think I want to work to 65 and
funny because like now I love it.
I probably will, but I just don't want to have to work with
the normal pressures and social,you know, like mortgage this,

(36:36):
that bills, whatever. I'm like, how do I not worry
about this quicker, if that makes sense?
So it's a wild thing. But yeah, going back to that
full circle, the wet pussy thing, it's like, so effectively
we knew because we were the consumer what the knee was and
what the one was. And we created a product for us
slash every other person. And then COVID really blows it
up because COVID doesn't happen.You just keep drinking them
buzz. Yeah, like you keep drinking at

(36:57):
the pub, right? COVID happens.
Then all of a sudden cocktails boom and people want to drink
shit. They can't drink at clubs
anymore because clubs are shut at home.
Then there becomes then we go from being a club thing to now
where 21st hens parties, bucks parties.
DNC though, are you direct to consumer at this point or are
you still selling it? We sell through Coles and that
online. No, at that time we we were
online business. Like our online business is

(37:19):
insane. Like I would have argue that we
are one of the biggest, not winebut like alcohol.
Brands. Australian brands.
Yeah, we do millions online direct to customer.
And no, I don't think there'll be many that do.
Fuck no dude. Yeah.
Mad I love. It we're just getting it in the
home Saturday night. The girlfriends are coming
around. What, what is the plan like what
what is what's the next step, would you say?

(37:40):
Well, where are you at right now, would you say?
What a good spot. Like when 3 is in, we we've got
those brands again, going back to it.
So we got J up, we had we got ugly, which is a cool 1.
I actually wouldn't mind talkingto if you guys are cool with it.
Absolutely. So we've got this brand, it's
killing it right now. You're going to see it like
dominating everywhere, I reckon.But we've got a brand called
ugly. And basically what we do is we
use ugly apples. Ugly apples are like the apples

(38:01):
that are deemed too ugly for market shelves, like for like
big coals and you know, Woolworths what not.
So we use that, those apples andwe turn into juice and then we
turn that juice into vodka and then we sell, we basically made
an RTD called Ugly Vodka and we then sell that vodka back to
Coles and Woolworths, the guys who reject the apples, right?

(38:22):
So we're in now, I think like 900 or 1000 stores across
Australia. What's the web dress?
It's called ugly vodka. It could be drink ugly I think.
Oh yeah. Drink ugly.
Yeah. And then so we do that cool
brand. So we've actually partnered out
with the biggest, biggest independent promoters in
Australia called Untitled. And there are.
Yeah, I know those guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So there are business partners kind of goes back to like the

(38:43):
whole. What are they?
Can you explain to me what they do?
Because I, I actually follow those and it's, it's a little
bit confusing from the outside. Are they like a branding
company? Everything.
No, they run. They run the biggest fest.
They run like BTV they run. Advertising company or like.
They got everything, man. They got everything.
But like they're, they're core guts of their businesses, music
and festivals, right? Insane, all of them.

(39:03):
Can we talk about G up? How did so?
How did that come about? So community is the best word
you just use right? Like all my shit including the
club stuff. I did community back 100% with
us. The community for wet pussy is
not clubs for ugly, it's festival goals.
So we're in like laneway, we're in BTV.
Like what? Have you just said then when you
when you weren't leading with ugly and you had to ask

(39:25):
yourself, who are we? Yeah.
And you said we're festival you when you weren't, when you
forgot that you were festival and you were just trying to be
ugly. It didn't work, Correct.
But then when you were going, oh, no, that's who we are, you
went back into your community that trust you, believe in you
and buy from you. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Brilliant man.
And then say same as Jab jab communities, Troy and Co, which
is car guys and you know, Aussies sort of butlers.

(39:45):
So everything we do is attached to a community.
So like, if you're going to create something and you don't
have a community, you might as well not work.
You have to have the community first.
It doesn't work anymore. Yeah, like back in the day it
did. And like a good example I
actually used the other day. But like, you know, if I say
Nike, who owns it like you, you might know, but only you're only
going to know if you fucking. Read that one book.
Yeah, exactly. But if I say now if I bring.
Up like I'm still the only person that's ever read that

(40:07):
book. But if I bring up Flipside and
jab, you know the owners. If I bring up front runner, you
know the owner. If I bring up EBT, you know the
owner. So all the biggest brands.
So now like that's what I decided to turn the camera
'cause everyone's like, you know, you've done all these
things. Like what?
The feeling that dude we need totalk about, turn the camera.
Everyone's like, you know, you've done all these things,
like I was never forward facing ever.

(40:27):
Like I was the secret guy in thescene and now I've turned the
camera and was like, where the fuck did this guy come from?
But it's like I decided to do that 'cause I was watching it
happen. So I was like, OK, Wet pussy's
doing really well in. My community.
Yeah, turn the camera, bang, andthen everyone's like, that's the
guy that does that. Yeah, like, and now he does this
and does that. And so it's like they now go,
when they go to purchase that thing, they look at another
brand. It's it's run by, you know,
Coles or ASAI corporations. Yeah, corporations.

(40:49):
They see my brand. Like I know that guy.
I love his stories. People support people, man, it's
a fact. But yeah, the G up man what what
so how, how how far in advance was that planned?
So how difficult was it? Oh yeah.
Tell talk us through that that process and and.
Again, kind of goes back and everything that I do is like,
you know, tentacles, they're kind of like 1 into one another.
But I knew Troy, so I knew Troy because he would come to clubs

(41:11):
and he was just a cool kid from Frankston.
He used to come and he he was like like back then, you know,
popular kid chicks loved him, dudes liked him.
He was doing stupid shit, but had a company called ECM people
wearing a stuff. So that's right.
He'd roll up and then I'll just be like, bro, skip the line.
But that's how it started. And then I'm funnily enough,
he's he's current missus and my ex-girlfriend dated the same
dude. So we just like rag on that 2

(41:31):
together. And then so I knew him for years
and years and years and like, you know, we, we continue to
just have some form of relationship.
Knew who we were. A lot of his friends were my
friends. I grew up with them brothers and
sisters, blah, blah, blah. So then when I started up WP,
one day he just kind of messed me out of nowhere saying I got
some questions for you. I'm like, yeah, all good.
So he called me and he's like, I'm trying this job thing.

(41:53):
I've been trying for ages. These are the challenges I've
got blah, blah, blah, blah. He's like, can you give me some
advice? I'm like, yeah, no drama.
So I'm on the phone. Just give me advice.
So I'm giving advice. Hang up.
And then I'm sort of sitting there.
I remember I was on my back deckand I'm like, why the fuck did I
just try and do it with him? Yeah, I'm like, so then call my
business partner. I'm like, Troy, just call me for
this da, da, da. I'm like, I reckon I could get
it from him. And then like, we could do it

(42:14):
together. I could.
Get it? From him that's just well, could
someone but. That's that's just like you
could help him. You could someone else had it
like the contract. So I was just like, so I called
him. I'm like, bro, you know, we're
doing this thing. We know each other.
You're like, we're all in the same lane, like rah rah.
Why are you doing it with some dude in NSW?
Do it with me. So that's as in when you say do
it with them, what specific? Part of making it and creating

(42:35):
it. Bottling.
So they have the facility and the infrastructure.
So plugging into their infrastructure.
Yep. Got you.
Yep. So then I was like, sweet.
So then he had his team of like,superstars, the elite syndicate
they call themselves. Like that's a business name.
They didn't call themselves out,but yeah.
Are they private or are they? Is it?
Oh. It's fucking like Oscar LED
land, Adrian Portelli, Nick Mclidon, Troy Candy, but they,
these dudes are all worth like they're huge.

(42:56):
They're all like under 40. They're going to be inviting me
and PK. Yeah, they're all under 40 and
they've got like, yeah, they're doing some crazy shit.
They're flying in helicopters. And stuff like that out of.
Control and and Adrian or did I say Adrian yeah, he's involved
too so it's like there's like 5 of them so he bought them the
superstar cast and then we met with them and then I think that
kind of like we. Hang on, hang on.
So he had G up and they bought into G up.

(43:17):
No, so that it was in a deal. So at this point it was just a
concept that makes sense. So effectively the story goes
that Troy started because he didthe snorkels and then cruiser
wouldn't support him. So he's like, fuck it, I'll make
my own drink. That's how it started.
So disruptive. And then he basically had a lot
of troubles from licensing and you know, just hurdle after
hurdle after hurdle, gave up on it.
Having a spa one night, 3 O clock in the morning with his

(43:40):
best mates. And then they're like, don't
give up on it, bro. And he's like, I'm fucking and I
can't do this myself sort of thing.
Like kind of put his hand up to say these challenges are, you
know, overcoming me. They say we're going to backyard
that convo then pretty quickly around the same time for me is
like, I'm like, we'll help you out.
So we'll we'll kind of align. So at that time, concept idea,
nothing else and more so I should say then we maybe then we

(44:01):
start going through the process and we'll build this out for
you. And it actually got to a point
where a bigger company came in to try to take it from us and
the boys. They looked at both like, which
is fair. And then they decided to come
back to us again because like the match was better.
Like we knew each other. We talked the same language.
They did really did decide to come back to work with us
because not necessarily the opportunity was better, but they
were like we like these guys better.

(44:22):
Like they kind of fit within ourmould more.
So we've been working together for now like 3 years I think.
So then we create myself and my team.
Troy kind of gives us the idea of the brand he wants and we
kind of work with Troy. So Troy's really involved.
Like I don't want to ever take that away from him.
Like even that management meetings a whole lot.
He's in over marketing meetings,e-commerce meetings a whole lot.
So he comes to us, myself and mydesign and mad creative.

(44:43):
We sort of build out the brand that he had in his head.
You design that. Yeah, my team did, yeah.
And then we build that brand that he had in his head.
And the logo, sorry to cut you off but the brand as well G up
that name. No, J up was choice.
It was all the choice idea. We just put it together and
create it for him. So he the G was the only thing
that we got passed on and then we created everything else from
there. So he went through that process

(45:03):
with him and then we we're like a 360.
So like we do bottling, manufacturing, design, DTC,
fucking DB to B. So that's our company, right?
Like that's actually what we do now.
So we're like, we still own our own brands, but we also
facilitate. We've actually worked with
another company called Grog, which we no longer do because we
end up just moving on. Like we sold our portion and
they've gone to do more stuff overseas, but another influenza

(45:26):
back brand. So we basically just like we
take out the the, the hard work and then you just focus on your
community and talking to your people.
And then, yeah, so we do that. So we then through that we end
up like going to the process andstarting JAB and we all kind of
poured our cash in and we sort of went on this journey
together. So but before you actually said
we like to test the market, the idea of that marketing launch,

(45:49):
we knew the market wanted it. It was more just creating hype.
So it was just a hype launch. Yeah, man, they did like 300,000
in the fucking first day. It was insane.
I've never seen like, it was like we posted the thing, they
got a link and it was just like watching it and like I've done
like 30-40 thousand dollar launches and I thought we're
killing it. I remember having a meeting with
them. This is actually interesting.
And I said it was like Oscar andTroy and I called him on the day

(46:09):
of the launch. And I was like, boys, because
they kept saying they were saying like 100K, this, that,
whatever. And I'm like, boys, I don't want
to be that guy, but I just want to, like, manage your
expectations. You're not going to do that.
Yeah. And like, I've physically told
them they weren't going to do it.
And then they went out for dinner, and we were sitting in
our office with my team. We were watching on the big
screen. And I remember, like, refreshing
it like 301. They'd done like 70K.

(46:30):
I was like what the fuck? And they just kept refreshing it
and just like going nuts and they did like 300 K plus.
I was like, it was fucking stupid what they did, but it was
like hundreds of thousands of dollars in 24 hours.
And I was like, had to eat my words, but the best words to eat
right? What's a kind of a mind blowing
thing, which I wrote once I say you'll be like what the fuck?
But it's full circle. So the method I use for hype and

(46:52):
what I did for JAB is the exact same method that I use for
festivals. So like when I came into that
market space, I'm like, cool, you know, when we do a festival,
we get sign up, we do this wholescarcity thing, we do whatever.
So I basically just took what I use in events and festivals,
which has been like that for 20 plus years.
They still do it now like sign up, presale this, that,
whatever. And I just implicate the, sorry,

(47:12):
I just modelled it into FMCG andno one had done that.
So like I basically was like, sign up guys, you're gonna get
pre sale, you get it first and if you don't, then fuck, it sold
out. And then like now there's gonna
be a general, but there's only alimited amount and that sold
out. So I use the exact same tactics
that I did in running festivals and music events that I did in
FMCG. And that I think was the part
where you know, like those boys,they created that hype.

(47:33):
They got all these people to sign up and whatnot.
They did all that stuff. It comes from them.
So I don't want to take anythingaway from them.
But the model of the the pre release, the thing it's, it's a
fucking ticking model. Like that's what I use for GR
and that's what I've used for all of that stuff since.
Still brilliant. Because then the ones, the
scarcity and then the ones that actually get it, they are then
quick to show everyone they got it because they go, hey, I got

(47:54):
one, yes, did you not? And then that then becomes the
viral or the marketing that justorganic marketing.
And the interesting thing about why it can't be replicated
right? So like these giant companies
like Asahi because. They don't have the community.
They don't have the community one, but like when it comes to
music, the reason why it works is because you have these
massive artists which have community like Green Day, if I
would say call fucking, you know, like Offspring, Eminem,

(48:14):
whatever. So then in this space, we just
use these guys who are the influencers to like almost like
artists. So instead of buying to go meet
Troy or Adrian, it was like buy to be the first person in
Australia to try their product. You're guaranteed you're going
to get their product if you signup to this.
And then it's like boom, you've got access.
Five days later, the general's going to get it, but you're
special because you're a part ofour community.
So I just rolled out that model and everything I do marketing

(48:36):
wise, which kind of sounds insane and like kind of giving
away the source here a little bit, but.
What we're all. About and I talk to a lot of
other people in different industries, like I do talk to
guys from Fireball I'm really close with and they kind of look
and go how you're able to do what you do.
But I basically just replicated what I've always known, which is
music, advanced community, hype culture, whatever.
And I put it into an FMCG, sorry, into a product that

(48:57):
traditionally doesn't have that kind of marketing strategy.
So that's the disruption. And that's why it's different,
right? And like you could talk about
before how you're trying to likenot get a whole lot of time like
our teams are Lane really like you got these companies.
It'll do like 100,000 the launchparty.
I'm running these free pop up raves for free.
Yeah, and it's costing me 300 bucks.
Yeah. So again, like how can they
compete when they're like they want to do an influence, they

(49:19):
want to do an influencer campaign.
It's costing them 70K for four pose.
I'm doing it for. Free, Yeah, yeah, you can just
ring your mates and fuck yeah, yeah, 100% and that's the
difference, yeah. And we're doing photo shoots and
I'm using a guy at uni who's just doing it in my backyard,
literally like a lot of the photos you see here at my house.
Adrian's car. Yeah, get access to that stuff
definitely helps. But we're able to do these
things like, yeah, we did that Bandit Island party where we

(49:40):
like took 200 influences out to this island that I built.
This event, it's actually on YouTube, the whole building
stuff. Yeah, but we did that and it
cost us like 10s of thousands ofdollars.
Like if that was a big brand, itwould cost them half a million
because. But The thing is, people want to
come to our shit. So that's why it makes it easy,
so we don't have to pay these influences 'cause they want to
be involved in our community andthey want to come.
Yeah. And so we're in a different
realm because they they can't figure out what we're doing.

(50:02):
And then people like us who would disrupt us now we don't
want to work with them anymore because we want to do our own
shit because it's possible now. Like there's been an opening
thanks to online and social media that we can outbeat these
giant corporations that used to have millions and millions of
dollars because they can't create faces.
And I say to people like, I'm like, you know, when they're
talking about what they want to do or how they want to like
progress in their life or something they want to get
involved in. And I always say, do something

(50:24):
you love, right? Because if you have a chef and
he loves to cook, he'll do 15 hours a day and doesn't give a
fuck. He doesn't look at his watch.
Hold on, If you've got a guy whobecomes a chef because he likes
the wage, he's gonna be looking at his clock the whole time when
he finishes. You can't beat the guy doesn't.
He's willing to give. It's just not possible.
It's impossible. It's just impossible.
And that's why and because of the tools that we have been

(50:45):
given. Hack.
Yeah, exactly. It's a hack.
Offer and like, no doubt someonegoing to come knock me off my
pedestal one time Yeah, but likeinsane that good on him.
Like that's how I look at it, but good.
Man, but he's always actually doing that.
Man. You're the you're you.
You're blazing new paths, man, which is crazy.
And it's on the back of brand. It's on the back of community.
Anyway, keep going. Yeah, Kev, he said to me.
He's like tattooed up like he. Looks like he looks like.

(51:07):
He's, yeah, he's got blonde hair, you know, chains and shit.
Like, not a gangster. He's like an old FMX guy.
But he's like, wear suits though.
Yeah. And so he looks like a movie
character. And I remember him saying to me
like 3 or 4 years ago, he's like, both.
Beforehand, they used to turn their heads at us.
They didn't want to work with us.
Yeah. He's like, we were like, they're
guys that, you know, we had tattoos and that we had job
stoppers on our hands and this, that whatever he's like now, now
they want to pay us whatever they possibly will, but it's too

(51:28):
late. If they never turn their heads
at us, They we fucking would have worked for them because
like because we didn't fit into their social mold, we are now
the disruptors because they didn't want to accept it.
So he's like, fuck them. Yeah, but it's the true like you
don't have there's no, you don'thave to look like.
You don't mean I'm, I sat in a meeting the other day and I
won't say what, but Pete was there and the dude, very wealthy
guy. It was the first time I'd met

(51:49):
him and he sat there and he saidto me, he goes, you had me at
hello. He goes, I want to be in
business with you, man. And he just gets it because, and
Pete will tell you why. Like he sees what we're doing
and he just, he's fucking wealthy ass.
And he's just, I didn't even know him, you know what I mean?
And he's just because he sees it, he goes, yeah, they can't.
He's the one that actually came up with the, the, the, the line
I said before he said it to me, He said he goes because these

(52:12):
fuckers over there, they're in there, you know, they're in
their office and they're in their dad's shirt.
This is what he was saying to me.
And he goes, they can't fucking compete with you, dude.
Yeah, because you're you. It's you, man.
You know what I mean? And I've gone.
That's it. It's 100% and it's authenticity.
It's the things that you just, it's the brand, the fact, you
know what I mean, the community,it's they can't.
You talked about Shark Tank before.

(52:33):
I'd see guys in suits back in the day.
Now you got Adrian Batali, youngest billionaire in
Australia. He wears track suits everyday.
Yeah. Yeah.
So it's like the idea of a billionaire now is something
like that. Like it's not.
It's no longer. Yeah, like.
Earth guy as well. Correct.
Like when you see someone roll up in a suit now, it's almost
like a bit of a people, like, oh, I don't trust this guy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of true, though.
Like it is. Where are the trackies?
Yeah, I. Was like what the hell?

(52:53):
What are you trying? What are you trying to hide?
Yeah, educated guess. Man this has been amazing.
She's awesome on Denny's birthday as well.
Yeah. Happy birthday, Danny.
Thank you. Happy.
Birthday, mate. And man, we could talk all day.
I reckon that's the highest wordcount we've probably had for any
podcast. Yeah, a lot of words got
spelled, man. Yeah.
Amazing daughter. Again in the future, Danny and.

(53:14):
Talk so quick to a. Right mate, but that's man, get
it out of the way, let's get it done.
Yeah, it's full of history, but it's also full of Goldman for
anyone out there that wants to start a brand and you are my.
Brand business. Fucking mentor dude.
Your branding is tighter than mine and mines pretty good.
I love it. No, but amazing man and bloody
congratulations and from a from a probably unassuming broken

(53:36):
home. Some broken home.
Probably a lot of people wouldn't have looked at you
early on and thought you were going to do much.
But mate. Probably thought I was going to
jail already. And we didn't, and we wanted to
send everyone to your YouTube channel because we didn't dive
into that. And your YouTube channel is, is,
is a monster, man. And you're killing it.
Congratulations. Thank you.
And the reason you're killing it, dude, is because you're so
fucking authentic. So keep doing it because
appreciate it. Are you taking us all down

(53:57):
memory Rd. memory lane? Look, I'm watching it and you
just, it's not just me. There's 10s of thousands of
people are just fucking following you around man.
So keep doing it. It's mad.
Thank you. Yeah.
And yeah, really. Yeah.
Congratulations. And keep killing it, man.
You're doing it doing it well. Back at you guys, I'm keen to
see what the the 100 million mark.
Yeah, you got to aim for the fucking stars.

(54:17):
Don't. You.
That's it. Please guys, thank you anyone
that's going to get value like share, subscribe, see you at the
top yo. People will be part of a winning
team. People can find a better version
of themselves if they choose you.
Just need to go start some shit action.
Is all that matters. Be a man of your word.
Think I look back now and I'm like, well, that took some guts.
He can't, he can't. He can't see you at the top.