Reading · Things I Would Buy If I Didn’t Have To Pay Rent

I’m half Irish and an observation I’ve made over the years is that Irish people are good at story telling because they’ve been practicing since birth. They’re always testing bits. Start with the inner circle, count the laughs. Move some parts around, try a bigger audience, see if it still lands. When I built Club Vintage I was calling it the Department Store of Vintage Sellers and the joke never landed. I think the people I was talking to were conjuring thoughts of Barneys on fire and Saks’s chapter 11 filing instead of the cornucopia of well-executed retail experiences that I, personally, associate with the wording. Sure, maybe dated, but when I say “circus” aren’t you imagining magic?

When we started outreach for ReCon (literally two months ago), and started calling it the world’s first resale conference (a decidedly un-funny term), the response was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone got it immediately. There are things you pick up in the world of start ups that are both conversational efficiencies and maybe-markers of small-mindedness. For a long time the formula was, “We are the Uber of [industry].” That was what I was trying to do with “department store” but I didn’t pick a winning comp. I get the elevator pitch of it all but maybe we are just sending each other way too many emails? Maybe the pool of available dream makers is too small? And it would be nice to sit down with a stranger who really wants to tell you something and to listen. Maybe that’s insane. Maybe that’s why I have a newsletter (and building a conference).

Anyway, I am sane and it seems like we’ve (Aleksija Vujicic and I have been sharing a brain since January) cracked the code on filling a market gap, which surprises me every day. Or, I was never privy to the world of conferences so this is news to only me. But it can’t be because there is no other resale conference! I did just read Cami Fateh’s (great!) Feed Me column about Expo West and thought, “Oh yeah people really love these gatherings of focused weirdos.” Conferences (and expos and summits) are summer camps where people with money, people with ideas and the people in between meet. They all need to be in the same room to make dreams come true.

I am following a weird dream and we will see what happens! Please, cross your fingers for us that is the success we think it will be.

If you’re resale-invested or resale-curious, you can buy a ticket here and give me a hug. April 2 & 3! Level 10 at Starrett-Lehigh (yes, that gigantic building with the studios you’ve been trekking to from the A train for years). Every major player is speaking.

And, because finding beautiful things is how I de-escalate my anxiety:

THINGS I WOULD BUY IF I DIDN’T HAVE TO PAY RENT