Crushing It! is Gary Vaynerchuk’s 2018 update to his 2009 book Crush It!, which argued that anyone with passion and a willingness to create content could build a business through social media. The update profiles dozens of people who did exactly that in the years since, and adds tactical advice for newer platforms that didn’t exist when the first book was written.
The book is structured around platforms. Each major channel, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, podcasting, and others, gets its own chapter with specific advice on what kind of content works, how to grow an audience, and how to monetize. Vaynerchuk also profiles specific entrepreneurs who built businesses on each platform, telling their stories in enough detail to be useful as case studies.
The personal branding argument is the thread connecting everything. Vaynerchuk believes that in the attention economy, your personal brand is your most important asset, and that building it through consistent content creation is the most reliable path to opportunity, whether you want to sell products, attract investors, land a job, or build a media company.
The profiles of real entrepreneurs are the book’s strongest section. Instead of just Vaynerchuk telling you what works, you hear from people with different backgrounds and industries who actually did the work. Some built fitness brands, some built consulting businesses, some built e-commerce companies, and some built media properties. The variety of paths helps illustrate that there’s no single formula, just consistent execution on whichever platform fits your strengths.
For founders, the book is most useful as a motivation boost and a platform-by-platform reference. Vaynerchuk’s energy is high throughout, which is either infectious or overwhelming depending on your disposition. The tactical advice is useful but has a shelf life since platforms change their algorithms and features regularly. The broader message, that building an audience through content creates optionality that pays off in unpredictable ways, is sound regardless of which platforms are dominant at any given moment.
The writing is conversational and fast-paced. Vaynerchuk writes the way he talks: in short declarative sentences with lots of emphasis. The book reads quickly and is designed to get you moving rather than sitting and thinking.
