Ryan Alford

I want to get some photo match.

All of our cards, we said we're going to use the major third party graders.

All the autographs, we wanted to use proper authenticators and same for game used as well as player collections.

And I said, here's what I want to do.

I obviously been in business for many years.

I didn't go into the business broke, starting golden.

So I had money.

I started with $100,000 and I said, I'm really going to take the Jeff Bezos approach to business.

My first couple years, I'm going to know that I'm going to lose money and I'm going to try a bunch of stuff that I don't think had ever been done in the industry.

And I'm going to throw it against the wall and see what stuck.

We went out and I tried to find the highest media attention items that I can get.

And I flew out to Las Vegas.

I saw my friend Pete Rose and I said, Pete, I'm starting an auction house.

I said, what do you got for me?

He goes, oh, crap.

You know, I've sold almost everything.

He goes, but there is something I think you can get.

I just sold this guy my banishment contract from baseball.

He put me in touch with the guy who bought it and we got it for the first auction.

At the time, Darren Revell was working for ESPN.