The time had come to sell his life’s work and it went down much as it began. Vince Egan, who founded VEE Corporation March 14, 1980, in Minneapolis, Minn., with the help of Norwest Growth Fund, sold it to Blue Star Media LLC, also a Minnesota company, which enlisted the help of AUA Private Equity Investments out of New York. The deal was announced on April 1, 2015. Egan talked with Venues Today about his decision to sell and how the business has changed two weeks after the announcement.
What prompted you to sell VEE Corp.?
I’ve been doing this for a long time. I started VEE Corp. March 14, 1980. As of this May, I’d be starting my 36th year. Before that, I was in the ice shows and worked for Arthur Wirtz. I started the ice shows in 1970 and I got fired in 1978. In November of 1978 I couldn’t find a job and finally I was able to find the funds and knew Jim Henson and the people in the Sesame Street Workshop, they were separate in those years, and started Sesame Street Live. You put eight years on top of 36, that’s 44 years. It’s time.
How did the sale come down?
Blue Star Media came to me and here’s what I said to them. “I want this to go way beyond my lifetime and entertain the children of the world way beyond my life. I think you are qualified to do it.” I’ve been thinking about this the last couple of years. I’ve been all around the world. I’ve been in Japan 39 times; Europe 100 times. I’m done with that airplane. Over the last two years, we negotiated the contract for Hello Kitty’s Supercute Friendship Festival. Sanrio is a great partner. When we opened Sesame Street, there were only two brands out there, Sesame Street and Disney. Blue Star is the people taking over, but really AUA private equity out of New York bought me out and they are the control people. And you know Sanjay [Syal, Blue Star CEO]. He’s good. Blue Star is the same deal as I was in. AUA is the partner for Blue Star. When I did it, I formed VEE with a growth fund. Norwest Growth Fund came in, a Minneapolis venture capital company, different than private equity. They believed in it and they supported me. I have totally owned VEE since about 2007.
How has the family show business changed?
The world is changing today. We used to go on TV or radio or newspaper. How do you do it today? Social media, Facebook, promotions….all of the promotions and advertising and presenting shows today has changed and it was time for change for me. I will help the [Sesame Street] Workshop and I would certainly help Blue Star. But not the travelling. Five years ago I was gone 100 days a year. I am proud of what we built together. I want to enjoy my life and I want Sesame Street Live to go well beyond all of us. They are great people; I think it will be fine.
What makes for a good live show?
Quality, integrity creating love with the children for the characters. Kids used to watch TV all the time. Now they’re on their iPads and telephones. Advertising and promotion needs to change for the awareness. A lot of shows came up in the last 10 years and a lot have gone down in the last 10 years. Sesame has maintained and is well loved. Parents today grew up on Sesame Street. But the millennial child has changed. The media has changed. Theaters and arenas have changed.
Your global reach is so impressive. That’s a big part of what you sold, right?
Yes, and they needed it. We’ve developed relationships. We played China and Singapore, the parks in Malaysia. A lot of countries want us right now. I am concerned about what is happening in the world. Sanjay is younger than I am. He’s energetic. The toughest thing for me is I’m not 45 any more.
Looking back what is the highlight of your career?
Standing in the back of an arena with 8,000 people in it and watching them all have a great time and enjoy themselves and the fact I was part of that. That’s what it is. It’s all about creating a great place for people to go for an hour and a half and enjoy themselves. The shows are written on two levels and the parents have as much fun as the kids. That’s Jim Waters. He has done a fabulous job doing that. He’s now doing Hello Kitty.
How did you get Hello Kitty?
They came to us. We build all of our own stuff. We have our own shops. We’re probably the second largest family show in the world. They were looking for someone who would handle the brand well and had the credibility and integrity to treat it well. They are strong people, no doubt about that.
What will happen to the staff that built VEE with you?
People today need to grow and they’ve got to do it by hard work. The most important thing in our business, which is my opinion, deals with contacts and caring. The relationships you establish throughout your career are the most important thing. My staff has relationships. They care about what they do. And Sanjay, he is just totally devoted to what he does. He’s a very strong person and smart guy.
How have venues changed?
There are more of them. We used to have one partner for a long time. Now you have multiple arenas and theaters where it used to be one and two max per market. They absolutely want the product. They need it to survive. But you have to go with the best-run buildings. It’s much more competitive.
What are your criteria for the best-run building?
Ones that have sports teams that bring the audiences in for the major shows. The people are used to it. They have the database. It’s the number of tickets sold, plus the promotions and partnerships of the show. You can’t just rent a building and do nothing. In some cases, the old venue will hold them and do very well.
How has the family show changed?
Shows are much for interactive. Children don’t just sit in the seats and watch. They like to touch, feel, and move around. I believe the company I sold to will go further with that. The purpose of the Workshop is to educate and entertain the people of the world. They’ve always been supportive. We’ve played to 200 million people.
How did you get into the props and costume side of the business?
I had to build the shows and when I contracted it out, it was so expensive that I started the shops. We built the stuff in some rented space and on the farm I lived on. Jim Henson and Muppets built the costumes. We started the costume shop in the 1980s and it was up from May until September, when we opened the shows. Then other people asked us to build some props for them, so we went from April until October. We were playing in all the major buildings and they have NBA and NHL teams and the teams have mascots. They came to us, because no one was really in the costume business. They’d approach the company manager and say, who creates your costumes? We said we do. Now we market it. Right now it’s a $12 million operation and it’s probably about 20 percent of our business. We’re all over the world with it.
How big is the core business?
We had three shows constantly for 35 years. We were on the road 10 months a year. Then we’d come back in to re-service, and we built new shows. We’ve entertained over 200 million people. We’ve done other shows — Dragon Tales, Care Bears, Curious George, My Little Pony. Our reputation is strong throughout the world and with other licensees. Hello Kitty, they respect us, we respect them, and why not? Today there aren’t many major show producers beyond Kenny [Feld, Feld Entertainment] and I. They talked to me about buying Harlem Globetrotters when it went bankrupt. I should have bought it, but you know, should-a, would-a, could-a.