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, 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, 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 started VEE Corp. March 14, 1980. As of this May, I’d be starting my 36th year. Before that, I worked with the ice shows in 1970, and I got fired in 1978. 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.” 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, CEO of Blue Star]. He’s good. When I formed VEE, Norwest Growth Fund, a Minneapolis venture capital company, came in. They believed in it and they supported me. I have totally owned VEE since about 2007.
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 till September when we opened the shows. And 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. 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. Now we Hello Kitty's Supercute Friendship Festival with Sanrio. Today there aren’t many major show producers beyond Kenny [Feld, Feld Entertainment] and I. I was approached about buying Harlem Globetrotters when it went bankrupt. I should have bought it, but you know, should-a, would-a, could-a.
What makes 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. But Sesame Street has maintained and is well loved. Parents today grew up on Sesame Street.
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.
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 enjoying themselves and the fact I was part of that.
How did you get the license to take Hello Kitty live?
They came to us. We build all of our own stuff. We have our own shops. They were looking for someone who would handle the brand well and had the credibility and integrity to treat it well.
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. But you have to go with the best-run buildings.