
Inside VeeFriends: Building a New IP in the Modern Collectibles Market with Zachary Owings
Collector NationShow Notes
In this episode of Collector Nation, Ryan Alford sits down with Zachary Owings from VeeFriends to explore how one of the most talked-about brands in the hobby is being built from the ground up.
The conversation dives into the Topps partnership, product strategy, and how VeeFriends is navigating the balance between collectors, investors, and flippers.
Zach also shares insight into the future of the hobby, including why fictional IP may play a bigger role than sports cards and how new collectors are entering the market.
This episode is a deep dive into where collectibles are headed—and what it takes to build something that lasts.
🔑 Topics Covered
VeeFriends brand strategy and growth
Topps partnership and distribution
Collector vs investor mindset
The rise of fictional IP in collectibles
Market dynamics and demand
🤝 Connect
Ryan Alford 👉 https://www.ryanalford.com 👉 https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanalford
Zachary Owings 👉 https://www.instagram.com/zacharyowings 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharyowings
VeeFriends 👉 https://veefriends.com
More from Collector Nation
Ryan Alford sits down with Steve “Greenie” of Greenie Sports Cards and Jeremy Levine of the Big Play Collectibles Network, two lifelong friends who went from flipping baseball cards as kids to running dozens of card shows across multiple states every year.
A Kobe Bryant gold /10 BGS 9.5 went from $156K in 2022 to $1.1M in 2026. Ryan Alford and Bella explain why rising Hall of Famer prices signal a healthy, more stable card market, and how that’s different from chasing rookie 1/1s. Download the Collector Nation app and visit thecollectornation.com for more.
Ryan Alford sits down with Canadian artist Murray Henderson and Collector Creative founder Zach Nigut to explore one of the most overlooked corners of the hobby: real, hand-made sports art. Murray shares how an accidental paint spill turned a photorealism painter into the creator of "exact abstract," and what it means to be named the 2026 Sport Artist of the Year, with his work going on display in a museum for a full year.
Ryan Alford, Brian Ludden and Bella are back as Coinbase joins the growing list of major companies moving into the collectibles space with Pokémon packs backed by real cards. The crew discusses what that much new money means for sourcing, regulation and the future of digital pack ripping.
Ryan Alford sits down with Alladan Flinn, founder and CEO of Based Trading Cards, to talk about what happens when a card maker puts transparency and the collector first. Every series of Based's Orange Pill in a Pack has a finite run of 21,000 packs, a published hit list and a promise never to reprint.