Impossible is Nothing is a 2006 video résumé by Aleksey Vayner (formerly Aleksey Garber)[1][2] which became an Internet meme.
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In October 2006, Yale University student Aleksey Vayner applied for a job with UBS AG. Amused by Vayner's apparent puffery, an unknown member of UBS staff emailed his application materials to other investment banks. The video was posted on various blogs, then YouTube, where it became an immense viral Internet phenomenon.[3]
The video opens with a staged interview between Vayner and an offscreen voice. However, the "interview" ultimately consists of a single question, to which Vayner gives a lengthy, rambling response. Using considerable amounts of business-speak jargon, Vayner praises himself and shares his various insights on success, talent, and overcoming adversity. Interspliced with the interview are clips of Vayner performing various feats designed to look impressive, including bench pressing, skiing, playing tennis, ballroom dancing, and finally karate-chopping a stack of bricks. The video ends with a dedication to Radomir Kovacevic, and a fairly lengthy credits sequence.
Vayner's job application includes:
Legal threats by Vayner against UBS, YouTube, and various blogs did not slow its progress, and only provided further fodder, subject to the Internet Streisand effect. One blog, IvyGate, became famous from its disputes with Vayner. When Vayner emailed a cease-and-desist letter demanding that IvyGate remove "Impossible is Nothing" links from its website, the blog instead published the threat and taunted Vayner to sue them. In further investigating the incident Ivygate learned and published[4] that:
Other publications investigating learned that Vayner has variously claimed the following[1]
Rumpus Magazine, a Yale University tabloid, had already exposed Vayner as a possible fake before attending Yale.[2]
The Internet meme surrounding "Impossible is Nothing" spread in typical fashion: by word of mouth on blogs and by Internet, then covered both as a meme and a human interest story by major newspapers, which further accelerated growth. After the first phase of popularity, blog posters and others began adding their own fanciful contributions to Vayner's legend. These include several classic meme features:[1]
Vayner did not receive a job offer from UBS or any other bank. He took a leave of absence from Yale.[4]
In January 2008, Vayner set up a website promoting a book written by him titled Millionaires' Blueprint to Success.[8][9]
Vayner appeared in Winnebago Man, a 2009 documentary about Jack Rebney, whose profanity-laced outtakes from a Winnebago industrial film also became an internet meme. In it, Vayner discusses his video resume and seems to accept that his unwelcomed fame is simply a part of who he is.