Steven Galanis, cofounder and CEO of the red-hot Chicago startup Cameo, joins us to discuss how they've turned selling personalized celebrity shoutouts online into both a massive business and the most interesting new social media phenomenon to hit the West since TikTok. We hope you have as much fun listening as we did recording this one!
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Show Links:
Show Bookmarks:
[00:00] – Meet Steven, and the beginnings of Cameo
[06:20] – Steven’s history before Cameo
[15:31] – The Start of Cameo
[20:10] – The first Cameo (Powermove.io)
[24:54] – Product Market Fit
[31:15] – The Evolution of Celebrities and Direct To Consumer Companies
[39:05] – Value Proposition and Bookings Generation
[47:21] – Content, Monetization, and the future of Social Networks
[50:00] – Cameo and Company Building
[62:18] – Scaling as the CEO; Are you still the best person for the job?
[64:39] – On Mentorship
People Worth Knowing:
Snoop Dog
Zach Maurides
Martin Blencowe
Devon Townsend
Mike Gamson
Jeff Weiner
Cody Ko
Jason Kipnis
Thaddeus Lewis
Cassius Marsh
David Dobrik
Nicole Quinn
Emily Weiss
Dennis Crowley
Alexis Ohanian
Michael Rappaport
Perez Hilton
Matt Maloney
Mark Lawrence
Companies Mentioned in Episode:
Snapchat
Duke University
Teamworks
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)
Relativity
Zoom
Microsoft
Vine
YouTube
Patreon
TikTok
Sophia
Girlboss
Glossier
Goop
Musically
Groupon
Spothero
Episode Specific Terms:
Repeatable Supply
Startups as a Marketplace
Influencers
Network Effect Business
Founder Market Fit
The Hacker – The Hustler – The Hipster (The Makings of a successful Team)
Flywheel
Direct To Consumer
Direct Monetization
Marketplace Businesses
Growth Mindset
Ben and David’s Affiliations:
Wave Capital, @WaveCapitalVC
Pioneer Square Labs, @psl
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What is ACQ2: The Acquired Interviews?
ACQ2 is Ben and David's conversations with expert founders and investors. Acquired the stories of great companies — and ACQ2 dives deeper into the lessons we can learn from them, often with the protagonists themselves.