This Entrepreneur Raised $200 Million To Build A Platform And App Allowing Fans To Request Personalized Video Messages From Celebrities

Steven Galanis, co-founder of Cameo, epitomizes the entrepreneurial spirit. His story, steeped in family tradition, innovation, and grit, is a fascinating tale of navigating life’s twists and turns to build a hyper-growth company in the talent world.

In this candid interview, Steven shared his upbringing, the origins of Cameo, the fundraising challenges, and the lessons learned in scaling a revolutionary business.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

Early Influences and Chicago Roots

Born and raised in Glenview, Illinois, just north of Chicago, Steven enjoyed an active and well-rounded childhood. Sports played a significant role, with hockey, baseball, and football shaping his competitive spirit throughout high school and college.

Beyond athletics, Steven excelled in leadership roles like student council and debating in elementary, middle, and high schools. His Greek heritage was a cornerstone of his upbringing.

Steven’s mother’s family had been in America since the 1890s, making Steven a third-generation Greek-American. Entrepreneurship was a family tradition. Family dinners were filled with discussions about entrepreneurship, competition, and growth.

Steven recalls seeing the Wall Street Journal on the table with CNBC running in the background. Everyone would be talking about business competition and competitiveness.

During World War II, Steven’s maternal grandfather, Spiro, worked in a factory, learning to use photography and X-rays to ensure the planes going overseas were structurally sound.

Later, he used these skills to run one of Chicago’s oldest wedding photography studios, a thriving business since 1945 that his son still runs.

Steven’s father was an accountant who moved to the US from Sparta at 4. He worked his way from cutting fries at McDonald’s to running finance for a multi-billion-dollar company, instilling a sense of resilience and the value of steady, incremental progress in Steven.

College and the Power of Networks

Steven attended Duke University, where he began honing his networking skills. The timing worked in his favor as Facebook launched during his senior year of high school. He quickly realized that people were applying to certain schools to get in earlier by putting a deposit down.

This strategy would enable them to get a .edu email which they needed to get on Facebook. Since Steven was in senior year, everyone he knew connected with him on FB. By leveraging the platform early, Steven built a vast network of connections that proved invaluable later.

This network allowed Steven to do things differently than people older than him. Thus, he created a Facebook group, Spartan Entertainment, with his co-founder, Zach Maridis, who was a senior when Steven was a freshman at Duke.

The duo organized events which became staples of the college scene. Their Wednesday Night Beer Pong tournaments and other activities expanded to nearby universities, attracting over 17,000 students across the Triangle area.

Soon, Steven and Zach were regularly throwing over a dozen events a week on all the different campuses. They also had a college box moving business. At the end of each semester, they hired hockey players, footballers, and wrestlers to move and store boxes for students in North Carolina.

The duo also had a t-shirt printing company and hot dog stand and were soon looking to start their college music festival. Spartan Entertainment’s success taught Steven the value of network effects and branding—skills he would later use to build Cameo.

A Pivot to Entertainment and Tech

After graduating during the 2008 financial crisis, Steven returned to Chicago and became an options trader. Despite success in finance, his entrepreneurial instincts and family ties pulled him towards entertainment.

Steven spent nearly three years trading as an open outcry market maker on the New York Stock Exchange floor. Looking back, he remembers renting out a movie theater, organizing a mini premier for his uncle’s movie, and inviting his teammates at NYSE to the viewing.

Later, they suggested Steven get into movie production with his uncle, George—a film financier behind hits like Rambo, Conan, Lone Survivor, and The Irishman. That was the beginning of a partnership that resulted in Steven raising funds to co-invest in films and television shows.

Steven also connected with Martin Blenko, who had been doing production with George. Inspired by George, who saw potential in their capital registry skill sets, they started working together. This opportunity came right around the time when technology overturned traditional stock exchanges.

Yet Steven’s aptitude for building social networks caught the attention of LinkedIn, which recruited him to sell their enterprise product, Sales Navigator, to FINRA and SEC-regulated industries. Arthur Leopold, a fraternity friend from Duke College, brought him into the program.

This experience marked Steven’s entry into tech and expanded his understanding of building scalable, impactful products. Eight months later, he would co-found Cameo with Arthur, who became a part of the founding team as COO and, eventually, the president.

The Idea for Cameo

A pivotal moment at his grandmother’s funeral set the stage for Cameo in 2016. Steven’s co-founder, Martin Blencowe, had recently transitioned to certified NFL representation, signing Cassius Marsh, a Seattle Seahawks defensive end with a striking personality.

Martin’s objective was to turn Cassius into an A-list action star. Despite Marsh’s charisma, generating off-field income proved challenging. As the agent, Martin had hoped to make money from endorsement deals.

This challenge sparked an idea: what if fans could purchase personalized video messages from their favorite athletes and celebrities? Steven, Martin, and their third co-founder, Devon Townsend, launched Cameo with a vision to democratize celebrity interactions.

Steven explains the Cameo business model–a marketplace with famous people on the supply side. These famous people are athletes, actors, creators, and pop culture personalities. Each has a price for which they will make a personalized video.

Videos can be of any length, but consumers have a limit of 400 characters within which they can request a message. Next, they can select a price for the celebrity, who has seven days or less to do the video. Cameo retains 30% of the fee, and celebrities get 70%.

The platform’s value proposition resonated immediately, allowing fans to connect with stars in a personalized, authentic way. Cameo quickly gained traction, revolutionizing the talent world and solidifying its position as a first mover in this space.

Steven recalls how the co-founders tossed around different ideas for monetizing Cameo before deciding on personalized video messages. Such messages would require the least effort from the celebrities and became the final choice of activity.

Steven and Martin leveraged their personal networks to get a few people to agree to their business proposition.

Navigating the Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship

When building on Cameo as a concept, the initial challenge Steven and Martin faced was their lack of technical know-how. The solution was to bring in Devin Townsend, Steven’s classmate from Duke, who was a brilliant engineer. Devin had worked at Microsoft and was a Vine star.

In May 2017, Devin started by building a simple website, and Martin brought Cassius aboard as the first celebrity. The co-founders were aware that aggregating supply in the Cameo marketplace was crucial since it constituted celebrities with millions of followers on social media.

Cassius released an initial video on Twitter advertising his offer to make a video for fans. Although he had 100,000 followers, there were no takers for the video. Moreover, Cassius unfortunately faced online backlash for charging $20 for fan interactions.

Critics questioned why a professional athlete, like an NFL player, earning millions would charge his fans. The relentless trolling left Cassius disheartened. He withdrew his $25K investment and exited the platform, leaving Steven and his team at a critical juncture.

At the time, Galanis’s co-founder, Martin, also Marsh’s agent, grappled with the fallout and withdrew from the company. The team faced a moment of reckoning—no co-founder, no initial talent, and no investor support.

Despite these setbacks, Steven and his partner Devin remained resolute, determined to press on with a concept they believed in.

Cameo’s Initial Order–Validating the MVP

Amid this chaos, Steven vividly recalls a moment of validation. While pitching an idea at dinner, he noticed a user browsing Cameo’s primitive website. The site was bare-bones, a simple Google Form interface requiring a name, message, and credit card.

As the potential customer’s activity vanished, Steven felt disappointed. Minutes later, however, he received a Twitter message from a determined father whose daughter, a die-hard Cassius Marsh fan, was desperate for a birthday Cameo.

The father’s persistence led to a video being created and sent despite initial payment, technical, and communication hurdles. The result was extraordinary.

The daughter’s tearful, joy-filled reaction to receiving the personalized message convinced Steven of Cameo’s potential to evoke powerful emotional connections. That moment solidified his conviction that Cameo could scale this impact to millions.

Building a hyper-growth company is not without its challenges. Steven recounted the rollercoaster of fundraising, including the occasional wild investor meetings and the importance of aligning with backers who shared their vision. Eventually, they raised $200M for Cameo.

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The Influence of LinkedIn and a Life-Changing Decision

Steven credits LinkedIn as a defining influence in his professional journey. He encountered a growth mindset and mission-driven culture that inspired him during his tenure there. He remembers interacting with Mike Gamsen, the global head of sales at LinkedIn in Chicago.

As Mike welcomed Steven, he said, “We work with you to get the skills you need for your next job two years down the line, whether internal or external.” All they needed was for Steven to excel at his job until he was ready for the next thing.

Steven also talks about the economic graph on LinkedIn and the objective of helping the world’s professionals become more productive and successful. Employees were encouraged to recruit their own replacements when they wanted to move on.

On his second anniversary, Steven left LinkedIn to fully pursue Cameo, driven by the words of a colleague: “If someone else builds this and becomes a billionaire, could you live with yourself?” That decision marked the beginning of a remarkable journey.

Early on, Steven leaned on the relationships he built at LinkedIn, with many former colleagues joining Cameo in its formative years. His connections proved invaluable as the company began to take shape.

Transformative Investment and Momentum in Chicago

Shortly after launching Cameo, Steven received an unexpected call from Mike Gamson, a mentor from LinkedIn. Gamson saw potential in the fledgling startup and offered a transformative $500K investment.

This infusion of capital not only validated Steven’s vision but also provided the resources needed to push forward. Momentum began to build, particularly in Chicago, where the startup quickly gained recognition among local venture capitalists.

Early-stage firms like Chicago Ventures and Origin Ventures competed to invest, setting the stage for Cameo’s future growth.

The Breakthrough Connection with Lightspeed Venture Partners

Cameo’s trajectory took another leap when Jana Messerschmidt, a seasoned operator and member of the Hashtag Angels syndicate, introduced Steven to Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Liew, impressed by Cameo’s potential, expressed immediate enthusiasm, stating, “I’ve been looking for a business like this for 10 years.” His conviction and subsequent Series A investment propelled Cameo into a new phase of visibility and credibility.

The meeting marked a turning point, not only securing crucial funding but also putting Cameo on the radar of major players in Silicon Valley. The company transitioned from being a local success to a national phenomenon, attracting interest from top-tier investors.

Talking about the lessons learned from building Cameo, Steven believes in hiring teams not based on their resumes but on their potential. He is open to hiring interns, school dropouts, and people for smaller jobs and then making available opportunities where they can innovate and excel.

Legacy and Lessons

Steven’s path from his Chicago roots and Duke’s nightlife to redefining fan experiences through Cameo underscores the power of leveraging one’s unique background and networks.

Whether drawing on family traditions in entrepreneurship or adapting to new opportunities in tech and entertainment, Steven exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit. His journey demonstrates resilience and vision.

From the emotional response of a single customer to the backing of high-profile investors, every step of Cameo’s early days underscored its potential to connect people in meaningful ways.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Steven’s upbringing in a business-oriented Greek-American family instilled a strong foundation in entrepreneurship, resilience, and the value of steady progress.
• Leveraging early adoption of Facebook and organizing events at Duke University honed Steven’s skills in networking and branding, which became pivotal in building Cameo.
• A successful stint as an options trader and film financier laid the groundwork for Steven’s pivot into tech and entertainment.
• The idea for personalized celebrity video messages democratized fan interactions, creating a scalable marketplace with a powerful emotional connection.
• Early challenges, including co-founder exits and initial backlash, tested Steven’s resolve but reinforced the importance of perseverance in entrepreneurship.
• Support from mentors like Mike Gamson and connections with investors like Lightspeed Ventures played a crucial role in scaling Cameo.
• Steven emphasizes hiring based on potential and fostering innovation, rather than solely relying on resumes, to cultivate a dynamic team.

 

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