Office Hours: JibJab CEO Paul Hanges on Creating Viral Joy

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

JibJab CEO Paul Hanges
Image courtesy of JibJab

Even if people don't know the brand by name, JibJab CEO Paul Hanges is happy to see the company's greeting cards resonate and its mission to make people laugh continue to thrive.

On this episode of Office Hours, Hanges talks about JibJab, a pioneer of internet comedy that has evolved into a subscription platform for exchanging ecards, as well as a studio that produces video shorts and commercials for clients including Sony, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, NBC in Disney. JibJab was acquired by Catapult Capital in 2019.


Founded by brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis in 1999, JibJab blew up during the 2004 election with the short parody video, "This Land!" The video, which featured George W. Bush and John Kerry in a dueling duet, was an early viral video success and landed the company instant renown. ABC News even named its founders their “people of the year” in 2004.

Unfortunately for the brother-founders, this was before Youtube and before video advertising.

“The brothers were sitting with something that everyone had seen, but didn't know how to make money off of it,” Hanges said.

JibJab realized that online video was going to be key to the evolving internet and set off to create branded and native video advertising. Eventually, they found success, too, in translating greeting cards to the digital space.

"[We] looked at the quarterly reports of American Greetings and Hallmark and said, 'Wow, a lot of people are paying for digital greetings'… So they said how can we bring our artistic ability to it and bring some fun and humor in this space. And JibJab, as we know it today, was born," said Hanges.

The company now offers unlimited digital greeting cards directly to their 1.2 million subscribers for $2 per month for an annual subscription.

Over the years, Hanges said, JibJab has had to adapt to an ever-evolving world online.

“We have been deemed the online cockroach,” Hanges said, “which I absolutely love. It's a moniker that we hold with pride.”

Key to that longevity, Hanges said, has been the company’s ability to adapt to new platforms.

“We've always said, we want to allow people to be funny and have fun, no matter where they're having those conversations.”

At one time, the company was focused on allowing users to share funny videos and cards by email. That’s since expanded to Facebook’s wall, then their Messenger tool and then iMessage. Now, the company is moving to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Hanges said JibJab moved to Marina Del Rey in 2001, long before the city was recognized as a destination for tech companies. Its founders, he said, recognized the city's place at the intersection for art and technology.

Now based Downtown, Hanges said the company’s mission to make people laugh hasn’t changed.

“It's relatively easy to be able to sell that mission, especially in L.A.–to say, ‘creatives, come here and make anything you think will make people laugh and be fun’,” he said. “We're not held captive by ‘is the advertiser going to be happy?’ If the person paying for the card will laugh, we make it.”

Want to hear more episodes? Subscribe to Office Hours on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio or wherever you get your podcasts.

dot.LA Engagement Intern Joshua Letona contributed to this post.

https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff
https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerrascoff/
admin@dot.la

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

***

Read moreShow less

This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

***

Read moreShow less

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending