On Thursday, July 9th, dot.LA entertainment reporter Sam Blake hosted a one-on-one video interview with Steven Galanis, founder and CEO of Cameo, the thriving video platform featuring celebrities and influencers.
"From our estimation we believe that there are two million people in the world that are qualified influencers," said Cameo Founder and CEO Steven Galanis in a conversation with dot.LA's Sam Blake. "And probably more than in any other city on Earth, those people are in Los Angeles."
<p>The website allows celebrities to send personalized video messages to paying fans. Cameo recruits big names, usually through social media. Other times, celebrities are referred by their friends — like the time Snoop Dogg popped in on Ice T's video.</p><p>"He ended up Face-timing me later that day and joining the platform," Galanis said. Later, he said, Snoop Dogg became an investor. These scenarios, where celebrities join by referral, make up about 55% of all Cameo bookings. To date, the company has collected over 40,000 influencers. </p><p>But how? What's in it for the celebrity? The platform acts almost as a marketplace for talent. Mainstream and niche performers alike can build their following. </p><p>"The value prop of the Cameo is that talent is getting paid to become more popular," Galanis said. "The person who receives a Cameo from you literally becomes a bigger fan of you than they ever were."</p><p>Right before Mother's Day, one customer wrote to Galanis on LinkedIn to tell him the video he bought for his wife was "the best Cameo that's ever been made." Naturally, Galanis was intrigued; the four-year-old startup has churned out over a million of these videos. </p><p>Galanis confirmed: it was the best Cameo he'd ever seen. He booked the same artist, Michael Fronti, to make one for his mom. She became an instant fan of a singer she'd never heard of. Her Facebook friends love him now, too.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9de63d4657faafed9d4d2d1b12585c6e"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/prXO59TdZGo?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Virtual Fireside Chat with Cameo Founder & CEO Steven Galanis</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXO59TdZGo&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwODEzNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMTI5MjEyNH0.Rz4OBSxgOLoCe0x9zeTJGx8sNmxbLWRcveyRkvj5I6I/img.png?width=980" id="137f4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0f00b423b2d935145d0cada8fc225d69" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="" />
Cameo CEO Steven Galanis
<p><a href="https://www.cameo.com/" target="_blank"><br>Cameo</a> has emerged as the world's leading marketplace for personalized video shoutouts recently cementing roots in Los Angeles. Cameo has raised over $65 million to date; most recently a mid-2019 $50 million Series B led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Playa Vista-based The Chernin Group.</p><p>dot.LA entertainment reporter Sam Blake will host an in depth video discussion with Cameo's CEO on how he plans to <a href="https://dot.la/cameo-ceo-on-his-move-to-l-a-and-his-companys-future-2646225672.html" target="_self">disrupt the entertainment world</a> and more!</p>
From Your Site Articles
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Offices are likely to get bigger, not smaller. Major cities could hollow out. And more people will work remote.
Those are some of the takeaways from dot.LA's virtual strategy session held Tuesday on the future of commercial real estate with Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing partner at Fifth Wall; Justin Bedecarre, co-founder and CEO of HelloOffice and Jen Nguyen, founding partner of TEAMWERC.
<p>We've rounded up three major points from the discussion below. Watch the full event below, and <a href="https://dot.la/st/newsletters" target="_blank">sign up for our newsletter </a>to get notified of future events. </p><h4>Smaller Cities Are Attracting More Knowledge Workers</h4><p>"Cities are in a fight for knowledge workers, they definitionally are. They want that tax base. They want that revenue base. They will try to appeal probably to younger, more mobile millennial, Gen Z workers and attract them directly and say, 'well once there's a core base in Salt Lake City, or in Wichita, or in Tampa well, that company will have to open an office there.' </p><p>It's more of a government to consumer marketing strategy than a government to corporation marketing strategy, and we're in the very early innings of that. And so, that literally would not have been possible. I think if two things hadn't happened, one, the forward progress of cloud-based collaboration tools didn't exist...And the second thing is (if) COVID hadn't happened because COVID was this unplanned forced test of the integrity of those tools and the integrity of a workforce that's working remote." </p><p><em>— Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall</em></p><h4>More Employees Will Work Hybrid</h4><p>"The vast percentage of employees will be flexible.. And so they'll be close to a workplace. Maybe they'll work five days a week, maybe they'll work in the office one to two days a week, and go to the office to make plans to collaborate with their team to jam on the whiteboard. </p><p>"I think, at least you know 70 to 75% of all employees will be adopting the hybrid model." </p><p><em>— Justin Bedecarre, HelloOffice</em></p><h4>At the Office, There's More Space</h4><p>"We've seen the loss of 40% of real estate...because of the six-feet social distance. </p><p>"In some cases where we're talking about the knowledge-based tech workers, typically in San Francisco, you're seeing an average of 100 to 250 square foot per person. Now, after layering the social distance guidelines of the minimum six foot — which we don't even know today, if that is enough — you're needing at least 300 to 350 square feet more per person." </p><p><em>— Jen Nguyen</em></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2e1ab2b153153ff10c0ed1e0b6f82a67"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bwne0vrRHhQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Copy of dot.LA Strategy Session: Office 2021, in Partnership with HelloOffice</small>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwne0vrRHhQ&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
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<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxMjkxOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTM5OTIxN30.WlaRjqg7McLgzovO9lfxPemfYv7IOSQiC3mzjB4b6Is/image.jpg?width=980" id="04fb3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="94ad06c75f5564b2041d87bfe32b6d8c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Jen Nguyen, Founding Partner of TEAMWERC
Jen Nguyen, Founding Partner of TEAMWERC
<p>Jen Nguyen is a founding partner of TEAMWERC, delivering best in class turnkey workplace as a service. She has a back to back track record building hyper growth inclusive award winning workplaces from the ground up. Founding workplace leader at Pinterest, Zynga, Tesla Motors and SAP Successfactors from their infancy through IPOs.</p><p>TEAMWERC will create a mindshift in how you approach your workplace bridging the gap between people and places, offering a plug and play expert team embedded into your organization. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMyODMxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDY3MjAyMH0.TWThylu42WP8TYrjRa2qwYBCPfopj0q4zig_P-ym67c/image.jpg?width=980" id="0615e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="764902fbee52dc0a22d8eca583a9a42a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Brendan Wallace, co-founder & managing partner at Fifth Wall
Brendan Wallace, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Fifth Wall
<p>Brendan Wallace is a co-founder and managing partner at Fifth Wall, where he guides the firm's strategic vision.</p><p>Prior to starting Fifth Wall, Brendan co-founded Identified, a workforce optimization data and analytics company that raised $33 million of venture funding and was acquired by Workday (NYSE: WKDY) in 2014. He also co-founded Cabify, the largest ridesharing service in Latin America, and has been an active investor, leading more than 60 angel investments including Bonobos, Dollar Shave Club, Lyft, SpaceX, Clutter, and Philz Coffee.</p><p>Brendan started his career at Goldman Sachs in the real estate, hospitality, and gaming group before joining The Blackstone Group's real estate private equity practice.</p><p>Brendan is from New York City and currently lives in Venice. He graduated from Princeton University, where he received his BA in political science and economics. He received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxMjkyMC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODY4NDAzM30.tIGIXP4ZvQxgZwJZ899q82VGiCuByUVlbI1DXWvq7Eg/image.jpg?width=980" id="bda89" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="38959fbaa2523ad400b02d242ef5bc38" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Justin Bedecarre, Co-Founder & CEO of HelloOffice
<p>Justin is Co-Founder and CEO of HelloOffice. a modern commercial real estate brokerage on a mission to help everyone find a workplace they love. By empowering experienced brokers with innovative technology, HelloOffice turns the painful traditional process of searching for office space into a faster and more collaborative experience. <br></p><p>From headquarters to hybrid workplaces, HelloOffice works with companies like Palantir, Y Combinator, Afterpay, Brex and many others around the world. </p><p>Justin started HelloOffice in 2016 in San Francisco, and before that co-founded 42Floors which was acquired by Knotel.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwNDk2OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzOTI3MTUyNX0.2hKVP8Tdj7rqPMGQ8elqkW-o5l0KnLxDAwdlTkxDJzs/image.jpg?width=980" id="0b424" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e96166984a60c8b0d9ad71f904441b61" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Ben Bergman, Senior Reporter
Ben Bergman, Senior Reporter at dot.LA
<p>Ben Bergman is the newsroom's senior reporter, covering venture capital. Previously he was a senior reporter/host at KPCC, a producer at Gimlet Media and NPR and produced two investigative documentaries for KCET. He has been a frequent on-air contributor to NPR and Marketplace and has written for The New York Times. Bergman was a 2017-2018 Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism at Columbia Business School. He enjoys skiing, playing poker, and cheering on The Seattle Seahawks.</p>From Your Site Articles
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- The Future of Real Estate: Bigger Offices and Smaller Chains - dot.LA ›
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Why is the stock market up if the economy is getting crushed? With so many people out of work, how is it that the market is soaring, by some estimates, to its highest point ever?
Spencer Rascoff, executive chairman at dot.LA, spoke with senior tech-focused executives at investment firm Evercore to discuss what's behind the trends. John Scuorzo, Evercore's senior managing director joined Zaheed Kajani, senior managing director at Evercore to break down Wall Street's perspective on what's happening in the current tech capital markets.
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The two say there are several factors contributing to Wall Street's optimism. First, the enormous stimulus coming from governments.
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"I think that the biggest and probably the most important driver of this is just the massive stimulus that all the central banks globally have put into the economy," Kajani said. "There is somewhere where this money has to go. If you've got more money chasing fewer assets, that drives price up."
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<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e05f2857a47b7a365083798391833d74"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jLvBVp1LmIA?start=1&rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Copy of dot.LA Strategy Session: Wall Street's Perspective</small>
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Also contributing, the two said, are several other factors, including low interest rates, international investment, and optimism for what cutbacks and introduction of new technology will mean for many companies' future profits.
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"People generally have an allocation towards equities and bonds," said Kajani. "And because the rates are so low, your bonds just don't give you the same return. And that's driven even more capital into the equity markets."
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That's been true overseas as well, where investors are looking for safe places to put their money, and the U.S. market appears like a good bet.
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"If you have capital in Europe, or in Asia, which other market do you feel is the most stable in the safest market?" Kajani said, "And so, many people who follow the market closely often see the futures up every morning when you wake up. A lot of that money is coming from overseas capital that's entering the U.S. market."
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Companies who have made cuts and had to incorporate new technology into their workflow as part after the lockdowns, may also be finding themselves becoming more productive as a result, even with a (temporary or permanent) reduction in staff.
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"I think a lot of companies have realized they're being as productive with fewer people and using technology," Kajani said. "I think that actually may increase profits."
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All that together, along with optimism that a vaccine will eventually solve many of the problems the world is currently facing, is helping to create the frenzy that the world is seeing on Wall Street, the two said.
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Scourzo said that Evercore's projections point in that direction as well.
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"Our data suggests that we exited the recession in May, and we're back to an expansionary period, though the cut was deep," he said. "We think we think we're moving in the right direction with the economy only, we estimate, 35% reopened,"
</p><p><em>Keep up with the tech and startup world in L.A. and beyond. <a href="https://dot.la/st/newsletters" target="_blank">Sign up for our newsletter</a> to learn about new events, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-V33hZWI-brx-UGwBzhmBA" target="_blank">subscribe to ourYoutube channel</a> to get the latest event videos</em></p><h2><em></em>About the Speakers</h2>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwMDIzNC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1ODI5NDYzOX0.gFBbY9AMBIudDSuwypcF4GBKnKw4ahnbjgRWbbFtMI0/image.png?width=980" id="6d323" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="047dd617ac54530fc61e56cb040ba684" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
John Scuorzo , Senior Managing Director of Evercore
<p><strong>John Scuorzo </strong>is a senior managing director and the Head of Technology Equity Capital Markets at Evercore, with responsibility for the origination and execution of equity and equity-linked transactions for the firm's global technology clients.</p><p>Mr. Scuorzo has been a trusted advisor to technology companies for nearly 20 years, most recently as managing director with Citigroup, where he ran its technology equity capital markets business. </p><p>Mr. Scuorzo has been at the forefront of the evolution of capital formation for most of his career and is recognized as one of the most experienced and innovative capital markets professionals in the Technology sector. Mr. Scuorzo has advised hundreds of leading companies across the globe, including Alibaba, Broadcom, CoStar, Despegar, Dynatrace, Facebook, Fastly, Globant, GoDaddy, GoPro, Grubhub, Guidewire, Microsoft, Ping Identity, Paypal, Palo Alto Networks, Pinterest, Presidio, Sailpoint, Slack, The Trade Desk, Uber, Upwork, Roku, Vmware, Wayfair and Zillow.</p><p>Mr. Scuorzo graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in business administration with a major in finance.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwMDMyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMDYyMDkwMX0.qCVQgjaBOjKgMCHAqYk0arglhAA-qwoXEy0nou9Ooxw/image.jpg?width=980" id="516a6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2ba1e72f30da4ddbf250e7639ae0b4a3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Zaheed Kajani, Senior Managing Director of Evercore
<p><strong></strong><strong>Zaheed Kajani</strong> is a senior managing director in the firm's technology corporate advisory business and leads the global internet and digital media practice. Zaheed was most recently a managing director and global head of internet and digital media at Citi. With almost two decades of experience, Zaheed has advised on over a 100 transactions in the sector. He has worked with companies raising private capital, public capital through IPOs, follow-ons and converts, as well as M&A.</p><p>Zaheed has an M.B.A. from UCLA's Anderson School of Management, a J.D. from UC Berkeley's School of Law and a B.A. in political science from U.C. Berkeley. </p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQwMDMyNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzQ3ODkzM30.MEmwSRaBRtUN0WXy8rCdtXzjoLT_TCXltgOxWB8Y6ng/image.jpg?width=980" id="75d33" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a884e0427a3e57ae07f2d566516879f6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Spencer Rascoff, Executive Chairman of dot.LA
Spencer Rascoff, Executive Chairman of dot.LA
<p>Spencer Rascoff <span class="redactor-invisible-space" style=""></span>is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire and dot.LA, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. He is currently executive chairman of dot.LA and a board member at TripAdvisor. In the fall of 2019 Spencer was a visiting executive professor at Harvard Business School where he co-taught the "Managing Tech Ventures" course. In 2015, Spencer co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times' best seller "Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate." Spencer is the host of "Office Hours," a monthly podcast on dot.LA featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups.</p>From Your Site Articles
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