The Executives' Exchange Episode 014 - Steven Galanis, Co-Founder & CEO, Cameo
Amber Case, author of Calm Technology sits with Steven Galanis, co-founder of Cameo, to discuss how Chicago became the home base for one of the country's flashiest startups. He shares how the platform is a fun way to hire a celebrity to surprise or friends and how the startup accelerated from novelty to a full-fledged advertising platform and more.
:44—Discuss Steven’s transition from trading to entertainment/advertising
4:45—Realizing opportunities—selfies as the new autograph
6:04 —Why Chicago? From 1871, Mike Gameson to Chicago as the flagship
11:17—Gaining additional funding— Steven discusses leveraging networks serendipitous encounters that led to investments
15:40—The silver lining of success in Cameo’s first video fail
21:50— Gaining talent with a new strategy
26:16 —Steven reflects on early notoriety & guidance from the Ikigai Japanese framework
30:22—Amber discusses, “the thing” that changed her career trajectory
33:42 —How to start a start-up—compressing 40 years of work into a couple of years
35:05 —Cameo’s transition to remote work during the pandemic & benefits of remote work
44:48—Steven discusses handling PR nightmares and solving address them
48:29—Steven discusses consumer requests, B2B elements of Cameo & determining pricing
52:18—The first big name and first major coverage of Cameo
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