Josh Abramson (born 1981) is an American entrepreneur[1] and co-founder of the comedy website CollegeHumor.[2][3][4] He was one of the principal owners and founders of Connected Ventures, whose properties also included Vimeo and BustedTees,[5][6][7] and the co-founder, owner, and CEO of the crowdsourced T-shirt design company TeePublic.[8][9]
Josh Abramson | |
|---|---|
 Abramson in 2021 | |
| Born | 1981 (age 42–43) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Richmond |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, Investor |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | CollegeHumor, Vimeo, BustedTees, TeePublic |
| Spouse | Gabrielle Borden Finley (m. 2010) |
| Website | twitter |
Career edit
CollegeHumor edit
Abramson and Ricky Van Veen co-founded CollegeHumor in 1999 when they were both freshmen in college,[2][4][10] Abramson at the University of Richmond[5] and Van Veen at Wake Forest.[4][11] They began by posting silly photos of themselves as well as jokes, links, and other amusing material they collected from emails circulating among college students.[4][11] Within three months the site was receiving over 600,000 visitors per month and $8,000 in monthly revenue.[11] In under a year they received a buyout offer from an Internet company called eFront for $9 million, most of which would have been financed with stock shares. Abramson and Van Veen refused the offer and continued to grow the company themselves.[11] In 2001 they added Jake Lodwick, a student at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Zach Klein, a friend of Van Veen's from Wake Forest.[4][12] By the time the group graduated from college the site had earned more than $100,000 and the partners still owned 100 percent of their business, which at that time was attracting 2 million viewers a month.[11] The group moved the company to San Diego briefly[11][13][12] before settling in New York City in 2004, where they set up shop in a 4,800 square-foot loft in TriBeCa.[4][11][12]
By 2005 the site was receiving 6-8 million unique visitors each month and was generating over 5 million dollars per year in advertising and T-shirt sales. In 2006 Abramson and company sold 51% of Connected Ventures, CollegeHumor's parent company, whose properties include CollegeHumor, Vimeo and BustedTees, to Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp for a reported $20 million.[6][7][14]
BustedTees edit
Abramson and company created BustedTees in 2004 as a forum to sell T-shirts marketed on CollegeHumor.[3] BustedTees was included in the 2006 sale of Connected Ventures to IAC/InterActiveCorp but in 2011 Abramson bought the company back.[3][8][14] BustedTees later spawned TeePublic. It was included in the TeePublic sale in 2018.[15]
TeePublic edit
Abramson launched TeePublic in March 2013 with the aim of creating a self-sustaining community of T-shirt designers and T-shirt lovers.[8] The T-shirt designs are submitted by artists, designers, and celebrities, and are curated through crowdsourcing.[9]
In October 2018, TeePublic was acquired by Redbubble, a global online marketplace based in Australia, for US$41 million.[16][17] Victoria personal LAB teamwork with collaboration
Venture Capital Financing edit
Abramson has invested in several early-stage tech companies, including BarkBox, a subscription e-commerce and content company for dog-lovers, AmberJack, a booking platform for fishing trips, ManagedByQ, an office management platform, and Shinesty, a retro clothing company, among others.[18][19] In 2013 Abramson joined venture capital firm FirstMark Capital, the New York-based firm behind major companies like Pinterest and Shopify, in a venture partner role.[1][20]
Personal life edit
Abramson grew up in Timonium, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore.[4] He and fellow CollegeHumor co-founder Ricky Van Veen were friends since the sixth grade and attended Dulaney High School together.[11][13]
Abramson resides in New York City. In April 2010, he married Gabrielle Borden Finley. In 2022, he opened a wine bar in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood.[21]
References edit
- ^ a b Jordan Crook, “CollegeHumor Founder Josh Abramson, Boomi Founder Rick Nucci Join FirstMark Capital,” TechCrunch, September 17, 2013.
- ^ a b Pui-Wing Tam, “By Accident or Design, Selling T-Shirts Is Big Business on Web,” The Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2005.
- ^ a b c Jessica E. Vascellaro, “CollegeHumor Co-Founder Tries on Old Threads,” The Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Rebecca Mead, “Funny Boys,” The New Yorker, January 24, 2005.
- ^ a b Margaux Laskey, “Gabrielle Finley and Josh Abramson,” The New York Times, April 30, 2010.
- ^ a b Jeffrey Gangemi, “Buying Sites with a Built-in Audience,” Bloomberg Business, September 11, 2006.
- ^ a b Streeter Seidell, “I Waste People’s Time Online. How? Don’t Ask Me,” The New York Times, April 20, 1980.
- ^ a b c John Koetsier, “Kickstarter for T-shirts: CollegeHumor and Vimeo founder Josh Abramson launching social T-shirts,” VentureBeat, March 13, 2013.
- ^ a b Vanessa Grigoriadis, “A Message Tee for Every Mood,” New York, March 20, 2013.
- ^ Jillian Goodman, J.J. McCorvey, Margaret Rhodes, and Linda Tischler, “From Facebook To Pixar: 10 Conversations That Changed Our World,” Fast Company, February, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Warren St. John, “Sophomorically Incorrect,” The New York Times, July 24, 2005.
- ^ a b c “Business at Collegehumor.com Is No Joke,” Fox News, June 15, 2006.
- ^ a b Chris Richards, CollegeHumor, Popular Comedy Web Site, Crosses Over to MTV,” The Washington Post, February 7, 2009.
- ^ a b Anthony Ha, “T-Shirt Crowdfunding Site TeePublic Funds 22 Designs In Its First Week,” TechCrunch, March 22, 2013.
- ^ Jason Feifer, “Should You Compete With (and Potentially Kill) Your Own Business?,”Entrepreneur, April 10, 2019.
- ^ Redrup, Yolanda (24 October 2018). "Redbubble buys US competitor TeePublic for $57 million". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
- ^ Chowdhury, Reza. "TeePublic Acquired by RedBubble for $41M in Cash". AlleyWatch. Retrieved 2018-10-30.
- ^ Alyson Shontell, "BarkBox Raises $1.7 Million From Resolute.vc, Lerer, RRE And Others To Become The Ultimate Resource For Dogs," Business Insider, July 9, 2012.
- ^ Jordan Crook, “Amberjack Reels In $500K To Let You Book A Fishing Trip,” TechCrunch, April 6, 2015.
- ^ Nicholas Carlson, “FirstMark Capital Just Hired The Star Entrepreneur Behind College Humor, Vimeo, and Busted Tees,” Business Insider, September 7, 2013.
- ^ Latham, Tori (2022-07-14). "The Hit Online Wine Seller Parcelle Has Opened Its Own Bar in NYC". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2022-11-30.