Steven Galanis

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Born|  (1987-12-15) December 15, 1987 (age 36)

Glenview, Illinois, United States

Nationality| American
Citizenship| United States of America
Education| Markets and Management Studies
Alma mater|

* Glenbrook South High School
* Duke University

Occupation| Entrepreneur
Organization| Cameo
Title| Co-founder and CEO
Parent(s)| Themis & Teddi (née Furla) Galanis

Steven Galanis (born December 15, 1987) is an American entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and CEO of Cameo along with Martin Blencowe and Devon Townsend.[1] Cameo is a marketplace where fans can book personalized video shoutouts from their favorite celebrities.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Early life
* 2 Education and early career
* 3 Cameo
* 4 Honors & awards
* 5 Philanthropy
* 6 In the media
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Early life[edit]

Galanis was born in Glenview, Illinois, the eldest of two sons to Greek immigrant Themis & Teddi (née Furla) Galanis. His paternal grandfather was a carpenter who immigrated to the United States from Sparta, Greece. His maternal grandfather was photographer and stock broker Spero Furla[3], founder of Furla Studios. His maternal uncle is Hollywood producer George Furla.[4] While in kindergarten at Winkelman School Galanis received his life-long nickname, "The Mayor."[5] [6]

## Education and early career[edit]

Galanis is a 2006 graduate of Glenbrook South High School where he captained the varsity football team and lead the varsity hockey team to the 2006 Illinois State Championship.[7] He was also an award winning debater and class president.[8] At Duke University, Galanis majored in History, minored in Economics, and received a certificate in Markets and Management Studies.[9] While at Duke, Galanis got his first taste of entrepreneurship by co-founding Spartan Entertainment.[10] After graduation Galanis spent four years as an options trader at the CBOE. During his time in the pit, Galanis started raising money to produce film and television projects.[11] He eventually went to work in sales at LinkedIn after getting recruited by Arthur Leopold (future COO of Cameo).

## Cameo[edit]

Cameo started with the idea that "selfies are the new autograph."[12] The company has forever altered the way fans can interact with their favorite celebrities.[13] In 2020, Cameo topped Fast Company’s list of the “World’s Most Innovative Social Media Companies”[14] and was named one of the “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.”[15] In 2019, Cameo took home the prestigious Momentum Award given annually by 1871 & the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. Cameo was named one of the "50 Most Genius Companies"[16] by Time in 2018. Under Galanis' leadership, Cameo has become well known for its legendary corporate culture centered around five core values (Roll Out the Red Carpet, Run Through Walls, Fight for Simplicity, No Surprises, Make it Fun). Cameo has been named one of America’s Best Startup Employers[17] by Forbes (#19) and LinkedIn [18](#32). Cameo functions as a distributed team with hubs in Chicago and Los Angeles. To date, Cameo has raised over $65M in venture capital from some of the world’s top investors including Seed (Starting Line, Chicago Ventures, & Origin Ventures), Series A (Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bedrock, Pritzker Group)[19], & Series B (Kleiner Perkins, The Chernin Group, Bain Capital Ventures, & Spark Capital).[20]

## Honors & awards[edit]

Recognized as one of “Hollywood’s Top Innovators”[21] by THR (The Hollywood Reporter), Steven has been named “40 under 40”[22] by Crain’s Chicago Business and “Inno Blazer of the Year (B2C)[23]” by Chicago Inno.

## Philanthropy[edit]

Galanis serves on the Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity Chicago.[24]

## In the media[edit]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Greenburg, Zack O'Malley. "Coronavirus Is Freezing Business All Over The World. It's Booming At B-List Celebrity App Cameo". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
2. ↑ Swartz, Tracy. "Chicago-based company lets you send personalized shout-outs from celebs to your friends". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
3. ↑ Tribune, Chicago. "Death Notice: SPERO FURLA". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
4. ↑ "George Furla". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
5. ↑ "The Mayor of Main Street". The Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
6. ↑ "40 Under 40 2019: Here's why Steven Galanis @Mr312 @BookCameo made the list in #Chicago #ccb40s". Crain's Chicago Business. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
7. ↑ Tribune, Ross Forman Special to the. "Swanson lifts Titans". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
8. ↑ Tribune, Ross Forman, Special to the. "Goalie has ability to think on his feet". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. ↑ "Steven Galanis LinkedIn".`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
10. ↑ "The Mayor of Main Street". The Chronicle. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
11. ↑ "Steven Galanis". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
12. ↑ "'Selfies Are the New Autographs,' Says Cameo CEO". Cheddar. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
13. ↑ Hess, Amanda (2018-08-01). "Now You Can Just Pay Celebrities to Say Stuff". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
14. ↑ Company, Fast (2020-03-10). "The 10 most innovative social media companies of 2020". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
15. ↑ Ifeanyi, K. C. (2020-03-10). "Want Snoop Dogg to wish you a happy birthday? He can". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
16. ↑ "The 50 Most Genius Companies of 2018". Time. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
17. ↑ "America's Best Startups Employers 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
18. ↑ "LinkedIn Top Startups 2019: The 50 hottest U.S. companies to work for now". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
19. ↑ Quinn, Nicole (2018-11-27). "Cameo — The Next Consumer Company Becoming Popular Culture". Medium. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
20. ↑ "Cameo raises $50M to deliver personalized messages from celebrities & influencers". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
21. ↑ "A Text From Post Malone? New Apps Are Transforming the Fan Experience". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
22. ↑ "40 Under 40 2019: Here's why Steven Galanis @Mr312 @BookCameo made the list in #Chicago #ccb40s". Crain's Chicago Business. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
23. ↑ "Meet the 7 'Inno Blazer' Winners". www.americaninno.com. Retrieved 2020-05-10.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
24. ↑ "BOARD OF DIRECTORS | Habitat for Humanity Chicago". www.habitatchicago.org. Retrieved 2020-05-10.

## External links[edit]

* Steven Galanis on linkedin
* Steven Galanis on twitter
* Steven Galanis on instagram
* Steven Galanis on facebook
* Steven Galanis on crunchbase
* Steven Galanis on imdb
* Steven Galanis - Cameo
* Steven Galanis / Founder of Cameo - Tech In Chicago
* Steven Galanis | Chicago Business & Financial News & Analysis

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