Galanis, a 2010 Duke University graduate, recruited a fellow software engineer, Devon Townsend, to build it. In the spring of 2017, the BookCameo.com website launched with a tweet from Mr. Marsh, promising videos for around $20; Tori Spelling and niche Vine personalities like Evan Breen joined later that year. (Blencowe, 37, and Townsend, 33, who are also co-founders, still work at the company.)
For Galanis, Cameo, based in his hometown of Chicago, felt like the company the trio was destined to build. He and Blencowe had just finished a brief run as producers. (Mr. Galanis still highlights his IMDb credits, which include a TV show called “SAF3,” pronounced “safe,” about an elite rescue task force.) Mr. Townsend had been a star on Vine, the short-lived television show. video application form.
“We lived in this world,” Galanis said. “We didn’t build this business by accident.”
This article is based on interviews with Mr. Galanis and more than 30 current and former Cameo employees, investors and advisors, as well as internal documents, screenshots and photographs.
Galanis sports a close-cropped, dark beard and often wears Cameo-branded polos or shirts and baseball caps. He is a confident presenter who sees himself as an ultra-connector, peppering the conversation with references to business leaders he admires, such as Elon Musk.
He pointed to a 13-year-old college newspaper profile of the events company he ran at Duke, with the headline “The Mayor of Main Street.” He said he offered “pretty important” context for why he was able to build Cameo. He article, which is capped with a photo of Mr. Galanis giving a thumbs up while drinking a Busch Light, describes how he made a name for himself by befriending local spots and throwing big parties, like a beer-pong event that was considered groundbreaking. . for taking place on a weeknight at Shooters, a place that was normally a sweaty dance club with a cage. (He also took credit for an “April Showers” party, which featured female students in wet T-shirts.)