Gregg Spiridellis, Co-founder of JibJab Media Inc. and HiHo, Joins Me on Panic with Friends to Discuss the Past, Present, and Future of the Internet (EP.147)

My guest on the ‘Panic’ podcast today is Greg Spiridellis, whose positive spirit is infectious. He also happens to be GREAT at all things internet, especially building businesses on it (his last company was acquired by Netflix) and making great content for it.

I caught up with him a few months ago to see what he was up to and he told me about HiHo. I immediately asked him to change the name to HiHoward and though he did not, he did agree to chat about it with me.

You can listen to the podcast here on Spotify or Apple.

Read on below for more background on Greg and the details of the conversation…

Guest: Gregg SpiridellisProfile: Co-founder of HiHo, JibJab Media Inc. and StorybotsWhere to Find Him: LinkedIn, Twitter

What’s the Panic About:

Gregg is a super talented and creative entrepreneur, founder and storyteller. A former Goldman Sachs analyst, Gregg had a career shift and now works at the intersection of all things art, tech, and entertainment. Gregg is the co-creator, former CEO, writer and producer of Netflix’s StoryBots and co-founder and former CEO of JibJab, which was founded in 1999 and became somewhat of a legend in the history of the Internet.

Now, Gregg is creating the Internet’s next best thing: HiHo. Gregg is HiHo’s CEO and co-founder. HiHo allows you to be in control of the conversations you engage with online, offering “asynchronous, threaded, vertical video conversations organized around areas of interest.” In this episode, Gregg and I talk about the future of video, apps, entrepreneurship, his companies, the old internet, what makes good content, algorithms, NFTs, decentralization and more.

Thanks to Masterworks for sponsoring this episode of Panic with Friends. I spoke with their founder, Scott Lynn, in a past podcast episode. You can check it out here.

The Takeaway:

One of the things the pandemic has made us more comfortable with is video conversations. This has further pushed the future of digital content and video toward more interactive rather than one-sided content. And as video conversations continue to become the norm, companies like HiHo are creating the tools for people that have more organized, curated and meaningful discussions.

Favorite Quotes:

“If Twitter is a Town Square, HiHo is a dinner party.”“People want curated discussion.”“If you’re doing your job right, you are your harshest critic.”

PS – I am now doing one ‘Panic With Friends’ podcast per week. Thanks for listening and make sure you subscribe over on Spotify or Apple.