About
Laffster takes the massive, scattered world of humorous content online and drives personalization and discovery around it like never before. Powering both its own web and mobile apps as well as discovery on third-party platforms, Laffster's technology was built in conjunction with a wide variety of researchers and scholars in humor, including neuroscientists and psychologists at schools like Dartmouth College and the University of Colorado, as well as the Cartoon Editor at The New Yorker, Bob Mankoff.
Headquartered in Venice, CA, Laffster is a graduate of MuckerLab. Seed investors include Greylock Partners (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.), Adam Nash (LinkedIn), Chris Williams (Maker Studios) and Howard Lindzon (StockTwits) as well as talent agencies and management companies like Paradigm (Neil Patrick Harris, Sharon Stone, etc.) and Parallel (Jeff Foxworthy, Lisa Lampanelli).
Team
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Dan Altmann is a co-founder and 'el capitan' (CEO) over at Laffster. When he's not calling the shots he's playing something he describes as squash? His experience includes advertising strategy at IAC (CollegeHumor, Citysearch, etc.) and Warner Brothers and he also founded YPO @ University in 2008 while gaining his BA at USC to connect students with local executives. The program was funded by YPO and spread to 40+ schools worldwide.
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Eric is a co-founder and the guy that makes sure the product is awesome (AKA Chief Product Officer). In his free time he makes hilarious viral videos (ask him which one's and he will send you) and nerds out with various gaming devices. Eric used to build stellar teams for some of the hottest tech companies in the world including Tagged, Fanhattan and Reputation.com and studied in the Technology Management Program while at UCSB.
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Bob Wall is the CTO and resident hippie (strictly based on looks). With more than 14 years building for web, iOS and Windows after gaining a BS in Computer Science from Shippensberg University in Pennsylvania, Bob released one of the most popular Olympics apps for London 2012, leaving the big companies that attempted to do so like NBC and Reuters wondering, "who is this guy?".
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Ed is our UI/UX Lead, which means he makes sure everything looks pretty and is easy to use. Ed proudly dropped out of USC's Computer Science Masters Program (after graduating from a top undergraduate engineering program in Mexico) to build cool stuff in the mobile space and sharpened his UX skills for tablets, desktop and all mobile devices for more than 4 years.
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Joseph Voelbel loves to think he's the resident comedian, but really he's our favorite Product Marketing intern. He received his BA from NYU in 2006 and is currently finishing up his Masters at USC. Joseph is also at Universal Music Group (UMG) in their marketing department. He has performed at The Hollywood Improv and The Comedy Store among other venues as a stand up comedian.
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You?
Laffster is a growing team and we are always looking for great minds to join us in our mission. Check out our Jobs page to find out more.
Investors and Advisors
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Chris Williams
Current Chief Programming Officer at Maker Studios. Former VP and GM of Disney Online Originals. -
Howard Lindzon
Founder of StockTwits and founder of WallStrip (acquired by CBS). -
Samer Hamadeh
Co-Founder of Vault.com and current EIR at Lightspeed Ventures. -
Josh Brooks
Former VP of Programming and Marketing at Myspace and founder of Postcard on the Run. -
Nicky Weinstock
President of Invention Films (Fox Studios) and head of Fox Writer's Room. Former creative head at Apatow Productions and head of TV at Chernin Entertainment. -
Adam Nash
EIR at Greylock Partners and former VP of Product, Search, Platform & Mobile at Linkedin and Director at eBay.
