Blaine Vess
Blaine Vess is an American entrepreneur, founder, and investor. He has sold two companies, StudyMode and Solve, and has served as an executive producer on several documentaries such as Beyond Utopia and XY Chelsea. Vess has also been an investor in startups.
Early life
[edit]Vess grew up in Darien, Illinois and later attended Naperville North High School in Naperville, Illinois. During his teenage years, he worked jobs in retail and service. Growing up, Vess wanted to be an entrepreneur and paid attention to the proliferation of internet businesses during the nineties. He then went to North Central College and San Jose State University, graduating from the latter in 2004.[1][2]
Career
[edit]Entrepreneurship
[edit]In 1999, while enrolled at North Central College, Vess co-founded OPPapers.com, a website that could search for study resources like papers and reporters. Over time, Vess' website would become StudyMode, a group of educational websites and various study resources like flashcards, test preparation, and essay help. The company was renamed later to Student Brands. Vess initially generated revenue on his website through ads and, starting in 2005, paywalls. In 2011, Vess moved StudyMode to a physical office in West Hollywood, California.[3] By 2013, Vess acquired 15 websites for StudyMode and BuenasTareas, and the Los Angeles Times reported that StudyMode was grossing over $10 million dollars in revenue annually.[1] In November of 2017, Vess sold StudyMode to Barnes & Noble Education for $58.5 million dollars.[2][4][5]
In 2016, Vess founded his second company, Solve, an airport concierge service, which was later accepted to a Y Combinator batch.[6] It was later sold to Blacklane.[2]
Film
[edit]After graduating from San Jose State University in 2004, Vess moved to Los Angeles to work with New Line Cinema as a consultant from 2005 to 2008.[2][3] There, he got involved with films like Snakes on a Plane and Wedding Crashers while also acquiring experience in film business. After New Line Cinema merged with Warner Bros., Vess was laid off.[1]
About a year after leaving New Line Cinema, Vess founded his production company, Four Henrys Productions, with Aisha Wynn, with an initial interest in reality television. Four Henrys has been involved in productions such as I'm Married to a... and Flipping Miami.[3]
In 2012, Vess visited North Korea, after which he joined Liberty in North Korea, an American nonprofit seeking to help refugees from the country.[3] Two years later, in 2014, Vess bought a $64,000 dollar shot of whiskey to support the organization.[7] Later, in 2023, Vess served as a co-executive producer for Beyond Utopia, a documentary film about North Korean defectors which won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for U.S. Documentary in the same year and has since faced some scrutiny for its depiction of the North Korean government.[8]
In addition to Beyond Utopia and XY Chelsea, Vess has served as an executive producer to multiple narrative films including 'Ms. Purple, Gook, and Trophy. He was also a co-producer of the documentary film, Where's My Roy Cohn?[9][10][11][12][13][14]
Investing
[edit]In 2022, Vess founded Joyful Ventures, a venture capital fund, with Milo Runkle and Jennifer Stojkovic.[15] Aimed toward innovation in the food sector, the fund raised a total of $25 million dollars in 2023 to disburse to projects developing sustainable proteins such as plant-based protein and mycoprotein. That year, Vess and his co-founders funded companies such as New School Foods, a company developing plant-based meat alternatives, and Orbillion Bio, a cultivated meat company.[16]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Dave, Paresh (2013-07-20). "Blaine Vess harnesses the Internet to help students succeed". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ a b c d Sullivan, Paul (November 8, 2017). "How Wealth Shaped Mitzi Perdue and Blaine Vess". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c d "Digital Entrepreneur Blaine Vess Brings His 'Home Work' to WeHo". WEHOonline.com. 2013-10-02. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Henry, Alexa J. (2017-08-14). "K-12 Dealmaking: Barnes & Noble Education, Harris School Solutions Make Acquisitions". Marketbrief. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ "Exhibit". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (August 9, 2017). "Here's why SJSU grad who just sold a startup for $58.5M is in YC's current batch". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ "Man pays $64,000 for a whiskey shot in Beverly Hills lounge". WestsideToday. 2014-09-17. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Liem, Deann Borshay; Park, Hye-Jung; Takagi, JT (2024-02-07). "Why We Wrote an Open Letter to 'Independent Lens' About 'Beyond Utopia' | International Documentary Association". www.documentary.org. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (2019-04-03). "Chelsea Manning Documentary 'XY Chelsea' Secures International Sales Deal With Dogwoof Ahead Of Tribeca Bow". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Schager, Nick (2019-04-04). "Film Review: 'Blowin' Up'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (2019-01-28). "Sundance Film Review: 'Ms. Purple'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Lodge, Guy (2017-02-07). "Film Review: 'Gook'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Schager, Nick (2019-09-04). "Film Review: 'Where's My Roy Cohn?'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Schager, Nick (2017-01-21). "Sundance Film Review: 'Trophy'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Shanker, Deena (2023-06-27). "A $23 Million Venture Fund Isn't Counting Out Fake Meat Just Yet". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
- ^ Hall, Christine (2023-06-27). "Joyful Ventures debuts with $23M focused on investment in sustainable protein startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-11-03.