JibJab Jr. Brings Interactive Kids Books to the iPad. And its Great!

Today, JibJab launched JibJab Jr. to bring interactive children's books to the iPad. And while I am obviously biased (Polaris is an investor)... it's terrific. If you've ever seen: 1) a child play with the iPad, and 2) a JibJab Starring You Movie

You'll understand why this is fun and exciting.

Dear JibJab Members,

We're thrilled to introduce JibJab Jr. Books, an iPad app that allows you to create Starring You® storybooks with your child's face and name.

JibJab Jr. Books are not hyper-clickable toys. They are designed from the ground up to help you wind down your kids, ages 2 to 6, before bedtime with great stories and beautiful art.

You can download the app for free, which includes one free book, or learn more on our website.

Thanks for being a part of the JibJab community. As always, we appreciate the support!

Mad Men's New Season: Starring You with JibJab

The new season of Mad Men premiers on AMC July 25th...But why wait until then to get your Mad Men fill? JibJab's latest Starring You video features highlights of last season's Mad Men series and includes roles as Don Draper, Betty Draper, Joan Holloway, and Roger Sterling.

As with other JibJab videos, you can easily include photos from Facebook (either photos from your profile or from your friends') and can share via Facebook (the feed, wall, email, etc). Enjoy:

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Quick Hits: Dogpatch Labs, Living Proof, JibJab & StickyBits

A few Dogpatch Labs / Polaris related updates - which I typically try to bundle together!

1. Dogpatch Labs New York featured on CNN

CNN's recent piece "The next Silicon Valley? It may be New York" looks at the growing tech scene in New York and features Dogpatch Labs and our focus on "open-source entrepreneurship."

2. Living Proof unveils unique referral program

Living Proof, who just won three CEW Beauty Awards, launched a referral program that: 1. rewards recipients 20% of their purchase 2. and gives successful referrers a $48 gift card

3. StickBits 1.5 Launches

StickyBits has released a new version of their application and it features "official bits", threading, voting and more. iPhone users can download the newest app here and Android users can go here.

4. JibJab Launches World Cup themed videos

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Announcing Dogpatch Labs San Francisco Roster

We are excited to announce the newest Dogpatch Labs class here in San Francisco. It includes entrepreneurs and companies that have been part of the lab over the last few months and those that just recently joined (new additions: AdCru, Animoto, Burbn, FanPop, JibJab, LearnBoost, Milennial Media, Recruly, StickyBits, Task Rabbit and Wild Pockets). As always, we look for great, exciting entrepreneurs who thrive in open and collaborative environments. And we aim to have a diverse collection of individuals, companies and verticals. The current batch of residents certainly represents that! You can view the TechCrunch write up here and rosters of all three Dogpatch Labs here.

Dogpatch San Francisco

AdCru is a pay-per-follower ad network for Twitter founded in September 2009.


Animoto (San Francisco) generates custom, professional-looking slideshows from user-uploaded music and photos. Their “patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology and high-end motion design” drives the web app. (TechCrunch coverage)
Burbn is a new way to communicate + share in the real world. (TechCrunch coverage)
Cardpool is a gift card exchange service where anyone can buy, sell, or trade their gift cards in a safe and secure environment. (TechCrunch coverage)
EGG HAUS is an interactive agency. We help our clients create and deploy engaging branded experiences on every consumer platform.
FanPop is a network of user-generated fan clubs for different topics of interest created and maintained by the community of fans.
FanPulse welcomes you to your world of sports. FanPulse (launching January 2010) is a new sports-service that lets you easily follow the sports you love and talk about them with your real friends. (TechCrunch coverage)
Formative Labs - working on ideas that solve problems and change consumer behaviors.
Formspring: Ask questions, give answers and learn more about your friends. (TechCrunch coverage)
Hollrr - Want to help your friends discover a great new product? A quick Hollrr is the easiest way to let them know what deserves a shout out. (TechCrunch coverage)
JibJab (San Francisco): Headquartered in Santa Monica and founded by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, and backed by Polaris, JibJab is a leading e-Card business. (TechCrunch coverage)
LearnBoost is an education platform for secondary schools.
Millennial Media delivers the largest reach – 83% of the US mobile audience – through the largest mobile advertising network in the US. (TechCrunch coverage)
Mr. Tweet looks through your extended network to help you find effective relationships and information most relevant to yourself.
ProfessionL centralizes all your recruitment management needs into one unified web-based software application that can be used by any business that recruits (including recruitment specialists).
Recurly makes subscription billing easy for developers and organizations of all sizes.. (TechCrunch coverage)
The Start Project - turning ideas into action. (TechCrunch coverage)
Stickybits brings the physical and digital worlds together with barcode stickers which trigger audio, video, photo, and text messages when scanned. (TechCrunch coverage)
startupSQUARE is a marketplace where entrepreneurs can meet one another and brainstorm their next big business idea.
TaskRabbit(formerly runmyerrand.com) helps individuals and small businesses in a community outsource their tasks and deliveries, leveraging the latest technology and the social networking paradigm.
Trazzler helps you answer one question, "Where should I go?" by recommending trips unique to your location and Travel Personality.
Twylah: your personal assistant on twitter.
Wild Pockets is an end to end solution that supports creators throughout the life cycle of 3D game development
Yardsellr - In the tradition of neighborhood garage- and yard-sales, Yardsellr makes it easy for you to list and sell, or find and buy whatever you want. Yardsellr helps spread the word about your item within your online "neighborhood" – social and messaging networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google.

JibJab Celebrates 30 Years of Star Wars

The blog has been dormant for the past couple weeks - but back from our honeymoon (pictures coming!), I have a slew of quick posts that should have been covered earlier and warrant greater depth... so my apologies! JibJab celebrated thirty years of The Empire Strikes Back by releasing three Starring You movies for the original Star Wars trilogy. Using Facebook Connect, standard digital photos and/or your webcam, you can cast yourself and friends into three Star Wars movies. The launch was well received and got great coverage from The Washington Post, LA Times, USA Today, and several others. Two of the best pieces though?

TechCrunch Editor Michael Arrington said: “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. And I think I’m serious.”

And JibJab's Spiridellis brothers joined Adam Carolla's podcast - who has the world record for podcast downloads. (FYI: they are in the second part of the two part series).

Now cast yourself in Star Wars at http://starwars.jibjab.com and embed it in Facebook!

The Facebook Connect Makeover: Great Facebook Presentations

I have been asked several times recently for great Facebook Connect presentations and takeaways from our Dogpatch Labs / Facebook event (which you see here). Below are a handful of great presentations and demos. Any others that I have missed?

The Facebook Connect Makeover from Facebook

The Facebook Connect Makeover from Facebook Connect on Vimeo.

Hiten Shah & KISSmetrics "Facebook Connect Best Practices"

Facebook Connect Design Patterns and Metrics
View more presentations from Hiten Shah.

Facebook Connect for Your Website by Justin Osofsky of Facebook

Facebook Connect For Your 
Website

JibJab at TechCrunch50 (Sept 2009)

Terrific, Big Job at JibJab: Are you a Product & Social Media Maven?

JibJab is looking for a product and social media guru who is excited about: - joining the 2nd fastest growing website according to Comscore - working on the web's best Facebook Connect integration (by my account at least!) - being part of a terrific, smart and fun team - and impacting a big, exciting part of their business

If you are interested in applying please contact me via email or Facebook

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Director, Marketing / Product at JibJab Media Location: Greater Los Angeles Area General Business, Distribution, Product Management, Marketing

JibJab is seeking a passionate, entrepreneurial product & marketing maven to lead its most promising everyday greetings vertical: birthdays. The Director will have his or her own P&L and will be responsible for product development, customer acquisition, monetization, and ongoing engagement. This role is equal parts entrepreneur, product manager and quantitative marketing dynamo and you should love being accountable for results.

- Drive results by working directly with engineering staff, analytics personnel, and content team members. You will be accountable for business results and you will have the tools to succeed. - Create full-cycle marketing plans, from user acquisition through the resulting sale and, ultimately, retention. - Gather evolving business requirements and define responsive product features and specifications. You will drive specifications through the engineering lifecycle to deployment, iteration, and optimization. - Research competitive products and others in the space in order to assess, recommend, and implement breakthrough customer acquisition strategies. - Enhance monetization opportunity in your vertical via established distribution partners and new channels you identify.

Skills

- Must possess tactical experience with Facebook Platform, SEO/SEM and email marketing. Resumes without these qualifications will not be considered. - Experience in product development for consumer Internet products is essential. You must understand how to work in a startup web organization with folks across the functional spectrum. You love our engineers almost as much as you love our customers. - Ability to dig into and crunch on imperfect data. You love spreadsheets almost as much as you love hunches and assumptions! - Ability to work autonomously and to get hands dirty. You are comfortable with ambiguity and you are a proven self-starter happy in a start-up. - Deep understanding of social networking and search engine marketing. Your thinking needs to be current, but you should have enough experience to know the difference between hot trends and proven strategies. - Experience with a content-driven, programming-oriented product is a major plus. Company Description

JibJab is a leading provider of digital greetings and online entertainment. From irreverent viral videos to offbeat eCards and personalized Starring You!® products, JibJab has been at the forefront of innovating online media for over 10 years. In 2009, the company reached new heights with over 180 million visitors, 265 million content views and a thriving direct-to-consumer premium business model thanks to the herculean efforts of 36 artists, technologist and business people passionate about reinventing the traditional media model. JibJab is backed by Polaris Venture Partners, Overbrook Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment.