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Sep 9, 2016 · 27m · 20vc

20VC: Giphy's Adam Leibsohn on From Being Homeless To Founding a Multi Hundred Million Dollar Startup & The Challenges of Creating One of The World's Largest Search Engine

Adam Leibsohn · 18m spoken Harry Stebbings · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Giphy founder and COO Adam Leibsohn about his unconventional journey from living homeless to funding early tech projects, building Giphy's unique creative culture, and monetizing visual search across digital platforms.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 27.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 1.6 Guest teaching 5.0 Guest disagreement 1.2 Harry pushing back 1.6
05100:0010:0020:002:18–8:14 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Early Hustle Stories and the Voyeurl Experiment Harry asks open-ended questions about pre-Giphy hustle stories, allowing Adam to deliver an extended narrative about going homeless for a year to self-fund his startup Voyeurl. Harry acts primarily as an attentive listener with minimal pushback or expert contribution. Adam educates the host on his unconventional path into tech without any hostility.8:14–13:53 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Startup Lessons and Knowing When to Quit Harry openly disclaims being cool or expert in the space, inviting Adam to explain the appeal of GIFs. Adam provides an extensive historical and technical lecture covering printing presses, bandwidth penetration, and human biological predisposition to visual processing. The host remains purely in receiving mode as Adam educates him on market dynamics.13:53–19:06 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 GIFs as Efficient Digital Expression Harry probes whether GIFs are designed to supplement or replace text, prompting Adam to reframe the premise around context and communication efficiency. Harry contributes to the conversation on company culture by offering his own eight-hour road trip test thesis. The dynamic remains highly collaborative and friendly.19:06–21:52 · Harry as informed peer 2/10 Monetizing Giphy as a Culture Search Engine Harry attempts to challenge Giphy's position by asking if native platform GIF buttons like Twitter's present a competitive threat. Adam politely corrects the host's premise by revealing Giphy actually powers those exact buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and Slack. Harry humorously surrenders, acknowledging he was completely schooled.21:52–25:40 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Quick Fire Round with Adam Leibsohn The interview wraps up with a fast-paced quickfire round covering personal taste, hair routines, and future industry trends. Both host and guest maintain a warm, lighthearted rapport with no real pushback or debate.2:18–8:14 · Guest teaching 5/10 Early Hustle Stories and the Voyeurl Experiment Harry asks open-ended questions about pre-Giphy hustle stories, allowing Adam to deliver an extended narrative about going homeless for a year to self-fund his startup Voyeurl. Harry acts primarily as an attentive listener with minimal pushback or expert contribution. Adam educates the host on his unconventional path into tech without any hostility.8:14–13:53 · Guest teaching 7/10 Startup Lessons and Knowing When to Quit Harry openly disclaims being cool or expert in the space, inviting Adam to explain the appeal of GIFs. Adam provides an extensive historical and technical lecture covering printing presses, bandwidth penetration, and human biological predisposition to visual processing. The host remains purely in receiving mode as Adam educates him on market dynamics.13:53–19:06 · Guest teaching 4/10 GIFs as Efficient Digital Expression Harry probes whether GIFs are designed to supplement or replace text, prompting Adam to reframe the premise around context and communication efficiency. Harry contributes to the conversation on company culture by offering his own eight-hour road trip test thesis. The dynamic remains highly collaborative and friendly.19:06–21:52 · Guest teaching 7/10 Monetizing Giphy as a Culture Search Engine Harry attempts to challenge Giphy's position by asking if native platform GIF buttons like Twitter's present a competitive threat. Adam politely corrects the host's premise by revealing Giphy actually powers those exact buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and Slack. Harry humorously surrenders, acknowledging he was completely schooled.21:52–25:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Quick Fire Round with Adam Leibsohn The interview wraps up with a fast-paced quickfire round covering personal taste, hair routines, and future industry trends. Both host and guest maintain a warm, lighthearted rapport with no real pushback or debate.2:18–8:14 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Early Hustle Stories and the Voyeurl Experiment Harry asks open-ended questions about pre-Giphy hustle stories, allowing Adam to deliver an extended narrative about going homeless for a year to self-fund his startup Voyeurl. Harry acts primarily as an attentive listener with minimal pushback or expert contribution. Adam educates the host on his unconventional path into tech without any hostility.8:14–13:53 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Startup Lessons and Knowing When to Quit Harry openly disclaims being cool or expert in the space, inviting Adam to explain the appeal of GIFs. Adam provides an extensive historical and technical lecture covering printing presses, bandwidth penetration, and human biological predisposition to visual processing. The host remains purely in receiving mode as Adam educates him on market dynamics.13:53–19:06 · Guest disagreement 1/10 GIFs as Efficient Digital Expression Harry probes whether GIFs are designed to supplement or replace text, prompting Adam to reframe the premise around context and communication efficiency. Harry contributes to the conversation on company culture by offering his own eight-hour road trip test thesis. The dynamic remains highly collaborative and friendly.19:06–21:52 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Monetizing Giphy as a Culture Search Engine Harry attempts to challenge Giphy's position by asking if native platform GIF buttons like Twitter's present a competitive threat. Adam politely corrects the host's premise by revealing Giphy actually powers those exact buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and Slack. Harry humorously surrenders, acknowledging he was completely schooled.21:52–25:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Quick Fire Round with Adam Leibsohn The interview wraps up with a fast-paced quickfire round covering personal taste, hair routines, and future industry trends. Both host and guest maintain a warm, lighthearted rapport with no real pushback or debate.2:18–8:14 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Early Hustle Stories and the Voyeurl Experiment Harry asks open-ended questions about pre-Giphy hustle stories, allowing Adam to deliver an extended narrative about going homeless for a year to self-fund his startup Voyeurl. Harry acts primarily as an attentive listener with minimal pushback or expert contribution. Adam educates the host on his unconventional path into tech without any hostility.8:14–13:53 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Startup Lessons and Knowing When to Quit Harry openly disclaims being cool or expert in the space, inviting Adam to explain the appeal of GIFs. Adam provides an extensive historical and technical lecture covering printing presses, bandwidth penetration, and human biological predisposition to visual processing. The host remains purely in receiving mode as Adam educates him on market dynamics.13:53–19:06 · Harry pushing back 2/10 GIFs as Efficient Digital Expression Harry probes whether GIFs are designed to supplement or replace text, prompting Adam to reframe the premise around context and communication efficiency. Harry contributes to the conversation on company culture by offering his own eight-hour road trip test thesis. The dynamic remains highly collaborative and friendly.19:06–21:52 · Harry pushing back 3/10 Monetizing Giphy as a Culture Search Engine Harry attempts to challenge Giphy's position by asking if native platform GIF buttons like Twitter's present a competitive threat. Adam politely corrects the host's premise by revealing Giphy actually powers those exact buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and Slack. Harry humorously surrenders, acknowledging he was completely schooled.21:52–25:40 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Quick Fire Round with Adam Leibsohn The interview wraps up with a fast-paced quickfire round covering personal taste, hair routines, and future industry trends. Both host and guest maintain a warm, lighthearted rapport with no real pushback or debate.

speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Harry 89.6% · guest 10.4%0:00 · Harry 89.6% · guest 10.4%3:00 · Harry 1.7% · guest 98.3%3:00 · Harry 1.7% · guest 98.3%6:00 · Harry 2.2% · guest 97.8%6:00 · Harry 2.2% · guest 97.8%9:00 · Harry 9.8% · guest 90.2%9:00 · Harry 9.8% · guest 90.2%12:00 · Harry 12% · guest 88%12:00 · Harry 12% · guest 88%15:00 · Harry 13.2% · guest 86.8%15:00 · Harry 13.2% · guest 86.8%18:00 · Harry 19.3% · guest 80.7%18:00 · Harry 19.3% · guest 80.7%21:00 · Harry 29.3% · guest 70.7%21:00 · Harry 29.3% · guest 70.7%24:00 · Harry 55.8% · guest 44.2%24:00 · Harry 55.8% · guest 44.2%27:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%27:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:05 Reframing text replacement premise

In a very friendly interview, Adam's mildest resistance occurs when he rejects the host's binary framing of whether GIFs replace text, clarifying that they enhance communication efficiency depending on context.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 21:14 Challenging Giphy on competitor threats

Harry presses Adam on whether internal GIF search capabilities built by major platforms like Twitter represent a major competitive threat to Giphy.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 21:27 Revealing backend distribution partnerships

Adam dismantles Harry's competitive threat question by pointing out that Giphy actually powers the native GIF search for Twitter, Facebook, and Slack, prompting Harry to laughingly say 'I give up, you win'.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 18:18 Harry offers his eight-hour road trip test

When Adam mentions Giphy's five-day road trip hiring test, Harry interjects with his own candidate evaluation thesis of an eight-hour road trip test, showing personal interviewing framework insight.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Early Hustle Stories and the Voyeurl Experiment 1511 Harry asks open-ended questions about pre-Giphy hustle stories, allowing Adam to deliver an extended narrative about going homeless for a year to self-fund his startup Voyeurl. Harry acts primarily as an attentive listener with minimal pushback or expert contribution. Adam educates the host on his unconventional path into tech without any hostility.
Startup Lessons and Knowing When to Quit 1711 Harry openly disclaims being cool or expert in the space, inviting Adam to explain the appeal of GIFs. Adam provides an extensive historical and technical lecture covering printing presses, bandwidth penetration, and human biological predisposition to visual processing. The host remains purely in receiving mode as Adam educates him on market dynamics.
GIFs as Efficient Digital Expression 3412 Harry probes whether GIFs are designed to supplement or replace text, prompting Adam to reframe the premise around context and communication efficiency. Harry contributes to the conversation on company culture by offering his own eight-hour road trip test thesis. The dynamic remains highly collaborative and friendly.
Monetizing Giphy as a Culture Search Engine 2723 Harry attempts to challenge Giphy's position by asking if native platform GIF buttons like Twitter's present a competitive threat. Adam politely corrects the host's premise by revealing Giphy actually powers those exact buttons for Twitter, Facebook, and Slack. Harry humorously surrenders, acknowledging he was completely schooled.
Quick Fire Round with Adam Leibsohn 1211 The interview wraps up with a fast-paced quickfire round covering personal taste, hair routines, and future industry trends. Both host and guest maintain a warm, lighthearted rapport with no real pushback or debate.

Statements from this episode (11)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leibsohn spent a year homeless to self-fund his first startup
“I actually gave up my apartment, and I went homeless for a year, and instead of quitting my job, I kept my job, and I paid rent like I would pay rent, but I didn't have anything to rent, so I paid that rent into a savings account and built my own fund.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 5:07
Assertion Supported
Leibsohn targeted VCs and tech journalists with vanity Google search ads
“I started taking out search ads against prominent VCs and reporters in tech so that when they Googled themselves, they'd get an ad from me and it worked astonishingly well.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 6:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Leibsohn's early startup Voyeurl acquired 50,000 pre-launch signups
“So we got like 50,000 signups and then, you know, lo and behold, we turn the service on and it goes great.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 7:33
Insight
Relying on too many 'what ifs' signals a startup is dead
“When you start dealing in too many what ifs, you probably know it's done. I think that's a good signal.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 9:38
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Startups attempting to turn personal data into currency will keep resurfacing
“I was not the first to try this. I've not been the last. I think it'll come around again and again and again.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 9:57
Insight
Google succeeded because slow early internet speeds forced a text-based web
“Processor speed was also slow, and so again, imagery was hard to move, and that's why the initial web was very textual, and that's why Google was so good at indexing stuff, because it was all filled with words and not with images.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 11:46
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Mobile channel fragmentation will drive GIF adoption for efficient expression
“As we are increasingly mobile and as we have More and more channel fragmentation. People are going to be looking for the most efficient way to express themselves maximally, and GIFs are really that amazing sweet spot of making a point, but having to do very li…”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 14:59
Prediction Partly held up
Giphy plans to monetize GIF search intent via contextual paid search
“We're looking at the idea of turning gift search into something that can be contextual, that can be highly relevant, highly targeted, where you're getting delivered content against a query that is directly related to what you're looking for, but may have been …”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 20:41
Assertion Partly supported
Giphy powers the native GIF buttons inside Twitter, Facebook, and Slack
“We actually power that button. We power the gift button inside of Twitter. We power the gift button in Facebook. We power gifts in Slack.”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 21:27
Assertion Not checkable as stated
A massive mainstream audience still does not know what GIFs are
“There's, you know, there's a giant group of people out there that don't know what gifts are still, that don't know how to use them. And our job is to make sure they can, and then make sure that it's easy. And so you want to make gifts as fluid as what, you kno…”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 24:33
Prediction Partly held up
Giphy will expand GIFs into virtual reality, smart glasses, and paper
“GIFs in virtual reality, GIFs in your glasses, GIFs outside of computers, GIFs on paper. You know, a whole new kind of search engine that no one's ever seen before, where everything moves, which resembles all of life. Just think of what you look at in the worl…”
Adam Leibsohn Sep 9, 2016 ▶ 25:18
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