Ben Huh

Ben Huh is a South Korean-American internet entrepreneur and the former CEO of The Cheezburger Network, which at its peak in 2010 received 375 million views a month across its 50 sites.Chard, Thea
Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh on Surrounding Himself with More Talent, and the Future of the Global Humor Blog Network
Xconomy. June 30, 2010.

Early life

Huh was born in Seoul, South Korea and grew up in Rancho Cordova, California, attending Cordova High School there.Stacy, Michael
Big Omaha - Ben Huh: ‘Things that excite us are things that would make other people cringe’
Silicon Prairie News. May 12, 2011. In 1999, Huh graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism, although English was not his first language. With regards to this, he said "I got a degree in a language I didn't speak because I felt something in the power of media that attracted me."

The Web's influence on journalism was growing, and Huh decided to go into a career in the Internet.James, Anthony
Startup Q&A: Cheezburger's Ben Huh on new ideas
Tech Flash. July 9, 2011. He founded a web analytics company, which folded after 18 months. After that, he worked at three companies in six years.

In 2007, Huh started a blog for fun with his wife about living with a dog in Seattle. Later that year, there was a series of pet food recalls, and the company responsible took down their company website. Huh went through the company's cached files and found a PDF that outlined the company's customers, revenues, and facility locations. He posted this to his blog, and the post got linked around the internet. One of the links was from a site called I Can Has Cheezburger and Huh struck up a friendship with the two owners.

The Cheezburger Network

In September 2007, Huh connected with a group of angel investors to buy I Can Has Cheezburger.Wallace, Lewi
SXSW: 2008, the Year the Audience Keynoted
Wired. March 11, 2008. At the time, the site was getting viewed 500,000 times daily, which Huh notes was "fantastic for a cat picture site that nobody understood."Cook, John

Venture Blog. November 6, 2008. He likes to joke that his investor pitch was "I would like to start a media company by buying a cat picture website. Can you give me $2.25 million?"McCarthy, Brad
Cheezburgers Ben Huh On Education, Entrepreneurship, and 5 minutes of happiness
The Next Web. May 13, 2011. Huh states that "we felt like that there was a pretty good possibility that we were buying into a cultural phenomenon, a shift in the way people perceived entertainment."

Currently, Huh runs Cheezburger, which received 375 million page views a month in 2011 across its 50 sites, including I Can Has Cheezburger, FAIL Blog, The Daily What, Know Your Meme, and Memebase.Dudley, Brier
Cheezburger's first venture financing raises $30 million
The Seattle Times. January 18, 2011. The content is user-generated, with users allowed to upload images and add text captions throughout its network of sites. The best are culled by Cheezburger employees and users and posted to the front pages daily. Although Huh does not reveal financial specifics, ''Wired'' speculated that the network makes $4 million in yearly revenue, which comes mainly from display ads, books, and merchandise. The Cheezburger Network has raised $30 million in venture funding in January 2011, currently employs 75 people, and has been profitable since its first quarter.Fitzpatrick, Laura
Building a Media Empire Around I Can Has Cheezburger
TIME. August 24, 2009. They've released five books, two of which are ''New York Times'' bestsellers.

In 2012, Huh announced he was taking on a new project called Circa that wants to "reimagine the way you consume news."Huh, Ben
Circa
. Betabeat. April 27, 2012. In April 2012, Circa raised $750K in Series A funding, before being shut down in 2015 and subsequently reopened under different ownership.Roy, Jessica
I CAN HAZ SEED ROUND: Ben Huh’s News Startup Circa Raises $750K
. Betabeat. April 27, 2012."Set to Launch Digital News Site Circa, Sinclair Taps John Solomon as COO,"
from ''Broadcasting & Cable'', 12/7/2015

In July 2013, Huh told the media that his decision to make 24 job cuts at Cheezburger, amounting to a third of the firm's employees, was one of the most difficult weeks he had ever experienced.

Social Construct

Huh founded Social Construct, a technology company that assembled "buildings with software-generated floor plans and rooms that fit together like Lego bricks." The company was founded in 2017 from the New Cities moonshot project at Y Combinator, where Huh worked after leaving The Cheezburger Network. The company raised $17M from Y Combinator and Founders Fund and broke ground on a multi-family building in Oakland, CA before shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

Orange DAO

Huh then went on to co-lead Orange DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization with a membership of more than 1,000 Y Combinator alumni. Orange DAO seeks to "help startups apply to, and be accepted into Y Combinator, provide them with pre- and post-YC funding, while helping mentor their leadership and recruit talent, and acquire customers" according to its charter. Huh is one of three general partners of the investment firm Orange Fund which works with Orange DAO to make investments in early-stage startups.

Television

Huh is the central figure in the ''LOLwork'' reality television series on the Bravo television network. The series follows Ben Huh and his staff at Cheezburger as they create new content for the site.

Reception

Huh has been a speaker at SXSW, Web 2.0 Summit and TEDx Seattle. In 2010, Huh was named to ''Fast Companys list of the "Most Creative People in Business." He was also named to GQ's list of the "Worst-Dressed Men in Silicon Valley"; in response to this, he challenged GQ to a fashion duel.Hope, Clover
The 15 Worst-Dressed Men of Silicon Valley
GQ. August 3, 2011.

Awards

Huh received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in 2011.

Personal life

Huh lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Emily and poodle mix, Nemo.Mcedward, Laura
Entrepreneur’s Kitty Site Now A Caboodle
LA Times. September 23, 2008.Wortham, Jenna

The New York Times. June 13, 2010. He also runs The Moby Dick Project, which aims to change how news is presented.Cook, John
Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh’s latest voyage: It’s time ‘to rethink journalism’
GeekWire. May 23, 2011. He is allergic to cats.McCarthy, Caroline

CNET. October 8, 2008.

References

External links

BenHuh!com
Official blog.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Huh, Ben
1979 births
Living people
American bloggers
People from Seoul
Businesspeople from Seattle
People from Rancho Cordova, California
South Korean emigrants to the United States
People from San Francisco
Entrepreneurship in the United States