In this episode, we interview Webb Knudsen is an entrepreneur and investor with a background in entertainment, social media, and mobile technology. He is the CEO and co-founder of Playper, a company that creates paper toys enhanced with augmented reality (AR) for children. Knudsen has held significant roles such as Vice President of Business Development at Crisp, where he focused on expanding market presence, and led sales teams at Aarki and Millennial Reach.
His earlier career includes positions at Walden Media, CAA, and Lucasfilm, emphasizing profitability and market strategy for movies, brands, and apps. He is also a partner at Knudsen Capital, a family investment office focused on early-stage, high-growth companies, and a Vice President at Partnership Capital Growth, a private equity firm specializing in health and wellness.
Knudsen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Speech Communication from Pepperdine University (2009) and a VC Unlocked degree in Venture Capital from Stanford University (2020). He is based in Madison, NJ, and is known for his interest in sustainable business models, having founded Playper to address environmental concerns with plastic toys.
TechEd TV Transcription
3:47:36 You guys are watching Tech Had TV with Dr. Edwin Hernandez, and….
13:47:40 Today, we have a co-host.
13:47:48 Good evening, good afternoon, good morning, you guys are watching Techhead TV with Dr. Edwin Hernandez.
13:47:52 And today, we have a great guest. Welknudsen, from Plaper.
13:47:57 And, um…. What's next?
14:06:44 Alright, one's…. We have to do it again, because I was not recording.
14:06:49 Oh, okay. No problem.
14:06:51 Alright, let's do it again. Uh… 3, 2, 1. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. You guys are watching Techhead TV Podcast.
14:07:00 And if you're listening, you're listening to our podcast with. A new guest, an entrepreneur, a friend.
14:07:06 We have Gunnelson, so he's right here with us. Hi, Gweb.
14:07:09 Hi! Glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
14:07:12 Great, great, great. So one thing I see behind you is, uh, besides asking for your background, uh, academically and professionally.
14:07:18 You have a very cool background. Is that your company, PlayPer? What is that?
14:07:22 That is, yeah. Behind me we have our very bright, colorful, fun playbook toys. We've got the, uh….
14:07:29 Castle, playset, catapult, Dragon Trainer, the story starters, we've got a pirate ship.
14:07:34 The Mermaid Castle and our Pirate and Mermaid story starters, and uh… I'm very proud of them, they're a ton of fun.
14:07:40 And tell me about your real background. You come from media, so I know you probably don't like to brag about, like, the names like Lucasfilm, CAA.
14:07:47 But what's the story behind it?
14:07:50 Yeah, I got my career start in the entertainment industry, and it was a very fun place to get a career start. I started off at the production company Walden Media, which makes the Chronicles of Narnia movies.
14:08:01 And then I jumped over to CAA, Creative Artists Agency, and after that, I went to Lucasfilm, where I was selling the.
14:08:07 Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies in the distribution sales department, and uh… after that, I jumped over to the Silicon Valley startup scene, did a couple startups in the marketing space.
14:08:18 Then jumped into, uh, investing in consumer products, and then I founded, uh, Playper and became the CEO.
14:08:25 Of this business.
14:08:28 Great, that's an interesting segue, because you have, um…. And he would wake him up, and I will say, when you became a parent, is that right?
14:08:35 That connected your new career as a CEO of Playpair. So what happened? How did that begin?
14:08:42 Yeah, it's… it's an organic story of, kind of, uh, playing with my kids and, uh, seeing the toys that they had, and, uh.
14:08:50 Seeing the toys that were filling up our home, and realizing that the majority of the toys.
14:08:56 We're plastic, uh, as, uh, is, is, uh,