Matt Edelman, CEO of ThisNext
Matt Edelman is the CEO of ThisNext, a Santa Monica-based company that is changing the way people discover and shop for products online. ThisNext is the ultimate social shopping destination for discovering the hottest products in fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home, and more.
Matt Edelman is an established digital media executive who has demonstrated a unique blend of operational, creative and business skills throughout a career marked by entrepreneurialism. He has participated in the development and launch of products and strategies across digital and traditional media that have generated more than $1 billion in consumer transactions through his work with companies and brands such as Marvel, Activision, TV Guide, MTV, Nike, Maxim, Seventeen magazine, Barnes and Noble, About.com, World Poker Tour, Billboard Magazine, Universal Television, Sony Pictures, SyFy Network and more.
In April, 2010, Matt joined ThisNext, Inc. as CEO. ThisNext is the leading publisher of social shopping resources for women, operating the websites ThisNext, StyleHive and StyleDiary. ThisNext has grown 250% since Matt’s arrival, now reaching more than six million visitors per month, making it the largest independently-owned social shopping company.
Before ThisNext, Matt co-founded PeopleJam, Inc. in 2007, a social media company focused on maximizing the value of the time and money people spend on self-improvement products and services. In June 2009, PeopleJam was sold to Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, the publisher of the world famous Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
Prior to PeopleJam, in 2003, Matt created and then oversaw the global publishing operation for Mforma Group, Inc. (now Hands-On Mobile), a premier publisher and distributor of branded games, entertainment and applications for mobile devices. Matt’s team grew to more than 100 people in four countries and put out more than 45 products per year that generated $80mm in annual revenue for the company.
Earlier experiences include Matt’s role as the Senior Vice President of Marvel Studios, the entertainment division of Marvel Enterprises, where he was involved in the development and production of more than 22 motion picture and television projects, including the X-Men, Blade, Daredevil, Hulk and Spider-Man feature films, as well as more than a dozen animated TV series and TV movies. It was at Marvel where Matt first entered the digital space as a founding member of the team that launched Marvel.com.
Matt graduated with a degree in Politics from Princeton University and spent two years in New York City as an investment-banking analyst with Bankers Trust Corp. before moving to Los Angeles to work for Marvel.
