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Josh has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since its commercialization. In 1992, while he was a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Josh co-founded Infonautics Corporation an Internet information company. In 1996, Infonautics went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Josh founded Half.com in July of 1999, and led it to become one of the largest sellers of used books, movies and music in the world. Half.com was acquired by eBay in July 2000 and Josh remained with eBay for three years, running the Half.com business unit and growing eBay’s Media marketplace to almost half a billion dollars in annual gross merchandise sales.
In early 2004 Josh helped to found TurnTide, an anti-spam company that created the world’s first anti-spam router. TurnTide was acquired by Symantec just six months later.
In addition to being an active angel investor, Josh is currently an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Comcast Interactive Capital a $350 million venture capital fund affiliated with Comcast Corporation.
Josh is an inventor on five U.S. Patents for his work in Internet technology. In June 2000, he was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Greater Philadelphia region. Josh has also been recognized as one of the 10 Most Influential People in Philadelphia Technology by the Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the 76 Smartest Philadelphians by Philadelphia Magazine and as one of forty individuals under the age of forty who have made the biggest impact on the Philadelphia region by the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Josh is often quoted in industry trade journals and national newspapers, has appeared on numerous national television shows, and is a frequent speaker at industry-wide conferences on entrepreneurship, Internet marketing and the future of Internet services.
In 2001 Josh and his wife created the Kopelman Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on angel philanthropy to provide start-up grants to social entrepreneurs. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Innovation Philadelphia, a public/private partnership focused on enhancing the global innovation economy of Philadelphia through technological leadership. He also serves on the board of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Community Partnerships. Josh has previously served on the boards of Mastery Charter High School and JEVS, a not-for-profit, nonsectarian social service agency.
Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. | 