Founded by former Boston College students Tom Coburn, Jonathan Lacoste, and Chase McAleese, Jebbit has grown from a student startup founded on Boston College’s campus to the world’s leading Declared Data Platform.
In 2010, Coburn and his then freshman Shaw House roommate, Jeb Thomas, decided to work on an idea for the Boston College Venture Competition (BCVC) and it’s $10,000 first-place prize after Thomas introduced BCVC to Coburn. The competition has since been renamed Strakosch Venture Competition and has become a program under the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, with increased prize money as well. During his sophomore year, Coburn came up with what would become Jebbit while watching pre-roll ads on a TV show online while waiting for a flight for a BC club golf tournament. After realizing advertisers were losing money from the lack of consumer attention, Coburn developed a business idea that would guarantee customer engagement and their understanding of a company’s message. During his flight, Coburn outlined a business plan that ultimately became a part of their BCVC proposal a few weeks later for their business, “Add It Up.”