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Joe Gagliese is the co-founder and Co-CEO of Viral Nation, a Toronto-founded company operating across social-first marketing, creator representation, technology, data and social media intelligence.
Joe Gagliese is a Canadian entrepreneur and marketing executive, best known as the co-founder and Co-CEO of Viral Nation, a Toronto-founded company operating across social-first marketing, creator representation, technology, data and social media intelligence.
He co-founded Viral Nation with Mat Micheli in 2014, initially building the business around influencer marketing and talent representation before expanding its services into marketing, technology and social intelligence. Viral Nation states that it employs more than 500 people globally as of 2026.
With representation in eight countries and the world’s largest managed influencer network, Viral Nation fuels growth for the world's leading brands including but not limited to: Disney, Anheuser-Busch, Baidu, Campbell's, The Coca-Cola Company, Intuit, Logitech, Match.com, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, Tencent, Uber, and Vivid Seats.
A recognized expert in influencer marketing and social technologies, Joe is regularly cited in outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WIRED, CNBC, Vox, Business Insider, Forbes, and Inc.
Joe’s has been mentoring rising entrepreneurs and teaching marketing courses at institutions across North America. He became the first Entrepreneur in Residence at University of Toronto’s Scarborough Management school.
Partnering with the University of Toronto, Joe has launched and will sponsor a first-of-its-kind scholarship that doesn’t have a grade requirement but rather places higher value on recipients’ business acumen, potential and entrepreneurial instincts.
Joe Gagliese grew up in Inglewood, Ontario, north of Brampton. According to an interview published by the University of Toronto, he began experimenting with business at approximately 12 years old. His first venture involved collecting unbroken paintballs from a paintball facility, sorting them with the assistance of his grandparents and reselling them. During high school, he sold DVDs and subsequently established a pet-products business whose products reached stores in Ontario. He later operated a liquidation company.
Gagliese attended the University of Toronto after high school. He has said that he was also playing competitive hockey at the time and later transferred out of the program. His businesses increasingly became his professional focus, and he ultimately did not complete his university education. He continued developing several entrepreneurial ventures and worked with Mat Micheli, whom university and professional biographies describe as a longtime friend and business partner.
One of Gagliese's businesses before Viral Nation was a liquidation company. He has identified leasing his first independent office for that company as an important point in his early career, after previously working from his father's office and other temporary locations. He has also described reaching the point at approximately age 25 when one of the businesses he had built represented an asset valued at more than $1 million as another significant early milestone.
In 2014, Gagliese and Mat Micheli founded Viral Nation in Toronto. Gagliese was approximately 24 at the time. The company initially operated in the emerging influencer and creator-marketing sector, connecting brands with social-media creators and developing influencer campaigns. Viral Nation's current corporate record identifies 2014 as its official founding year and identifies Gagliese and Micheli as its co-founders and Co-CEOs.
The company's early business model focused on influencer marketing and talent representation. Gagliese was involved in developing relationships with brands and creators while influencer marketing was becoming a more established component of digital advertising. In interviews about this period, he has described personally conducting outbound sales, including contacting chief marketing officers and other executives while developing Viral Nation's client base.
During its early growth, Viral Nation expanded its work across sectors including technology, gaming, consumer products and entertainment. Historical University of Toronto material names companies including Disney, Aston Martin, Lowe's, Energizer, Twitch, Ubisoft, Tencent, Scotiabank, ViewSonic and Match.com among brands with which the company worked during this period. The company also developed Influsoft, proprietary software designed to provide analytics for influencer marketing.
Gagliese's approach to influencer marketing placed particular emphasis on audience analysis and campaign measurement. In his published writing, he argued that follower numbers alone were insufficient for evaluating creators and that brands needed information about audience demographics, engagement, watch time, impressions, click-through rates and the authenticity of followers. He also argued for matching creators to brands based on audience characteristics rather than relying exclusively on celebrity status or audience size.
As Viral Nation expanded, the company's activities moved beyond its original influencer-marketing model. It developed services spanning marketing strategy, campaign execution, creator and talent representation, social media, analytics and technology. University of Toronto material subsequently described the business as comprising a marketing and intelligence agency, talent management operations serving creators, athletes and influencers, and a technology division.
Gagliese and Micheli initially grew Viral Nation without institutional investment. University of Toronto materials state that the business experienced periods of approximately 300–400% year-over-year growth during its earlier expansion while operating without outside investment. Gagliese has repeatedly discussed bootstrapping as an important part of his entrepreneurial experience, while also acknowledging that external capital can become appropriate depending on a company's stage and objectives.
That financing position changed in 2022, when Viral Nation raised US$198 million (C$250 million) in growth financing, led by Eldridge with participation from Maverix Private Equity. The company remains privately held and does not publicly disclose revenue, EBITDA or valuation figures.
Technology became an increasingly significant component of Viral Nation's operations. CreatorOS was launched in 2020 as a platform intended to consolidate workflows for agencies, brands and creators. Viral Nation later developed technology addressing areas including creator management, social-media intelligence and brand safety. In 2026, the company consolidated its technology offering around SocialAI, with CreatorOS and VN Secure identified as modules within the platform.
As of 2026, Viral Nation describes its business as using proprietary AI-driven technology alongside managed services in creator marketing, content production, paid social, community management and creator representation. The company's verified corporate information states that it employs more than 500 people globally and maintains its headquarters in Toronto, with a substantial presence in New York City. Gagliese and Micheli continue to serve as Co-CEOs.
Alongside his corporate work, Gagliese has participated in entrepreneurship education and mentoring. In 2021, the University of Toronto Scarborough Department of Management appointed him its inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence. His involvement has included guest lectures in marketing and entrepreneurship, mentoring through The BRIDGE's New Venture Program and participation in entrepreneurship-related university events.
Gagliese also became involved in the creation and funding of the Young Entrepreneur Scholarship (YES) at the University of Toronto. The program was established to support students who are simultaneously pursuing university studies and entrepreneurial ventures. The university states that Gagliese contributed C$50,000, which was matched dollar-for-dollar through the university's True Blue Program. The initiative provides funding and mentoring to selected student entrepreneurs. Fifteen students were named to the inaugural 2023 cohort, while 18 students received YES awards in 2024.
Gagliese has also become a public commentator on the effects of social media and digital platforms. His comments and perspectives on influencer marketing, social technologies and the creator economy have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, CNBC, Vox, Business Insider, Forbes and Inc.
In 2026, he received additional attention for his views on children's social-media use. Despite working professionally in social media, Gagliese described imposing significant restrictions on his children's access to social platforms and personally reviewing content available to his younger children. He argued that parents need a greater understanding of children's online behaviour and stronger boundaries around social-media consumption. At the same time, he stated that he does not support government-imposed social-media bans, arguing instead for parental responsibility and moderation.
By 2026, his professional focus increasingly included the relationship between artificial intelligence, social media data, creator marketing and brand performance. Viral Nation launched SocialAI in 2026 and subsequently introduced AI Discovery, a service focused on social-first generative-engine optimization. Gagliese has continued to speak publicly on AI adoption, creator marketing, platform development and changes in digital discovery.
Joe's stated approach to business centres on entrepreneurship, social and digital behaviour, measurable marketing and technology. He has argued that marketing increasingly requires understanding how consumers behave across social platforms and that creator marketing should be evaluated using audience data and performance measurement rather than follower counts alone. His more recent work reflects an emphasis on applying AI and social intelligence to marketing and brand management. Through his University of Toronto activities and the YES program, he has also supported combining entrepreneurship with continued education and structured mentorship.
In 2016, Gagliese was named to Marketing magazine's 30 Under 30, with contemporary conference material attributing the recognition to the growth of Viral Nation and its approach to marketing. The One Club for Creativity also identifies him as a Marketing magazine 30 Under 30 recipient.
In 2017, Gagliese served as a member of The One Show's Social Influencer Marketing Jury. The One Club's official jury archive lists him alongside the other members of the 2017 jury, providing recognition of his industry role during the early development of influencer marketing as a distinct advertising discipline.
The University of Toronto Scarborough Department of Management subsequently appointed Gagliese as its inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence. In this capacity, he has participated in guest lectures, entrepreneurship programming and mentorship of participants in the New Venture Program. He continues to be identified by the university as Entrepreneur in Residence and an NVP mentor.
Gagliese's industry profile has also resulted in participation in major marketing and business conferences. He appeared at the Milken Institute Global Conference in 2024 in a panel concerning marketing and has appeared in Adweek programming addressing social media, marketing, AI and the creator economy.
A number of major recognitions associated with Gagliese's career belong formally to Viral Nation rather than to Gagliese personally. These include the company's inclusion in the inaugural Adweek 100 Fastest Growing Agencies class in 2019; its placement among Canada's growth companies; Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and North America Technology Fast 500 recognition; the 2024 SXSW Innovation Award in Social Media for VN Secure; and campaign-related awards from organizations including the Shorty Awards, AVA Digital Awards, Merit Awards and Netty Awards. Viral Nation's current recognition registry records these as company or campaign achievements rather than individual awards for Gagliese.
His work has additionally received recurring media recognition through coverage and commentary in national and international business and technology publications. Sources associated with Viral Nation and the University of Toronto document appearances or citations in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, CNBC, Vox, Business Insider, Forbes and Inc.
