# James Hirschfeld

> James Hirschfeld is the co-founder and CEO of Paperless Post, the New York company that turned the dread of sending an invitation into an act of design. He started it from a Harvard dorm in 2008 with his older sister Alexa, after his own 21st birthday party left him stuck between expensive paper and lifeless email. More than 175 million people have since sent or received a Paperless Post, across roughly 20 million events. He runs it as a design company that happens to live in a browser.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Paperless Post
- **Organizations:** Paperless Post
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High school, Trinity School, Comparative Literature / English, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded and scaled Paperless Post to 175M+ users and 20M+ events, Raised over $55M in venture funding across multiple rounds including Series E, Built and led a profitable, privately held consumer design company for 15+ years

## Career timeline

- **2007** — Plans an elaborate beach-themed 21st birthday party and runs into the paper-vs-email invitation problem
- **2008** — Co-founds Paperless Post with sister Alexa while still at Harvard
- **2009** — Paperless Post launches; the president of Harvard begins using it for alumni events within a month
- **2017** — Raises fresh funding; platform momentum continues, focus on bringing people face-to-face
- **2018** — Series E funding round (last major raise)
- **2020** — Pandemic cuts revenue ~85%; company pivots and treats the crisis as its biggest innovation period
- **2022** — Halloween revenue up 70% vs 2019; launches Party Shop marketplace and SMS invitations
- **2024** — Celebrates Paperless Post's 15th anniversary

## Achievements

- Co-founded and scaled Paperless Post to 175M+ users and 20M+ events
- Raised over $55M in venture funding across multiple rounds including Series E
- Built and led a profitable, privately held consumer design company for 15+ years
- Steered the company through an ~85% pandemic revenue drop back to record growth
- Launched Party Shop and SMS invitations, expanding beyond digital cards

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — Paperless Post marked its 15th anniversary, reflecting on 175M+ users and 20M+ events
- **2022-11** — Reported Halloween revenue up 70% over 2019 amid post-pandemic growth and Party Shop expansion

## Links

- Website: https://www.paperlesspost.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-hirschfeld-1565767/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/paperlesspost
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paperlesspost/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/james-hirschfeld
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-04