Harry Gottlieb

**Harold Nathan "Harry" Gottlieb** is the founder of Chicago-based Jellyvision and Jackbox Games. He also voiced Nate Shapiro in You Don't Know Jack Volume 1.

## Biography

Gottlieb was born on April 07, 1965. He received a bachelor of arts degree in independent concentration from Brown University, in 1988. After college at Brown University he focused on educational films – trying to make boring subjects really fun.

Harry began making Super-8 films at age 12; got a large, boxy RCA video camera (with large, boxy separate VHS deck) at 14 and first got paid to direct videos at age 18 (a series of funny training videos for a local grocery chain).

### Learn Television (1989-1995)

In 1989, Harry Gottlieb founded an educational entertainment company called Learn Television.

On January 1, 1991, Harry Gottlieb directed one of the biggest educational video The Mind's Treasure Chest with *Luminair Film Productions*.

Learn Television first made the move from film to interactive multimedia in 1993 because of its power to reach the user, unlike film which is passive, says Gottlieb. "In interactivity you've got someone's head and heart in it" he added.

The company teamed up with a company known as *Follett Software Company* to create an education-focused trivia game called That's a Fact, Jack! Gottlieb says Learn Television's goal is to get kids to put literature in the context of their own lives.

### Jellyvision (1995-2018)

During the early development of YDKJ, Harry realized that the design principles used in the game to make the host sound like "he was really there," could be applied well beyond games. He discovered that the same methods could be used to make a more engaging interactive experience dealing with any subject matter at all. Over the next several years, Harry applied what he called The Jack Principles to create demonstration projects for interactive news, advertising, financial advice, commercials and tour guides. It is through this research that Harry discovered the core concepts of a new way for a human being to interact with a machine: the Interactive Conversation Interface (iCi). He codified The Jack Principles of the Interactive Conversation Interface in a document first presented at the Game Developer's Conference in 1997. In the GDC's survey of attendees, Harry's presentation was the highest rated of the conference.

Harry also designed and directed the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire CD-ROM for Disney Interactive. Thanks in large part to Jellyvision's ultra-efficient toolkit, Harry was able to complete the project in two months (the usual development time for such a project is 9-12 months), just in time for holiday sales and the peak of the "Millionaire" craze. The product became the fastest selling CD-ROM of all time.

In 2009, Harry led the team that invented a product called ALEX®, that has now helped more than 10 million employees select their medical insurance and other employee benefits in a way that is simple and engaging. In 2011, Harry asked Amanda Lannert, Jellyvision’s long-time business leader to take over as CEO. Harry retired from day to day action at Jellyvision in 2018, and now divides his time between being an active Jellyvision board member and Jackbox Games.

### Unify America (2019-present)

In the summer of 2019, Gottlieb interviewed scores of Americans from all walks of life and discovered that Americans are far more united than one might think. Energized by knowing that we share many of the same goals, Unify America was launched in January of 2020 to reduce contempt, teach Americans to work together and build a diverse community to find ambitious solutions and solve our biggest problems.

## Trivia

* He is the brother of Tom Gottlieb.
* Gottlieb has wanted be a filmmaker since his father gave him a Super 8 camera when he was 13.
* He, Phil Ridarelli & Andy Poland all have interviews archived on the wayback machine, you can read Harry's interview here.