Joshua H Tyler
Joshua H Tyler is an entrepreneur and internet pioneer, one of the earliest independent publishers to find digital success. His first-ever published work appeared online in 1997 and has long since vanished into the ancient mists of the early internet. He now runs Walk Big and serves as board chair for the nonprofit Red Barn Chess, from his home office near (but not too near) Portland, Oregon.
How It Started
Lacking the financial means to do any better, Josh’s education ended with a meaningless associate degree from a low-rent community college. Luckily, he looks like a nerd, which makes people assume he’s smart. Josh’s first career began when he convinced a chip manufacturer to hire him even though he didn’t have the pieces of paper they wanted. If you’ve ever had one of those set-top cable boxes, there’s a good chance he designed the guts inside it. When asked about this period in his life, Josh insists that the movie Office Space is a documentary about his days in Dallas, Texas, where he lived as an electrical engineer designing mid-range electronic devices.
Josh went to work in the online media industry in the late 1990s, becoming one of the internet’s first successful Independent Publishers. His earliest published article appeared online in 1997 and has long since vanished into the ancient mists of the early internet.
Josh worked very briefly for a bunch of dying newspapers, crusty magazines, and other people’s websites. At the time, it was the only way to become a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. While simultaneously writing syndicated columns for arthritic media formats and also working a day job as a very bored electrical engineer, in 2000, Josh started his own Independent entertainment news website. Though at the outset, it had a different and far-sillier name, that site would go on to be called CINEMABLEND.
CINEMABLEND quickly grew into a staff of more than 30 writers and editors, covering film festivals, breaking news, and traveling the world to report on movies and television shows. CINEMABLEND soon became one of the top 4,000 most visited websites in the world. Thanks to its success, in 2007, Josh was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s most influential and critically clever movie journalists on the internet. Time Magazine conducted a phone interview with him and then threw it in the trash because you can’t get anything useful out of introverts on a phone call.
In 2008 Josh founded GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT, a news and opinion site focused on the things introverted nerds care about most. Despite its silly name, GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT also soon became one of the top 4,000 most visited websites in the world.
Josh exited CINEMABLEND after a successful acquisition in 2015 and, in 2020, formed GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT’s parent company Walk Big.
How It’s Going
Joshua Tyler serves as CEO of Walk Big. In addition, he writes, produces, and narrates YouTube videos for both Giant Freakin Robot and Screenwashed. Josh also serves as the board chair of Red Barn Chess, a community nonprofit where he volunteers his time and resources.
When not busy running Walk Big or writing things about himself in the third person, Josh is focused on his life as a father to a family of six. If there’s any time left over, he’s still totally obsessed with science fiction. If you pay attention, you’ll see him writing passionately about Star Trek and crazy sci-fi starships on the internet instead of doing the paperwork that has piled up on his desk.
