
Edwin Garrubbo
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
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- Full Name
- Edwin P. Garrubbo
- Title
- Chief Executive Officer & Founder, Creative Commerce, LLC
- Firm
- Creative Commerce, LLC (with subsidiary International Commerce Agency, LLC)
- Firm Type
- Angel Investor / Investment & strategy firm (self-described "investment and strategy firm focused on electronic retailing")
- Investment Stage
- Seed / early stage
- Sector Focus
- Direct-response marketing, electronic retailing, e-commerce, TV/home shopping, new media and consumer brands
- Geographic Focus
- United States (with cross-border ties to Europe/Italy)
- Location
- Greater Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania (Ardmore / West Chester); also splits time in Italy (dual U.S.–Italy citizen)
Background
Edwin P. Garrubbo is a direct-response and electronic-retailing veteran who founded Creative Commerce, LLC in January 2006 and serves as its CEO. He describes the firm as an investment and strategy company focused on electronic retailing, and he is the majority owner of Creative Commerce and its subsidiary, International Commerce Agency, LLC. Before founding Creative Commerce, he was CEO of American Telecast Products, LLC (2001–December 2005), a direct-response marketing company, where he helped launch more than a dozen celebrity-driven direct-response television campaigns — including Christie Brinkley and Chuck Norris for Total Gym, plus Suzanne Somers, Cher, Victoria Jackson, and Jane Fonda.
Garrubbo began his professional career as an attorney at the Washington, DC law firm Venable, in its new media and marketing practice group. He is a graduate of Colgate University and Tulane Law School and holds dual U.S. and Italian citizenship.
He has been active in the industry's trade bodies: he served as Chairman of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) in 2008 — during which he broadened the ~450-member association beyond traditional direct-response marketers toward new media and e-commerce — and was a founding member of ERA Europe (2005), serving on its board until 2007. In July 2009 he was appointed to the board of directors of ShopNBC (ValueVision Media, NASDAQ: VVTV), the company that later became EVINE Live and then iMedia Brands, Inc. (IMBI). Public SEC insider records show he acquired ValueVision/EVINE shares over multiple years (e.g., roughly $99,890 for ~39,778 shares in 2011), and Creative Commerce also provided consulting services to the company.
In a second chapter of his career, Garrubbo has become an author and culinary entrepreneur focused on Italian food and culture. He started the *Sunday Pasta* blog/newsletter in 2009, published the cookbook *Sunday Pasta: A Year Around the Table with Family and Friends* (2014), and later authored *Garrubbo Guide: The Importance of Eating Italian*. His Garrubbo Guide and Sunday Pasta newsletters are read in more than 70 countries, and he runs culinary travel experiences in Italy.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests and advises primarily through Creative Commerce, LLC, which he characterizes as "an investment and strategy firm focused on electronic retailing."
- Deep specialization in direct-response marketing, TV/home shopping, e-commerce, and new-media consumer brands — the domains where he has 15+ years of operating experience.
- Values celebrity- and personality-driven consumer products and campaigns, reflecting his track record building brands around figures like Chuck Norris, Christie Brinkley, and Suzanne Somers.
- Comfortable at the intersection of traditional direct response and newer digital/e-commerce models, a shift he championed as ERA Chairman.
- Note: no publicly documented roster of seed-stage startup checks was found; his verifiable capital and strategic involvement runs through Creative Commerce and his public-company board/shareholder roles rather than a disclosed venture portfolio.
Notable Investments
- iMedia Brands / EVINE Live / ShopNBC (ValueVision Media, NASDAQ: VVTV → IMBI) — Joined the board July 24, 2009; longtime director and disclosed shareholder of this multichannel electronic-retailing company; Creative Commerce also provided it consulting services.
- American Telecast Products, LLC — As CEO (2001–2005), led a dozen-plus celebrity direct-response TV campaigns (Total Gym with Chuck Norris/Christie Brinkley; Suzanne Somers; Cher; Jane Fonda).
- Creative Commerce, LLC / International Commerce Agency, LLC — Founder and majority owner; his primary vehicle for investing in and advising electronic-retailing and consumer businesses.
- *(No verified independent seed/angel startup deals were found in public sources; portfolio-level details beyond the above are not publicly documented.)*
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