VSCO Co-Founder Visits Campus

Reported by Bianca Tarsia

Greg Lutze, co-founder of Visual Supply Company (VSCO) and George Fox University (GFU) alum, spoke to students on Oct. 5 as part of the School of Business’ Industry Insiders event series, imparting wisdom on the community that he attributes so much of his success to.

Lutze shared that he was unsure of what he wanted to study when he began his academic career at GFU, but his dad told him that he “needed to choose something.” He ended up graduating in 2000 with a Business degree, due to it being so broad, but was “really interested in digital and art.”

Lutze held numerous jobs before co-founding the company, most notably as the Creative Director at a small design shop in Seattle. Later, he and his friend Joel Flory, Director of Microsoft’s Xbox team, started VSCO as a “side hustle,” but it has achieved immense success. VSCO X, their premium membership service, beat out Spotify and Netflix in acquiring its first 1 million subscribers this past year.

Lutze also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the company. He described VSCO as “a values-based company,” and choked up when thinking about what this means to him. One question that he mentioned focusing on was, “How do you build an individual’s career so they feel empowered to be there?” His faith played an integral role in developing these values in his life and career, a faith that was strengthened in his time at GFU.

Lutze offered some advice that he would give his younger self: “Don’t chase after a job title, chase learning opportunities, no one asks what your grades are when you get out of school, only what your degree is. Don’t care about politics or power. Care about people.”