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What:Despair Inc.,manufacturer of funny spoofs of motivational products, otherwiseknown as "demotivators"
Who:E.L.Kersten, Justin Sewell and Jef Sewell
Where:Austin,Texas
When Started:1998
厌倦了老套的陈词滥调和“挂在那里,布鲁里溃疡ddy" posters that plaster the office walls of overzealousmanagers, this trio of entrepreneurs hit comedy gold withDemotivators-their line of calendars, posters and such that parodythe motivational set. Meeting when they all worked for an Internetcompany in the late '90s, E.L. Kersten, 44, and brothers Justinand Jef Sewell, both 32, bonded over the fact that theirlong-promised stock options didn't turn into the windfall theywere expecting. They happened to see a motivational catalog aroundthe office at that time, and, says Kersten, "We picked it upand spontaneously began to parody the posters to relieve our angst.One of [us] suggested we should sell parodies of these since theywould be more real."
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