From Eviction to an Emmy
Josh Goldblum didn’t set out to build a company.
He just didn’t want to sit around doing tutorials for a year after winning a major museum award solo.
So when the Smithsonian said, “We don’t have another project for you,”
Josh started getting quiet messages from folks in the industry saying:
“If you go out on your own, we’ll hire you.”
So he did.
That freelance alias became Bluecadet—a now 40+ person experience design studio working with some of the world’s leading cultural institutions: The Met, the National Gallery of Art, the MIT Museum, Library of Congress, and more.
Josh didn’t start with an agency vision.
He started with art. With Flash. With late nights and whiskey sodas after work.
He was the guy who could draw, the guy who could code, the guy who could learn on the fly—and in the early days, that was enough.
But like most real builders, the moment he proved himself, the system told him to wait.
“They handed me an award and then told me to go back to tutorials for a year,” he says. “That’s when I knew I had to leave.”
From there, it was hustle. $30K projects solo that looked like $90K.
He hired a better designer than himself. Delivered great work. Got more.
Eventually, the team got too big for his Philly row house.
Literally—he got an eviction notice.
“I fought it in court. Lost. Had to get a real office!”
It wasn’t glamorous, but it was working.
And he kept leveling up.
When Bluecadet won an Emmy for a journalism-meets-interactive experience in Jamaica, everything changed. It gave the studio credibility- and it gave Josh momentum.
That led to more projects. More hires. And eventually, a New York office, opened not because it was part of a long-term plan, but because he couldn’t find enough local talent in Philly and made a bet on people he trusted.
“I wasn’t planning to open a second office. But I knew the right people—and they weren’t moving to Philly.”
Josh doesn’t chase growth for growth’s sake.
He chases curiosity. That’s what led to FutureSpaces, a global salon series where thousands of designers and technologists now explore what shared experiences could look like across physical and digital space.
And most recently, it’s what led to Artwrld, a startup solving a problem he couldn’t believe hadn’t been solved already:
“You can find a great burger in any city. But if you want to find the coolest art—good luck.”
He’s building the app he always wished existed: a discovery platform for underground galleries, experimental installations, and hidden cultural gems that TripAdvisor just can’t surface.
It’s launching soon, and it’s already got momentum from the museums, artists, and collaborators who’ve known Josh for years.
“Sometimes, what the whole industry needs isn’t another custom site—it’s a shared layer that brings it all together.”
Josh is still drawing, still building, still chasing that next challenge.
And in true founder fashion—he says he’s calmest when things are falling apart.
“When stuff’s going sideways, that’s when I get focused. I’m a wartime general.”
Now he’s building across mediums, geographies, and formats—proving there’s still massive opportunity at the intersection of art, tech, and experience design.
This is what underestimated looks like.
Let’s Thrive,
—Eric
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