Napoleon inspired Beethoven’s Eroica symphony. Andy Warhol was inspired by Campbell’s Soup. For New York startup VHX, inspiration came from a stand-up comedian.

Founded by online video vets Casey Pugh and Jamie Wilkinson, VHX empowers filmmakers to sell their work online, DRM-free and at the price point of their choice. But that business plan wasn’t always so clear.

“Our initial idea was a ‘Watch Later’ for video,” Pugh told us. “But we realized it was a very lonely experience, just queuing videos [without sharing with someone]. So we built a community site which we called VHX.tv.”

After creating a few one-off projects like Show Me Nonstop (type in “balloons”, see nonstop videos of balloons), companies like Bloomberg were lining up to work with the duo. But it wasn’t clear how the fit would work.

Then the VHX team was introduced to comedian Aziz Ansari. Inspired by Louis CK’s online play, Ansari wanted to sell his comedy special Dangerously Delicious directly to fans, for $5. VHX built Ansari’s site in two weeks, and used their platform to distribute and sell the special. “We quickly realized this is what we want to do from now on,” Pugh said.

Since then, VHX has hired six people, moved into a swanky new DUMBO office, and, Pugh promises, there are more big projects in the pipeline.

VHX is hiring a variety of positions – among them, a hand model. Check them out here.

Now go forth (and find inspiration).

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